“Don’t Cry”: When Shaquille O’Neal Hit Back At Rival Coach’s Criticism With ‘Poetry’

During the Lakers-Nets 2002 finals series, following an impressive shooting display in Game 2, Rick Adelman claimed that Shaquille ONeal got away with free throw line-related violations.

As a result, ONeal used his creativity to construct a poem to shut the Sacramento Kings personnel up.

The center had a dominant performance as he for played almost 41 minutes and finished with 40 points and 12 rebounds.

However, the more impressive stat from the night was his efficiency from the charity stripe 12/14.

Instead of receiving praises for his 85.7% FT production, Shaq was attacked by Adelman for overstepping the free throw line prematurely.

At first, the megastar called out Adelman on national TV immediately after the game concluded.

The Big Aristotle was frustrated by the unwanted criticism.

Shaq s actions further included penning down poetry for the Kings head coach.

Being the lyrical genius that he is, the 2000 MVP wrote: The California side clinched the finals by sweeping the Nets.

Additionally, ONeal even won the Finals MVP for a third straight season.

However, the poem didnt help Diesel sustain his impressive level of performance from the free throw line in the final two games of the series.

Shaq witnessed a dip in his performance after the poem to Adelman Shaq was unstoppable during the finals clash against Jason Kidd and Co.

He won the Finals MVP honors by recording 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game.

However, these stats couldve been a bit better had he not sent the poem to Rick Adelman.

During the first two games, before the poem, Shaq had averaged 38 points, 14 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game.

After the jab at Adelman, the 7ft 1 player averaged 34.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3 assists per game.

The poetry also harmed Shaqs free throw display.

In the first two games of the series, he shot the ball at 68.5% (24/35).

However, this number fell to 63.6% (21/33) in the second half of the best-of-7 games series..

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