In the twilight of his illustrious NBA career, Hall of Fame big man Shaquille O’Neal joined forces with fellow HoFers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce as a part of the Boston Celtics’ title contending roster for the 2010-11 NBA season, but the partnership was a snakebit one almost from the start.
Speaking on an episode of Garnett’s Showtime Basketball “KG Certified” podcast, Pierce recounted what it was like playing with the Big Aristotle. “I love Shaq as a teammate,” said Pierce. “But the only thing I didn’t like about Shaq was when I was on the bench and he was on the bench, he was taking up like three seats.”
But jokes aside, The Truth believed that had Shaq not gotten injured part way through the regular season, Boston might have won another title. “I am telling you, if we had him healthy, I think we would have won it that year,” said Pierce.
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“We (had) a great start before Diesel got hurt,” explained the Inglewood native. “We beat (the Miami Heat) with LeBron, yeah he was rolling. We were 23 and 4 before Diesel got hurt.”
Between this and the injury to Kendrick Perkins, it’s a fair claim to make to suggest the long-coveted Banner 18 might have been won that season had the injury bug not reared its head in a big way.
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