By Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Sports journalist
Consultant for NBA TV During the Finals, Shaquille O’Neal experienced the Celtics’ recent victory in a privileged way. However, despite the high level displayed by the latter, he allowed himself to call their title into question in some way.
Still under contract with TNT, where he has almost single-handedly embodied NBA coverage for over a decade, he knows that this adventure will soon end. The American channel did not retain the broadcasting rights to the league during the last call for tenders, which means that the famous show Inside The NBA will end in 2025. The time has come for Shaquille O’Neal to start looking elsewhere.
In fact, the legendary pivot may have already found his future employer. Indeed, it is indeed at the microphone of NBA TV that he was recently able to analyze the progress of the Finals between Boston and Dallas. Suffice to say that he closely followed the performances that allowed the Celtics to be crowned champions for the 18th time in their history. A record title on which he also has an opinion that is causing a stir.
Shaquille O’Neal’s scathing assessment of the Celtics’ title
League leaders at the end of the regular season (64-18), the C’s then delivered an equally dominant playoff run with only three losses conceded over their entire run. A finding that makes it impossible to minimize their exploits. Yet that’s what O’Neal did in the last episode of his Big Podcastand which pushes him to say that they will not sign a back-to-back next year:
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Shaquille O’Neal : No, they’re not going to retain their title in my opinion because even though they were crowned champions… their journey was easy. And it’s not their fault. Who cares, they won, but their journey was really easy. So when it gets tougher and they don’t end up champions next year, people will look back on that statement and they’ll see that I was right.
Having faced the Heat, Cavaliers, Pacers and Mavericks successively during the postseason, Joe Mazzula’s men were able to benefit from several injuries to opposing stars. Thus, no one knows what their fate would have been if Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Haliburton and Luka Doncic had faced them at 100% of their abilities. However, this could be the case next season.
That said, Jayson Tatum and his teammates remain capable of doing double duty in 2025, even despite the major recruitments made by the 76ers or the Knicks in the East. In this case, Shaq says he will be forced to bow out:
Shaquille O’Neal : If they win the title next year, even with the stars of rival teams healthy, they will have to be shown respect.
While the Celtics are not to blame for this, Shaquille O’Neal notes that their playoff run has been marred by several injuries to opposing stars. Enough to make him think that the title will elude them next year.
2024-07-04 17:10:00
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