Without Jimmy Butler on the squad, the Miami Heat are barely considered a playoff team. But tonight, Erik Spoelstra’s boys displayed the heart and grit that they’re best known for, putting up an unforgettable performance. At TD Garden, Tyler Herro led the Florida side to upset the Boston Celtics 111-101. Nobody expected the Celtics to suffer a loss in this first-round series, especially at home. However, Shaquille O’Neal seemed to know what would happen very early on. In fact, he had predicted that the Butler-less Heat would win by 10 points. And after it was all said, and done, he even took to Instagram to mock Charles Barkley in a downright hilarious way.
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Shaquille O’Neal is not new to backing the underdogs in a playoff series. In this case, O’Neal claimed to have predicted the result – Miami’s win by 10 points – long before the encounter even began. Of course, at the time, not many believed him, with Barkley even staunchly disagreeing with him. So, when he was proven right, he was looking to celebrate it in a special way. As he did so, he exclaimed the following on his Instagram post.
“Didn’t I tell y’all Miami was going to win by 10?! Shaqstradamus Strikes Again,” Shaq said.
Oddly enough, the post in question is an edited video of Barkley’s face morphed over a rather lewd video as Shaq validated his prediction. Hyping up the dance going on in the background, the Los Angeles Lakers legend said:
“Hehehe. Get it Charles. Get it, get it, get it…”
Whether on social media or on the sets of Inside the NBA, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley go to extreme lengths to hilariously humiliate each other. So, as random as this morphed video is, it should hardly come as a shock at all. In fact, Chuck may even be a little lucky that Shaq only went this far.
As for his prediction, being a former player for the franchise, it only makes sense that the Big Aristotle would know how the Miami Heat would come out during this game. He understands better than most just how powerful the culture within that organization is. In fact, he has even gone as far as to take some credit for it on occasion.
Shaquille O’Neal believes that he began the “Heat Culture” alongside other franchise greats
Shaquille O’Neal had a decorated 19-year career in the NBA. While O’Neal is lauded for being a legend of the Los Angeles Lakers, he also spent four of those years in a Miami Heat uniform. So, it is not surprising that his connection with the franchise leads to him often backing the Heat on big occasions.
O’Neal also takes a lot of credit for being the main reason behind the beginning of the “Heat Culture”. In numerous instances, Shaq has claimed to have changed the team’s mindset alongside the likes of other all-time greats.
“That’s me and Gary’s s**t, ain’t no ‘Heat Culture.’ Me and Gary did that. Me, Gary, Alonzo [Mourning], D-Wade and Jason [Williams], that’s our s**t. If you go back in 2006, who won the first championship for the Miami Heat? We did,” O’Neal said in an episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq.
Several months later, O’Neal spoke about the same topic and had a sense of pride for laying down the blueprint for the franchise that eventually won two more titles.
“The only problem I had with Heat culture is that it wasn’t developed yet,” O’Neal said on his podcast, per Sports Illustrated. “Listen to me. When you win, then you can say it works. I’m coming from a place where I won three in a row, went a fourth time and lost. So the culture that I had the blueprint for, I won four out of five. So why would I change that?”
While it is a bit difficult to verify O’Neal’s statement here, it does seem to make sense. That said, while he may have played an active part in bringing up the culture among the players, it is Pat Riley who should get a lot of the credit for making it the identity of the franchise. Clearly, it is still paying dividends today.
As for the series at hand here, despite the series leveling up 1-1, the Boston Celtics will not be too rattled. The loss does come as a surprise but is not expected to have any impact on the outcome of the series. However, for the Heat, this victory was massive. It told them that not only does their gameplan work, but they also have it in them to take down Boston despite being without their best player.
The boost of confidence that came from this game is likely magnanimous. In fact, as this series keeps going, it may just give them the strength they require to slay the mighty Celtics once again.
