First things first – Shaq’s prediction of a Dallas Mavs win in the NBA Finals is definitely in trouble today. As of this posting, two games of the Championship series are in the books, and the Boston Celtics won them both. The first was in very convincing fashion, while Game Two was a little closer, but still went to the Celtics. Can the Mavs make a comeback? Stay tuned…
Did you watch Sunday night? Good game… Not great, but good. The Mavs made a better effort, and the Celtics couldn’t make a 3 to save their lives in the first half, but all that turned around in Boston’s favor in the second half. The series now moves to Dallas for Game Three Wednesday night, with Boston up a strong 2-0.
During the game, Boston’s Jaylen Brown was mic’d up, and he had some great one-liners. We especially loved, “Whatever you do, do it with confidence!” (PS – Teach that to your kids.. just a thought.) After the game, Brown was on set for the NBA TV postgame show. On that panel (and after his experience of the game from a front-row seat), our man Shaq had some interesting comments and advice for Brown.
The BIG Podcast with SHAQ
So in recounting the chat between O’Neal and Brown, here’s our first question: Does anyone know what “G-14 classified information” is? Yeah, no… neither do we. Still, that was exactly how Shaq opened up his talk with Jaylen.
O’Neal: “Jaylen, I don’t have a question. But I’m going to give you some G-14 classification information, because this will be the last time you see me. It’s a riddle; do not get fixated on useless titles. Do what you gotta do. Doesn’t matter who’s who, or they say who’s what. It ain’t time for all that right now. Do what you gotta do and get it done.”
If you saw the talk, you know that pretty much everyone at the broadcast table had puzzled looks on their faces after Shaq finished his comments. Co-host Matt Winer even went as far as to ask Brown if that intel made sense to him. Brown honestly admitted it did not. O’Neal then pretty much doubled down on his comments, but in the end, it did make some sense.
Again, Shaq: “They’re trying to separate you and your guy [Jayson Tatum] by saying who’s better… Don’t worry about useless titles, it don’t matter who the man is. Kobe’s the man, Shaq’s the man, it don’t matter. I’m getting my 40, Kobe’s getting his 39, let’s go win a championship.”
Ahh.. so there it is! Shaq was telling Brown – in his own special way, of course – to not pay attention to all the usual media hype surrounding a Championship series. Yes, it’s true, there’s always going to be comparisons and rankings of teams and especially the star players on those teams.
Jaylen or Jason Tatum… who’s better? Who’s making the big impact on the series? Shaq is right, of course, even though it took a bit of explaining to get to the point. It’s not important who’s playing better on any given night, as long as the team is playing well together, and headed for that Championship ring.
Some of that “confidential information” was probably spurred by comments ahead of Game 2, from Mavericks coach Jason Kidd. He spoke to reporters, saying he thought Brown was the Celtics’ most important player, rather than Tatum. Was that just a little mind-game from the Mavs coach? Maybe. Something to drive a little wedge between the two Celtics superstars.
Still, the good news for Boston and Celtics fans, it seems neither player paid any attention to the comments from the opposing coach. Regardless of any attempted headgames, the Celtics put together a great team effort to go up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.