Shaquille O’Neal has played for 3 out of the 4 teams that are in the conference finals in the 2023 Playoffs. However, he seems to be rooting the hardest for quite the unlikely candidate in the Miami Heat. After Game 3 between the Heat and Jayson Tatum’s Boston Celtics, Shaq took to TNT to let it be known that he feels as though he needs to quit his job given that Boston looked as though they quit trying to win during the game.
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Jimmy Butler and the Heat stepped up yet again as they blew out the Celtics in front of their home crowd and became the first 8th seed in NBA history to win a Playoff game by 25+ points. No team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit and with Joe Mazzulla claiming he’s lost the Celtics locker room, it’s safe to say that this record won’t be broken in this series.
Shaquille O’Neal on the Celtics quitting
The Boston Celtics failed to make lineup adjustments during the 3rd quarter when the Heat blew the game wide open. They failed to incorporate a zone defense to help halt half-court sets. Joe Mazzulla was thoroughly outcoached by Erik Spoelstra tonight and by the end of the 3rd quarter, the Celts seemed to have given up.
Shaquille O’Neal saw the team he played for back in 2010-11 look deflated and after the game during the TNT broadcast asked, “Since the Celtics quit, can we quit?” to his ‘Inside the NBA’ co-hosts.
The Celtics were trailing by 31 points with less than 2 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter and so looking like a shell of yourself is understandable. But coming out with that kind of an effort in a must-win Game 3 is abysmal to say the least and Shaq couldn’t stand to witness it.
Shaquille O’Neal picked the Heat to win Game 3
Shaquille O’Neal is riding with the team that he won a championship with in 2006. If the Lakers were to somehow come back from a 0-3 deficit, it would be interesting to see if Shaq would root for the Heat or the Lakers in the Finals.
However, going into Game 3, it was obvious that ‘the Big Aristotle’ had no problem taking the Miami Heat to win, moving themselves into a commanding 3-0 lead. Kenny and Chuck picked the Celtics to win this series but they were clearly mistaken.
