Shaq vs. Van Gundy

by DieSlowKeyshawn on Mar 4, 2009 7:45 PM EST

The episode that inspired this latest Shaq rant came after O'Neal took an elbow to the chest from Dwight Howard during a third-quarter Magic possession during Orlando's 111-99 victory and crumbled to the floor looking to draw an offensive foul.

"I was shocked, seriously shocked," Van Gundy said, "and very disappointed because he knows what it's like. Let's stand up and play like men, and I think our guy did that tonight."

Shaq:

"I heard his comment. Flopping to me is doing it more than one time, and I realized when I tried to take the charge, as I went down, I realized that that play reminded me of his whole coaching career," O'Neal said of Van Gundy. "And one thing I really despise is a frontrunner, so I know for a fact that he's a master of panic, and when it gets time for his team to go in the postseason and do certain things, he will let them down because of his panic. I've been there before, I've played for him."

"Flopping is playing like that your whole career. I was trying to take the charge, trying to get a call. It probably was a flop, but flopping is the wrong use of words. Flopping would describe his coaching," O'Neal said, steering the conversation back to Van Gundy. "I'm not going to just sit abound and let nobodies take shots at me, and he is a nobody to me. And if he thinks he can get in a little press conference and take shots at me like I'm not going to [give] something back, he's got another thing coming."

"I said I flopped, but flopping is falling and crying and complaining to the ref. I tried to take a charge. The rules say when a guy comes into your chest and you fall, that's an offensive foul, and that's all I tried to do. I fell, didn't complain, he made a great move, spun and dunked it, but flopping is the wrong choice of words. So that's all I've got to say about that, but again, I despise frontrunners, I despise them. And that's what he is to me."

This FanPost was made by a member of the Orlando Pinstriped Post community, and is to be treated as the opinions and views of its author, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.

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Shaq = as much class as his Kmart brand shoes

end of story

"In order for us to make a move, It has to make sense" - Otis Smith's favorite saying

by magic12ball on Mar 4, 2009 9:19 PM EST reply actions

Thanks for the FanPost, DSK.

If I saw it sooner, I would have just referenced it in my news bulletin. Sorry about that.

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by erivera7 on Mar 4, 2009 10:40 PM EST reply actions

eh no worries

saw the headline on espn.com, came here expecting to see it and it wasn’t up yet, so I figured I’d link it.

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by DieSlowKeyshawn on Mar 5, 2009 11:50 AM EST up reply actions

van Gundy's going into bat for Dwight

Or so says Yahoo! Sports.

by eltharion_doa on Mar 5, 2009 2:02 PM EST reply actions

The Big Floppopotamus

I was actually beginning to respect him again but now he’s just a washed-up fat goon who is grasping at the fading straws of his career and he can’t accept the inevitable.

Also, after seeing him literally crawl inside Kobe’s rectum at the ASW and get to work cleaning the place up, this just makes it even sweeter that he’s reduced to begging.

Still, Stan is going to be the one still going come June time, while The Big Chump is crying in the desert.

by big aaron on Mar 5, 2009 2:14 PM EST reply actions

Shaq is experienced enough to know how to use the media to his advantage. Dwight hasn’t figured it out yet, so there was no way he was going win that battle. Stan, who is a master at using the media to get to certain people (Dwight, couch cough), went out of his way to take the heat off his young center. I’m guessing Stan could care less what Shaq has to say.

by magic fanatic on Mar 6, 2009 11:15 AM EST reply actions