"That’s what I do: No [expletive] layups," said O'Neal. "Print it just like that and, if you get fined, come see me, and I’ll reimburse you… No layups."
O'Neal nimbly avoided saying too much about the actual play, in which James stormed the lane in transition and got throttled as Shaq delivered a two-armed shove as James drew contact. O'Neal then threw his arms up in the air and moved away (instead of coming down hard on James), but still earned the flagrant-1 designation.
"I can get grabbed around the neck and it’s not flagrant, but as soon as i body-check somebody… ," O'Neal said trailing off. "Hey, man, I'm used to it. But, yeah, no layups. Guys in our league, they know that. They know I'm serious about that."
And
"You're supposed to take the bump and fall," explained O'Neal. "I'm not going to do that because they're not going to call it anyway. With [LeBron] coming full speed like that, you're probably not going to block his shot, so you gotta chuck him. I think he missed, what, one of those free throws? So yeah, you just gotta chuck him. He's a tough kid, he can take it. There's a difference between a hard foul and trying to hurt somebody."
Preach on Diesel… preach on. That line… "You're probably not going to block his shot, so you gotta chuck him" might be one of my favorite lines of all time.
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