Winning is not easy. Even being the best player in your team isn’t enough at times. Shaquille O’Neal understands the value of winning and the pain of losing in crucial moments. LeBron James and the Lakers got swept by the Denver Nuggets in four games, even with James scoring 40 points and grabbing ten rebounds. Shaq understands the pain of losing, given that both the Lakers legends fall within a peculiar distinction. Both LeBron and Shaq are part of an elite group of players who have lost a final despite scoring 40 points. As LeBron gets severely chastised for bottling this crucial final, Shaq shares a similar sentiment with the King, as he showed on his Instagram.
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Shaq has lost some crucial finals with Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers. He averaged 40 points in most of these finals, similar to LeBron. Although Shaq has a record of 4-2 in Final Series and 17-13 in Final games, he did extend a hand of empathy and support to LeBron in his misery through a post on Instagram.
Shaquille O’Neal shares a subtle graphic empathizing with LeBron James’ Conference Finals loss
In his story, Shaq shared a graphic that counts him amongst four players to have 40 points while losing a Final. The list includes him, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Charles Barkley. As a fellow Laker, Shaq had to face a crucial 1-4 loss against Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals 2004.
View this post on Instagram
By sharing the graphic in his story, Shaq is trying to support LeBron, who has otherwise had a phenomenal season this year. In the recent press conference after Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, LeBron mentioned how this one season felt like five seasons altogether. Besides this, physical restraints and mental fatigue might also be why King James seems heartbroken after this series.
.@SHAQ extending his empathy towards @KingJames by subtly posting this graphic. Shaq knows the pain pic.twitter.com/R28WFkcU8r
— 🤌🏻 (@siddid18) May 25, 2023
The chances of LeBron retiring are slim. Fans expect the King to bounce back with a stronger title contention run next season.
Shaq seems to understand the worth of winning
Shaquille O’Neal has experienced some severe losses since the early days of his career. His first title run with the Orlando Magic was shattered with an excruciating loss. He did win a three-peat later in his career. However, all of it came at the cost of hard work and dedication.
The veteran Lakers man understands that luck might not be on our side sometimes. Even though he and LeBron have given the best performances, luck seemed to have edged against them several times. Shaq, now 51, is much older and wiser than he was when he was at the peak of his career. He now reflects on these losses as a learning lesson for a player of his might.
