“Trying Way Too Hard to Play the Tuff Guy”: Redditors Slam Shaquille O’Neal for Comments About Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyrese Haliburton’s Dad

The Indiana Pacers closed out their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks last night in wild fashion, erasing a 7-point deficit in the final 40 seconds of overtime to win on a Tyrese Haliburton layup with 1.3 seconds left. The Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd went understandably nuts, but what transpired in the immediate aftermath crossed the line from revelry to poor taste.

John Haliburton, Tyrese’s dad, got into Giannis Antetokounmpo’s face after the final buzzer sounded, waving a towel with his son’s face on it and taunting the two-time MVP, saying, “This is what we f***** do!” Giannis wasn’t having any of it (can you blame him?), and an altercation ensued.

The exchange between the two was heated, but it still may have been more sensible than what transpired on the Inside the NBA set afterwards. Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson all rebuked Haliburton’s dad for taking his excitement too far, but Shaquille O’Neal turned it the other way, saying it comes with the territory, and Giannis was the one at fault.

“He’s an idiot, and if you think that’s right, you’re an idiot too,” Barkley said of the elder Hali and Shaq. The Big Diesel couldn’t be swayed though, even after hearing comments on the incident from all involved. Giannis described how Haliburton’s dad got in his face. Haliburton’s dad apologized. And Haliburton himself said his dad was in the wrong.

Nevertheless, Shaq persisted, and he continued trying to shout over everyone to make his (“turrible,” as Chuck would say) point.

Shaq tried to pull the “I played 19 years” card, as if Chuck and Kenny didn’t have 26 years between them to inform their opinions. “I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying don’t be a punk and whine about it. It comes with the territory. It happens. You move on. You lose and you move on,” Shaq said.

The internet roasted Shaq for his awful Giannis take

Reddit had a field day with Shaq’s refusal to admit he was wrong even after being confronted with the truth of what really happened. In a post to the NBA reddit board entitled “Shaq is terrible,” one Reddit user commented, “Shaq trying way too hard to play the tuff guy and he knows his take is dumb but is too proud to admit it so instead he’s doubling down like a teenager would.”

Another commenter took Shaq to task for trying to paint everyone that disagrees with him as “soft.” “He talks about his era as if it was like fighting in WW2,” the commenter said.

It’s OK to admit that you’re wrong, and Haliburton’s dad deserves credit for at least admitting that he crossed the line. The fact that Shaq can’t do the same is a rough look, especially when he kept shouting over everyone else’s point, despite clearly missing the mark with his take. Inside the NBA is a treasured institution, but it doesn’t work if we can’t hear anybody because Shaq is repeatedly yelling, “I don’t care,” whenever they offer a rebuttal.

Take the L, big man. As you said, you lose and you move on.