Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 9:00 am  |  72 responses

O’Neal: Hack-a-Shaquin’ Spurs are ‘Cowards’

by Marcel Mutoni

Shaquille O’Neal is clearly not handling his painful decline into total irrelevance very well.

The man will do just about anything to stay in the limelight – he’ll gladly perform a disparaging rap freestyle in a pathetic attempt to re-ignite a past feud, and calling arguably the most dominant team of his career a bunch of cowards is certainly not beneath him.

Here’s the audio (it’s a bit long, but worth it), and the highlights via Bright Side of the Sun:

Shaq calls the Spurs cowards for employing the hack-a-Shaq while leading by 10 and claims that the tactic didn’t work since the Spurs didn’t get past the Lakers. Huh?

I would love for O’Neal to explain how it’s less cowardly to employ Hack-a-Shaq when trailing than when ahead.

Shaq was feeling extra frisky on this day, as he also threw his teammates under the bus for failing to stay in front of the Spurs guards and not properly rotating on Tim Duncan’s stunning three-pointer to force double-overtime in the epic series opener between Phoenix and San Antonio last season.

Shaq talks about how poor the Suns rotations were against the Spurs leading to Duncan hitting a “f*cking three” (Amare – he might be talking to you.)

To be fair, STAT wasn’t even on the court when the play occurred. But Nash certainly was, and I believe he qualifies as one of those guards who couldn’t keep up with Tony Parker. Oh yes, it’s going to be a fantastic year in the Valley of the Sun…or not.

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  • Ken Posted: Oct.15 at 9:02 am
    What can be more Sun-like than hating the spurs? Glad the big guy is fitting in.

  • maeng Posted: Oct.15 at 9:03 am
    1st

  • maeng Posted: Oct.15 at 9:04 am
    dammit! this should be an interesting year for the suns :)

  • MSkittle Posted: Oct.15 at 9:06 am
    Shaq, shut up! Stop talking like you still can play..

  • peteb80 Posted: Oct.15 at 9:06 am
    NBA players who can’t shoot free throws are pathetic.

  • jay Posted: Oct.15 at 9:12 am
    shaquille.vin baker. Vin. Shaq.

  • Co Co Posted: Oct.15 at 9:13 am
    Shaq should be concerned about those stalking charges he has to answer to in Atlanta today.

  • Sparker Posted: Oct.15 at 9:23 am
    shaq likes to say and do things to get a rise out of people. hey, in this case, it looks like it worked. and the idea that he’s nearing total irrelevance is, at best, overstated

  • riggs Posted: Oct.15 at 9:24 am
    get him Co!

  • riggs Posted: Oct.15 at 9:25 am
    also my respect for shaq keeps getting lower and lower.

  • fluxland Posted: Oct.15 at 9:30 am
    You can score in the paint, can’t get it done at the line
    Say “I hit ‘em when it matters” and everything’s fine?
    Those ugly-ass bricks don’t take from your shine? Admit it, you just mad ‘cause your career’s almost over R.B.

  • Jukai Posted: Oct.15 at 9:39 am
    A few things:
    1) Shaq has constantly bad-mouthed the Spurs. He called two of their championships “tainted.” Shaq simply does not like the Spurs.
    2) He’s angry about the lack of rotation because Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were doing these pretty awesome pick-and-rolls which left Nash on Duncan and Parker on Shaq… no rotation meant Shaq absolutely getting annahilated by Parker because Shaq was too wimpy to go at him and pick up fouls. He has a bit of a right to be angry, but if he was an even half decent defender, he could just plant himself at the basket and lock out Tony Parker
    3) Grandpa can say whatever he wants as long as he gets in shape and gives it his all during the regular season

  • Froggiestyle Posted: Oct.15 at 9:41 am
    Meh. Slow news day huh? Everyone’s right. Hack a shaq is painfully weak. There ought to be a rule against anit-game play. And shaq is weak as snit for not being able to make his effin FREE throws. Everyone’s right yet no one wins….. hmmmm symbolism of the times?

  • rikson Posted: Oct.15 at 9:52 am
    Plus the rule changes over the last years make it even more difficult for shaq. Take the “no offensive foul” – zone for example. You cant count the cheap fouls hes picking up over the last season -> less blocks more fouls. i can understand why dude is angry…

  • Z Posted: Oct.15 at 9:55 am
    I never thought I’d say this but I wish that Shaq would shut up and just play out the remainder of his contract. I’m not one of those that say he should retire. At 20 mil a season, are you serious&?! But just keep quiet, dude.

