Around the NBA: Shaq feels sky is limit for Cavaliers
By Chris Beaven
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Feb 06, 2010 @ 08:26 PM
CLEVELAND —
With four championship rings to his credit, Shaquille O’Neal brings instant credibility when he talks about winning an NBA title.
And the 15-time All-Star isn’t bashful about title talk with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who entered the weekend with a 10-game winning streak and the league’s best record.
“Championship teams either have a 1-2 punch and three OK jabs or one knockout punch and four nice, stiff jabs,” O’Neal said. “That’s what we have right now. We’ve got LeBron (James) as our knockout punch and we’ve got everybody else playing their roles productively and doing the right thing. ... We keep playing at this level, the sky is the limit for this team.”
Some might argue with the way O’Neal has played over the last month, the Cavs have a quite a 1-2 punch with him and James.
O’Neal, though, puts James on a different level from anyone else.
“He’s playing phenomenal,” O’Neal said, calling James, “the greatest passer in the game right now.”
Beyond James, though, what O’Neal likes about this group is its intangibles. O’Neal sees a group that works hard yet has fun, saying it’s “the closest team I’ve been on.”
O’Neal also has been impressed with how the Cavs have dealt with adversity — be it injuries or playing poorly for a stretch of games.
“We have a lot of poise,” he said. “We don’t really let things bother us. I think that’s because the last three or four years, they went through a lot. We just have to come out here and keep playing.”
O’Neal, though, made it clear after Thursday’s win over Miami that he didn’t want to get too carried away.
“I don’t like to get too happy, too giddy,” he said. “I don’t like to count my chickens before they hatch. We’re playing excellent ball, and if we can bottle it and keep it going until March, April, we should be fine.”
NOT HIS CALL
Shaq was asked Friday whether or not the Cavs should make a deal.
“I think right now we’re playing very well,” he said. “Being a player you’re never really involved in the business of basketball.”
O’Neal said the “ultimate decision” of making a move or standing pat belongs to the front office. “Right now, we’re playing well.”
SEIZING THE MOMENT
December ended with Daniel Gibson out of the Cavs rotation through no fault of his own. A simple minutes crunch on the perimeter left Gibson as the odd man out of Head Coach Mike Brown’s rotation. The emergence of Jawad Williams further limited Gibson’s minutes on the floor.
But after injuries to Mo Williams and Delonte West left the Cavs in need of a point guard, Gibson has answered the call.
“You’re asked to step in and play a key role and then you step up to the challenge,” Gibson said.
Gibson did his best to not let falling out of the rotation hurt his game or mind-set.
“At the time, it was tough and disappointing because I felt like I had put in a lot of work this summer,” he said. “But the thing that Coach Brown does — and that he always does — is he’s going to talk to you and at the same time, he’s going to keep that window and that door open to let you know that it might come back around, so stay prepared.”
24-SECOND CLOCK
• Teams that saw the Cavs earlier in the season and then see them again now are coming away impressed. “They looked more like they knew what they were doing out there,” young Grizzlies star Rudy Gay said after his team lost at Cleveland this week. Two months ago, the Grizzlies beat the Cavs in Memphis and were able to score at will on them. In the rematch, Memphis shot 38 percent.
• The big rumor a year ago as the trade deadline approached was the Cavs’ interest in O’Neal. The Cavs and Suns didn’t make the deal, though, until after the season ended. O’Neal was asked if he thought he could’ve fit in quickly during last season’s final two-plus months. “I don’t like to always go with ifs,” O’Neal said. “... Everything happens for a reason. I’m glad I came here at the beginning (of this season).”
• When talking about not liking “ifs,” O’Neal offered an example why. “One time when I was young I stole a car, and if I would’ve got caught, I probably wouldn’t be here right now,” he said. Asked if he learned a lesson despite not getting caught, O’Neal said, “When I got home I learned my lesson, a big lesson.”
Pretty cool to see the Big Guy claim that this is the closest team he's ever played on.
http://www.cantonrep.com/cavaliers/x1582411344/Around-the-NBA-Shaq-feels-sky-is-limit-for-Cavaliers
"Pretty cool to see the Big Guy claim that this is the closest team he's ever played on."
Skyhook79 wrote:Shaq is an attention whore.
^^^
Best team in the NBA, best player in the NBA, it's going to take more than an epic meltdown this time for the Cavs to not win it all.
Looks like Shaq isnt wanting a trade.