Atlanta Hawks guard Kevin Huerter has one of the most entertaining nicknames in the NBA, but Shaquille O’Neal is not going to use it.
Huerter helped the Hawks steal Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Bucks in Milwaukee on Wednesday night. As the “Inside the NBA” crew was recapping the game, Ernie Johnson made reference to Huerter’s “Red Velvet” nickname. Shaq said he is not going to call another grown man by that name.
Shaq and the TNT crew are no strangers to nicknames. Charles Barkley even came up with a funny nickname for Shaq earlier this year, but apparently the four-time NBA champion feels “Red Velvet” crosses the line.
Shaquille O’Neal has no tolerance for the sort of poor play Ben Simmons displayed for the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs.
Simmons took responsibility after the Sixers’ Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night for his poor play in the series. Simmons answered all the tough questions despite being completely gun shy on the court and costing his team.
Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith complimented Simmons on facing the tough questions. Shaq acknowledged he liked what Simmons had to say, but said he would have been fed up with an important teammate not producing.
“If I play Game 1 and 2 and I know I’m not helping my team, what do you think I’m going to do in Game 3? I like what he said, but it don’t take seven games to know you’re not playing right. Get right. Be aggressive. I don’t want to hear all that,” Shaq said.
Then O’Neal got down to business.
“If he was in my locker room, I would have knocked his a– out,” Shaq said.
Now that is a threat. Some people probably don’t like hearing that, but that might help explain why Shaq won four championships during his career.
Shaq on Ben Simmons “If he was in my locker room I would’ve knocked his ass out”
Shaq and Charles Barkley do not think the Boston Celtics will pose much of a challenge for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA playoffs.
The Celtics beat the Washington Wizards 118-110 on Tuesday night to clinch the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference. They will face the No. 2 seeded Nets in the first round. The Wizards will face the Indiana Pacers to determine who will get the No. 8 spot and face the Philadelphia 76ers.
As for the 2-7 matchup, Shaq and Chuck don’t think it will be too close.
“I’m going to agree with Chuck: cake walk,” Shaq said on TNT’s postgame show Tuesday.
The Nets went 3-0 against the Celtics in the regular season. They did so despite not having their top three players (James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving) for any of those games. Brooklyn will have all three available in the playoffs, which will make it a tougher series.
NBA All-Star Weekend was intended to promote historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Shaq didn’t exactly help the cause with a story he shared on Sunday night.
O’Neal is one of the analysts for TNT and spoke about his experience with an HBCU. But Shaq didn’t exactly promote a rigorous academic experience at his school.
O’Neal attended LSU for college, but he says that he was unable to pass biology at Louisiana State University. So he says he transferred to Southern
“I have a confession. If it wasn’t for an HBCU, I wouldn’t have graduated from LSU. I couldn’t pass biology at LSU, so I called and transferred to Southern University. They let me take a biology class,” Shaq said.
Kenny Smith realized that Shaq’s anecdote didn’t portray Southern in the best manner. So he tried to step in and save Shaq.
“They ain’t give you no breaks at that HBCU either, I’ll let you know that,” Smith said.
Kenny Smith had to save Shaq from almost implying HBCU classes were easier than LSU pic.twitter.com/4HyHIlT5WM
Shaq was trying to relate how an HBCU helped him out, but the way he told the story didn’t reflect too well for Southern. Before he accused Smith of starting a beef. This time he should be thanking Kenny.
Shaq has had a long-running beef with Dwight Howard, and he’s accusing Kenny Smith of being a big catalyst for it.
Episode 2 of “The Inside Story”, a 4-part documentary series on the TNT NBA crew, touches on Shaq’s accusation. Shaq got upset with Howard when the center put on a Superman cape in the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest. O’Neal felt that Howard was infringing on his territory, since Shaq already went by the “Superman” nickname and even had an “S” tattoo.
O’Neal accused Smith of playing a big role in the matter.
“[Kenny] started the beef,” O’Neal said. “You made that man believe he was Superman!”
“There’s only one Superman to ever come through this league and you know his name. It’s me."
Shaq is known to branch out well beyond the basketball world. The Basketball Hall of Famer has frequently found himself involved in the world of wrestling. His latest foray has been into All Elite Wrestling, where on Wednesday he had his first match.
Shaq teamed with Jade Cargill in a mixed tag against Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida, on Wednesday’s episode of “Dynamite.”
He dished out some punishment, but also took a bit too. He got hit with a chair and also broke a table:
Dwyane Wade caught his TNT crewmate Shaquille O’Neal sleeping on Tuesday.
Wade and Shaq are two of the analysts during TNT’s NBA coverage on Tuesday nights. Wade posted two videos on Instagram that showed Shaq appearing to take a nap backstage. Shaq seemed to have an astronaut-like powered air purifying respirator helmet on backstage.
Shaq appears to be trying to protect himself from COVID-19 even while sleeping. Luckily for TNT he was awake enough to provide commentary when they were on air. He gave some love to Devin Booker, who was originally left off the All-Star team.
"Steph Curry is still the best shooter on the planet."
Charles Barkley revealed on Thursday the funny nickname the TNT crew has for Shaq.
Barkley joked that they call Shaq “Petty White,” which is a play on words and reference to famous actress Betty White. Shaq said he preferred the name “Richard Petty,” who is a famous former racecar driver.
Both names refer to Shaq’s tendency to be petty about the way he criticizes and picks fights with players.
Part of Shaq’s job as an analyst and personality is to attract attention, and he often does so with criticism. But his criticism also seems personal and rooted in insecurity whenever a talented big man emerges. That definitely seemed to be the case when Shaq was dealing with Dwight Howard.
Petty White definitely is a very fitting nickname.
There is some serious tension at the moment between the “NBA on TNT” crew and the Utah Jazz, and even the people in charge of team’s official Twitter account are getting in on the fun.
The Jazz won their seventh straight game on Thursday night with a 129-118 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Despite Utah’s recent success, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and the TNT crew do not believe they’re in the same class as the Los Angeles Lakers and other top teams. Following the game, the Jazz took a couple of shots at the TNT analysts on Twitter.
The second tweet was a response to an awkward exchange Shaq had with Donovan Mitchell on live TV. Shaq told Mitchell after Utah’s win that he said earlier in the night that Mitchell doesn’t “have what it takes to get to that next level.” Mitchell wasn’t quite sure how to respond. You can see the video here.
Barkley also said he wants to see Mitchell get more rebounds and assists. Mitchell shouldn’t be too offended by that considering what he said about himself back in 2018.
The criticism from Shaq and Barkley should become an asset for Mitchell and the Jazz. Teams are always searching for sources of motivation, and that should be a big one for Utah.
Shaquille O’Neal offered some extremely harsh criticism of James Harden on Thursday night.
O’Neal spoke on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” and shared his thoughts on Harden’s exit from Houston. O’Neal specifically questioned whether Harden gave Houston his all, as the guard claimed. Shaq picked apart Harden for his postseason struggles and for not making things work despite the Rockets constantly bringing in players he wanted.
“He got his superteam. He has to win this year. If he doesn’t win this year it’s a bust.” @SHAQ reacts to Harden being traded to Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/YSTlqewqB7