  • Jukai Posted: Oct.15 at 9:58 am
    Froggiestyle: I’m not for creating that rule. I don’t like to change rules that will help someone cause he isn’t very good at a portion of the game.

  • Froggiestyle Posted: Oct.15 at 10:04 am
    Jukai – So far the NBA has tried to instil rules that would help scorers get to the rack and get there more easily. So there’s no reason or logic behind allowing anti-game play to go on. It’s not a foul in the heat of the action and it brings the game to a painful halt. Hoops is supposed to be entertaining NOT boring beyond belief. Thank god I have the games tivoed so can buzz thru the asinine delays but come on – right is right, and that nonsense aint right. “Mookie, always do the right thing.”

  • mat smith Posted: Oct.15 at 10:13 am
    the interviewer said the word cowardly, Shaq just answered using the same word, I hate when articles are written saying a player said something that was just answering a dumb question

  • luvshaq Posted: Oct.15 at 10:45 am
    you’ll all miss him when he’s gone

  • Randy Brown Posted: Oct.15 at 10:47 am
    I thought Shaq was most at fault on Duncan’s “f*cking three”. He completely gave up on the rotation and just stood flat-footed watching the shot. Shaq’s a p*nis also

  • a_whiteman Posted: Oct.15 at 10:55 am
    he is making it harder and harder to defend what an illustrious career he has had with each of these immature and ignorant statements. you lost get over it lol

  • Jukai Posted: Oct.15 at 11:05 am
    Froggiestyle: c’mon now, appreciate the game for what it is. Do you want to put a height limit on too, and make a three second rule inside the three point line? Enough is enough. Leave the rule as it is.

  • Allenp Posted: Oct.15 at 11:15 am
    I agree with Mat Smith. Leading questions are wack, but they are quite common among sportwriters trying to wring good quotes out of reticent and bored athletes. I just hate when the writers turn the answers to their leading questions into a big story.

  • Bryan Posted: Oct.15 at 11:18 am
    For once I agree with Shaq I hate the spurs and I think the hack a shaq is ghey. F*ck the spurs and anyone else who fouls someone cause they can’t guard them.

  • htyz Posted: Oct.15 at 11:27 am
    whelp… you have got to love how shaq tried to haul his xxlarge package to timmy.you want fries with that?

  • Froggiestyle Posted: Oct.15 at 11:29 am
    Jukai I wanna get some of what yer smoking – height limit, 3 sec, whaaaa?? Kid you got some mean green there. Appreciate the game for what it is? I’d like to see you try that crap on a local court and not get knocked into last week. It’s weak and STOPS the game. How have you avoided getting smacked around – you don’t get out much or what?

  • Co Co Posted: Oct.15 at 11:39 am
    I think exploiting someone’s weakness is well within a team’s right. It’s either a tactic or a strategy, I’ll ask McCain which one it is later….. When they hack Big Ben and Shaq or whomever it is that can’t shoot free throws I think it’s fine. Learn how to shoot free throws and shut the hell up.

  • Mo Charlo Posted: Oct.15 at 11:46 am
    It’s an odd-numbered year. Meaning: The Spurs will win the championship.

  • BETCATS Posted: Oct.15 at 12:12 pm
    damm pu$$ie$

  • namik Posted: Oct.15 at 12:16 pm
    Ha. Ha. Ha.

  • Jukai Posted: Oct.15 at 12:22 pm
    Froggiestyle, maybe if you stop smoking so much dope, you’d understand what I’m saying. What the hell local court do you play in where people take foul shots? That’s tha lemst thing ever. However, if I’m playing in some REC league with some referee, the score is tight, and their huge-ass post player has the ball and he can’t hit free throws, I’m smacking him on the arm. It’s his damn fault for not being able to hit one of the most basic shots in the game.
    Someone wants to smack me for it, let them try it.

  • Jukai Posted: Oct.15 at 12:29 pm
    lemst = lamest

  • Omar3 Posted: Oct.15 at 12:48 pm
    Shaq should just shut up and lose weight!!!

