The triangle offense was a tactic that Coach Phil Jackson popularized through his tenures with the Los Angeles Lakers and The Chicago Bulls. Shaquille O’Neal an integral part of Jackson’s triangle offense in Los Angeles, seems to have taken the discussion with triangles to a whole other dimension, as his comments about the Lakers and their association to Pythagoras’ theorem surface yet again.
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During his eight-year tenure with the Lakers, O’Neal won three championships, while also securing his maiden MVP. At the height of his powers, the Lakers were invincible, and Shaq just had to say something clever to top the whole situation off. Talking to the media about the team’s dominance, O’Neal said,
“There is no answer to the Pythagorean theorem. Well, there is an answer, but by the time you figure it out, I got 40 points, 10 rebounds and then we’re planning for the parade.”
While the exact source of the quote remains a mystery, Shaq is the man behind the words as he recently took to his Instagram to post a screenshot of the quote.
Shaq on IG pic.twitter.com/56NL7LB3bw
— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) June 9, 2024
But this wasn’t the only time Shaq put his arithmetic skills on display. Dr. O’Neal once responded to questions about losing in the Finals by stating that,
“If you go 72-11 and don’t win (the championship), it doesn’t mean anything. It does. It means you’ve cheated and played an extra regular-season game.”
From the looks of it, O’Neal is adept at counting, even if his knowledge of mathematics may be highly limited. But Shaq surely needs a lesson or two in biology while he works on his arithmetic, as he once said,
“I’m on a mission. And I know the older I get, I may lose a step or two, but it’s all up in the medulla oblongata. I’ve got a lot up there. I’ve got a lot of knowledge…in this medulla oblongata.”
The only problem with the quote happens to be the fact that the medulla oblongata has nothing to do with memory storage, and from the looks of it Dr. O’Neal didn’t know. It didn’t matter much as Shaq went on to win the Finals, Thrice, even taking home the Finals MVP right after.
