Watching last night’s Blazers vs. Suns game was painful towards the end. Gentry finally conceded defeat for the night, pulled his starters out and let the bench handle the crumbs. An interesting dynamic during one of those time outs was watching Shaq get into Robin Lopez’s face (the sensitive twin) about his on court play. It was clear that Shaq was ripping dude a new one.
Funny thing, Shaq bitched his way off of the Heat last year because he was left to play with Chris Quinn and Ricky “Buckets” Davis (not that I can blame him) and had zero shot at making the playoffs. And this year? He’s definitely got a better team but the playoffs don’t look likely. Granted that has to do with Amare’s injury (similar to Dwyane just being broken down last year) but the irony in this is that Shaq is still playing hard! I’ve said before that he’s playing some of the best ball he’s played in the last few years. Even though the writing is on the wall for this season (although they are fighting with Dallas for that final spot and who hasn’t seen them choke when victory is within reach (The finals against the Heat, the playoffs against the #8 Warriors) it says a lot to me that Shaq is still handling it like a true professional.
Last night’s game was a wrap yet there he was, expecting his teammates to play with intensity. The season is almost over, only the 2nd time in his 17 year career that Shaq won’t make the playoffs and he’s still out there going hard. One has to wonder if there was really something more going on in Miami then Shaq simply being The-Big-Lazy-ungrateful-Shaqturus (yep made up my own nickname, he does it!)
Shaq may very well be receiving his karma for his exits from Orlando, L.A. & Miami but he’s handling it well all things considered. There’s a lot that can be said about Shaq but I don’t think anyone should question his love and respect for the game.