  • Josh D Posted: Oct.15 at 12:48 pm
    As i recall Shaq was the one on TD and Shaq was the one who gave the help on Ginobili, who passed to Duncan for the open 3, so Shaq can talk.

  • Jason Castro Posted: Oct.15 at 12:48 pm
    Say what you wanna say about shaq…but I think he is smarter than you think….he loves to play mind games!!!!And if history shows he still got 4 championships so I think he is brilliant!

  • KA Posted: Oct.15 at 12:52 pm
    shaq has this jekyl and hyde relationship with the media. he’ll make us laugh one time, backstab ppl the other. but he gets away with bcoz hes shaq. meh.

  • htyz Posted: Oct.15 at 1:10 pm
    btw, just remembered watching a show with primetime Shaq about getting better in sports… the whole problem with his FT is concentration.I kid you not, while on the stripe he could think about the shot for less then a second.

  • Eboy Posted: Oct.15 at 1:32 pm
    Jason Castro, the American Idol kid?

  • mike Posted: Oct.15 at 2:01 pm
    is hack-a-shaq the new yoga method the spurs are trying?

  • jbn74sb Posted: Oct.15 at 2:03 pm
    Shaq has always been such a supportive teammate wherever he goes. This kind of behavior is so surprising from him.

  • Jason Castro Posted: Oct.15 at 2:18 pm
    lol not the american idol kid i’m sure im a better baller than he is.

  • razorblade Posted: Oct.15 at 2:29 pm
    shaq is dunzo…its just a shame he cant go away with dignity..right now his mouth is writing checks his game cant cash

  • its just alex Posted: Oct.15 at 3:20 pm
    CoCo that was great.

  • overtime Posted: Oct.15 at 3:48 pm
    Spurs the most dominant team in Shaq’s timeline”?Did Micheal and the Bulls not play when Shaq was around then?

  • Jason Castro Posted: Oct.15 at 4:25 pm
    yes when michael was still dominating the league with the bulls shaq was in orlando….shaq and company (penny) actually beat the bulls in a playoff round when Jordan made his first comeback.

  • IrishPaul Posted: Oct.15 at 4:32 pm
    And to think it was Kobe who was always derided as the immature egomaniac

  • RedRum Posted: Oct.15 at 4:53 pm
    they should not change the rules on Hack a shaq. it would be absolutely ridiculous to implement a rule that covers for one players’ weakness. What’s next? how about not allowing zone against badly shooting teams? how about not allowing running pick n rolls on players that don’t rotate well? gimme a break.. shaq should have practiced so he can hit 60-65% of an open shot from a mid-range distance…

  • Keith Posted: Oct.15 at 5:09 pm
    I thought Jukai had died in a horrible hot air ballon accident. Guess I was wrong…

  • Moose Posted: Oct.15 at 5:22 pm
    Meh.

  • mackmaine Posted: Oct.15 at 5:27 pm
    there is no way shaq should’ve left his man on that duncan three. nash had parker covered and even if parker hit a two, the suns would still be up by one. it was shaq’s fault for trying to block parker’s drive to the basket when it didn’t even matter

  • Dacre Posted: Oct.15 at 6:25 pm
    Is is not the irony of the situation that his rookie was his best ft% season?
    This year its 75% from the stripe and a trip the NBA finals in the Desert sun!

  • Teddy-the-Bear Posted: Oct.15 at 7:49 pm
    Shaq’s just mad because even the Scary Movie producers know he can’t hit free throws.

  • Young Chris MP3 Posted: Oct.15 at 8:10 pm
    I belive the Lakers used to dominate the Spurs and they only lost to them in the playoffs the year Shaq was injured (2003). I also agree with Diesel in regards to the Suns deficiencies on defense.

  • LA Huey Posted: Oct.15 at 9:14 pm
    I don’t like the Hack-a-Shaq/Chandler strategy. That being said, I don’t think there should be a rule change. Pro ballers should be able to hit 70% of their free throws.

