Shaquille O’Neal Believes His Boston Celtics Would’ve Beaten The Miami Heat In 2011 If He Didn’t Get Injured

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Shaquille O’Neal was way past his prime when he got to the Boston Celtics during the 2010-11 NBA season. At age 38, O’Neal only put up 9.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game on 66.7% shooting from the field.

The four-time NBA champion also dealt with Achilles and calf injuries during the season and was only healthy for 37 regular season games. He managed to return during their second-round playoff matchup against the Miami Heat, but was only limited to two games. 

Looking back on the season and knowing how the Heat cruised to a dominant 4-1 series win against the Celtics in the playoffs, O’Neal now argued that they would’ve beaten the Heat had he stayed healthy for the rest of their run.

Per Heavy Sports:

“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.”