The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 350 - 190: The Depressed Shaquille O’Neal

Chapter 350: Chapter 190: The Depressed Shaquille O’Neal

The 2006-2007 season was dubbed "The Era of Great Championship Battles" by the "New York Times," although Su Wan did not agree, various signs indicated that this season had a clear divide; there were many weak teams, but just as many strong ones.

The Mavericks had 15 games in November, finishing with 13 wins and 2 losses;

The Lakers played 13 games, securing 11 wins and 2 losses;

The Cavaliers had 14 games, emerging victorious in 11 and losing 3;

The Spurs contended in 14 games, claiming 10 wins and suffering 4 defeats;

...

In the first month of the new season, all were sufficiently dominant.

But the defending champions, the Pacers, were even crazier, directly achieving a record of 14 wins and no losses.

However, some media looked down on the Pacers’ "perfect month," like Cleveland’s media, who thought the Pacers’ November schedule was too favorable, with only one "back-to-back" and not having faced any of this season’s top powerhouses throughout the month of November.

To put it bluntly in two words:

Bullying the weak!

In mid-November, Shaquille O’Neal, after unleashing 31 points and 12 rebounds in Miami, vented his frustration, and on December 1st, upon seeing Su Wan named the Eastern "Monthly Best Player," he seemed to speak out on behalf of LeBron James:

"We are a newly formed team, and our chemistry is still meshing, which is to our disadvantage, while some teams do not have this issue and therefore appear stronger."

"The League should take all of these into account before selecting the true Monthly Best Player Award."

But Barkley immediately retorted, "The Lakers team won 67 games in ’00, but their final record was only 58 wins in ’02. Was the Lakers’ chemistry poor that year?"

Is it really that hard to admit the Pacers are strong?

Shaquille O’Neal was unambiguous: "Guys without championship rings should shut their mouths!"

This tactic was Michael Jordan’s trump card against Barkley, now adopted by him, hoping to shut Barkley down with one move.

Who knew Barkley would clap back directly: "My grandma playing in the paint with Kobe could win a championship!"

What’s that saying? "Fight fire with fire!"

Back when facing Rodman’s skepticism, Shaquille O’Neal fired back, "My grandma could win three consecutive championships with Jordan on the team."

Now it was Barkley’s turn to throw that "trash talk" right back at him.

Shaquille O’Neal would normally not be phased by that comment, as everyone knows. During the Lakers’ three consecutive championships, all three Finals MVP awards were his. But after being relentlessly taunted by Su Wan with "Without a superstar guard to carry you, you couldn’t win," and being thoroughly outplayed, the sting of that remark on Shaquille escalated by 300%!

Actually, if you asked Shaquille O’Neal whether he was aware of the Pacers’ dominance and that it had little to do with their team chemistry, he would tell you that he knew.

But...

To ease the relationship with LeBron, he needed to seize every opportunity to praise him.

Their relationship wasn’t irreparably conflicted, or rather, their conflict hadn’t reached an irreconcilable stage yet:

He hadn’t realized before how much LeBron relied on pick-and-rolls!

Almost every play required him to move to the high post, making space on the inside.

During the initial training games when they were still in the "honeymoon period," Shaquille O’Neal doted on LeBron like a treasured possession. But as the novelty wore off, and after witnessing Mike Brown’s obsequious flattery toward LeBron, he lost respect for the Cavaliers’ head coach. Gradually, he became unwilling to move, simply waiting at the side of the three-second zone.

On one hand, this could be considered making space for LeBron; on the other hand, If LeBron passed the ball to him from that spot, he could directly attack the basket. If he moved up to the high post, could he make hook shots or jump shots?

Wouldn’t that just make him invisible on the offensive end?

And...

He always thought that setting picks was a job for blue-collar workers, not for someone revered as the "most dominant player on the court" by the American media during the "three consecutive Finals MVP" era, a title not even bestowed upon Jordan.

Did they expect him to set screens like a blue-collar worker every day?

What kind of joke was that?

"The Shark" couldn’t do it.

And then he distinctly felt that LeBron’s relationship with him had become somewhat cold.

But LeBron wasn’t someone who discussed everything openly—on this point, he was significantly different than Kobe—the two just weren’t as close as they had been at the beginning. Regarding this, Shaquille O’Neal actually didn’t mind. Hadn’t he enjoyed himself playing with Wade on the Heat Team? Calling him 300 times a day, and how did that turn out? If betrayal was bound to happen, it would happen, right?

None of these new generation players were truly loyal!

Of course, Shaquille O’Neal had his own ways to maintain relationships, which was to lavish LeBron with praise in front of the media, at times calling him the true "Chosen One," or saying he would "definitely dominate the League in the future."

This move never failed him, dating back to his Magic Team days when he enjoyed speaking up for his teammates to curry favor.

After all, it was no skin off his back.

The only time it failed was with Kobe, who was displeased with him for opting to rest over the summer instead of having toe surgery, and even when Shaquille praised Kobe as an MVP-level player in front of the media, Kobe did not show any appreciation.

Of course, if this approach didn’t work, Shaquille wouldn’t think of an alternative; instead, he might pettily hold a grudge.

His relationship with Kobe started to deteriorate from that point on, growing increasingly worse until the infamous "Shaq also did it" comment, which shattered their bond completely.

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