  • RV Posted: Oct.15 at 11:01 pm
    He’s gonna have to hit 90% if Nash misses part of the season…he sprained his ankle tonight

  • Josh Posted: Oct.16 at 12:01 am
    I love shaq and he is right, it is kinda a pu**y move to foul someone ’cause you know that you can’t stop them

  • justin Posted: Oct.16 at 12:03 am
    Actually, when your watching the game hack-a-shaq sh*t is boring and very b*itch made. I don’t know anyone who likes it. 80′s baby, sorry. Too, he is a professional for god’s sake and so are his teammates, so I would say he could just explain the play and how it messed up. You don’t think D’Antonio at least said, “somebody didn’t get over” at some point? Im not the biggest Shaq fan in the world, but I have mad respect for him. He is very intelligent, has done something way more with his life besides just be big as hell and dunk. Pretty hard to find big men (or anyone anymore) to play for as long as he has. Don’t judge a player by the end of their career its actually hard to believe people are dissing Shaq when you think about it. Peace ya’ll

  • Dacre Posted: Oct.16 at 12:32 am
    The clear point of fact that has been missed from a officiating stand point…where have the last…MILLION technical foul calls gone? If no one is making a play for the ball…
    ….Come on BIG DIESEL…just start up like everyone is Greg Ostertag again please!!!

  • Teddy-the-Bear Posted: Oct.16 at 12:50 am
    @ Josh: Who the hell cares? If Shaq is bound to miss a good 50% of his free throws, why not hack him? Oh but wait, you need “street cred” in the multi-billion dollar industry of the NBA, don’t you?

  • DENIRO7981 Posted: Oct.16 at 12:52 am
    Shaq is washed up and he is a bum. retire clown your old pal!

  • tealish Posted: Oct.16 at 1:42 am
    Frankly, I don’t mind watching the big fella getting hacked near the end of games. It’s sort of interesting to see how a professional ball player’s game can be so explicitly exploited when it’s something that he could improve by simply practicing it. The fact that said player makes such a big deal about it, as well as his continuously puzzling assertion that “he makes it when it matters”, is just added gravy.

  • chintao Posted: Oct.16 at 1:56 am
    1) I always have thought Shaquita was a sophomoric a$$hole. I’m glad that everyone is finally coming around to that point of view. 2) It is easy to b!tch about defensive rotations, when your fat a$$ stays anchored to the pivot.

  • chintao Posted: Oct.16 at 1:59 am
    Oh, and Justin, can you show me an example of Shaq’s intelligence? He’s made some droll remarks from time-to-time, but I don’t think that’s proof of intelligence. Acting like an ignorant jerk might be a contraindication, though. Shaq, tell me how Duncan’s a$$ tastes.

  • Sarah Posted: Oct.16 at 2:14 am
    Damn Shaq, how many months ago was this? Get over it already. No, your guard can’t play defense. If you didn’t know that before you got there then there really is no hope for you. Besides, parking your big ass in the lane and watching helplessly while the guys out front are getting repeatedly screened doesn’t exactly place you above reproach.

  • curtis Posted: Oct.16 at 2:58 am
    after reading phil jacksons book i dont blame shaq one bit

  • mat smith Posted: Oct.16 at 4:14 am
    does no one realise that was the 1st 3 Duncan had made that season, its not like no one switched out on Ray Allen, I would have left him open, it was a fluke, a very important fluke, but none the less he would probably have missed the next 9 attempts if left open

  • cozza Posted: Oct.16 at 4:52 am
    good ol’ shaq: telling it EXACTLY like it is.
    The San Antonio Spurs are cowards. Their formula for winning is such:
    Flop+(Cowardice x 2)+Choking every 2nd year+hipchecking when a team is about to win the series=undeserved wins.

  • Gaz Posted: Oct.16 at 6:17 am
    MSkittle, shut up! Stop talking like you could ever play.

  • Nadia Comaneci Posted: Oct.16 at 7:02 am
    Shaq retired 2 years ago…(just happy that i ain’t paying his checks!!could not afford it anyway…)poor Nash…

  • Nadia Comaneci Posted: Oct.16 at 7:07 am
    and if the NBA can change the rules in order to protect lazy guys as Shaq, i would like also to impliment a rule to help me make it to the league!!!it goes like this: nobody is allowed to stay in front of me while i am shooting from 3p!!! (ok, Shaq is not the smartest guy around,but someone making so much money should at least pay a small amount for someone consult him before interviews…)

  • justin Posted: Oct.16 at 9:45 am
    Spurs = Duke. Everybody hates them, except a few, and they are probably queer.

  • CP34MVP Posted: Oct.16 at 4:42 pm
    Well, Shaq retire. your prime is over. Its time 2 end your career.

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