Boston Celtics made their way to Miami and beat the Heat at the buzzer to force a Game 7. Not only do we get one more game of this exciting series, but also another chance to watch Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith on Inside the NBA before they’re done for the season. They have not been disappointing at all in these final few days. We saw Chuck threaten Shaq tonight, by both threatening intel and physical alteration. He did not stop at all. Toward the end of the show, he went so far as to call Big Shaq overrated.
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Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to elimination games. Tonight, the TNT crew put it on display, which led to Chuck calling the 4x Champion ‘overrated.’ Whether Chuck did it out of jealousy, or maybe he was just happy to be ahead of Shaq in a playoff stat, we can’t tell you that.
Charles Barkley states that Shaquille O’Neal is overrated
Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are both two of the Top 75 players in the NBA. While Chuck is an all-time great, Shaq is clearly regarded as one of the Top-10 players of all time. He has 4x Championships, 3x Finals MVPs, and several accolades to his name.
However, as the TNT crew pulled out the graphic showing Shaq, Ernie, and Chuck’s elimination record, Charles Barkley started questioning Shaq’s greatness. Ernie had an impressive 10-3 record in elimination. Chuck had a 14-12 record. On the other hand, Shaq had an abysmal 6-12 record in elimination games.
Charles Barkley had a riot looking at these Shaq stats pic.twitter.com/kpVsbuKmIY
— DubNation(2022 NBA CHAMPIONS) (@dubs3000) May 28, 2023
To add fuel to the fire, Chuck averaged 13.8 rebounds in elimination games, compared to Shaq’s 10.9. Shaq talked about how these stats are useless. However, Chuck was riding on these stats and boldly said,
“You’re overrated! 6 and 12 in elimination games!”
Shaq shut Chuck up with the best reply there is,
“4 rings!”
Shaq’s right. His legacy is sealed with the 4 championships. However, his elimination record and the number of times he was swept would continue to bother him forever.
Shaq is tied at first for being swept the most times
In the 76-year history of the NBA, there have been a lot of sweeps. There are some players who have been unfortunate enough to have been on the receiving end of multiple sweeps. The two players who are tied at the top of the list are Shaquille O’Neal and Pau Gasol.
The two former Lakers big men have been swept six times each. For Shaq, the sweeps were as follows:
- 1994: First round vs. Indiana
- 1995: NBA Finals vs. Houston
- 1996: Conference Finals vs. Chicago
- 1998: Conference Finals vs. Utah
- 1999: Conference Semifinals vs. San Antonio
- 2007: First round vs. Chicago
On the other hand, Pau Gasol faced the six sweeps in this manner.
- 2004: First round vs. San Antonio
- 2005: First round vs. Phoenix
- 2006: First round vs. Dallas
- 2011: Conference Semifinals vs. Dallas
- 2013: First round vs. San Antonio
- 2017: First round vs. Golden State
Shaq recently talked about getting swept as well, when the Lakers were down 0-3, and LeBron James was facing the same fate.
