Shaquille O'Neal played the last season of his decorated NBA career with the Boston Celtics in 2010-11. That team went on to lose to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. O'Neal was limited to just 12 total minutes over two games in that series due to injury issues, and he thinks if he were healthy things would have turned out differently.
"I always think that if I wouldn't have got hurt, we could have at least made it to The Finals," O'Neal said, via Heavy. "I always say that. I wish Danny (Ainge) didn't trade Perk (Kendrick Perkins) that year, because, I mean, we were like No. 1 throughout the whole year.
"I was just a role player then, but if we'd have made it to this thing, I would have f***** LeBron and D-Wade up in the playoffs. I promise I would have. That would have been my role. Like, as soon as they come to the hole, touch 'em up."
O'Neal was at the tail end of his career at that point, so it's tough to say how much of an impact he actually would have had if he were able to play, but it's nice to see that he hasn't lost his competitive spirit over a decade after retiring from the league. After besting the Celtics in that series, the Heat went on to advance to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in six games.
The Celtics and Heat have met several times in the postseason since 2011, including in the Eastern Conference finals this season. Miami has jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the series over Boston, and O'Neal wants to see a certain Celtics star step up the rest of the way.
"Jayson Tatum — you want to be good, want to be great, or do you want to be one of the greatest Celtics ever?" he said. "With him, being All-NBA, he's going to have to step up. Game 7 (against Philadelphia)? That's what you call stepping up. So he's going to have to be there or a little bit under that."
O'Neal knows a thing or two about winning in the postseason, and he's correct here. If Tatum is unable to step his game up as O'Neal suggested, the Heat will likely come out victorious in the series, just like they did back in 2011.
