NBA fans mostly remember Shaquille O’Neal for his exploits on the court for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat. However, the big man had a few forgettable stints with some other NBA teams before he retired in 2011. His last stint in the league was with the Boston Celtics during the 2010-11 season. Shaq recently reminded his fans of his time in Boston by sharing this hilarious story that Doc Rivers recounted on Kevin Garnett’s podcast recently.
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A few days ago, former Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers showed up for a sit-down with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce on All the Smoke’s KG Certified podcast. Rivers coached Garnett and Pierce when he was the head coach of the Boston Celtics. The three 2008 NBA Champions ended up recalling their Celtics days during the podcast. Meanwhile, Doc brought up Shaq’s brief stint in Boston and recounted a hilarious story on the subject, which was later shared by the Diesel on his Instagram stories.
Doc RIVERS talks about how big Shaq is pic.twitter.com/RddRv2SZDt
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The veteran coach revealed that Shaq wanted the practice sessions to go a certain way after he first arrived in Boston. However, KG, Pierce and the rest of the Celtics roster insisted on retaining their past methods. Rivers and Garnett recalled that this prompted the big man to forego his demands immediately and embrace the Celtics way of doing things.
Subsequently, Doc Rivers shared the account of Shaq visiting his house in Orlando with his ‘Diesel Truck’. The 62-year-old said that the big fella wanted to visit his house before joining the Celtics. Shaq eventually showed up at Rivers’ house with his monster Diesel truck with a custom Superman logo in the front.
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Rivers was taken aback by the size of the truck. Therefore, he refused to let Shaq enter his driveway with the massive vehicle and made him park in the street. “Man, you’re not bringing that big thing in my driveway, rip my driveway up,” Doc quoted what he said to the four-time NBA Champion waiting at his door. However, after Shaq got out of the car Rivers was taken aback by just how big he really was.
Shaquille O’Neal is a big dude
Doc Rivers made a surprising claim on the KG Certified podcast. He claimed that despite playing and coaching against Shaq, he never really realized how massive he was until he saw the big man at his front door. “I never knew how big he [Shaq] was, cause I’m never around him,” Doc told KG and Pierce.
“And then he gets out and I open the door, and I’m looking at him. And I’m like, ‘Shaq is a big dude!’ Like you forget,” Rivers added, finishing up his story. Pierce and KG agreed that the Lakers’ legend’s huge frame is really hard to believe sometimes. In fact, the two former Boston stars recalled how difficult it was to sit on the Celtics bench with Shaq sitting there with his legs parted.
Rivers concluded the discussion by lamenting that Shaq’s stint with the Celtics failed to lead to anything substantial because the Diesel just couldn’t stay healthy. Shaq played just 37 games for the Celtics in his last season in the NBA, averaging 9.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game.
An Achilles tendon injury during the 2010-11 season finally convinced him to call it quits. The physical nature of Shaq’s game entailed a long and painful history with injuries. His toe injuries affected his game significantly and slowed him down towards the end. However, Shaq’s vicious prime with the Lakers has still ensured his status as the NBA’s most dominant center ever.
