Shaq doesn’t take the bait
Shaquille O’Neal steered clear of any and all questions vaguely related to the Miami Heat tonight as he talked about tonight’s game in the Celtics locker room. A reporter asked O’Neal how long he thought it would take Miami to play as cohesively as the Celtics do.
Shaq shook his head.
The reporter rephrased the question.
Shaq shook his head again. “Next question.”
“We just wanted to come out and win our first game,” said O’Neal. “We’ll let you all worry about all the hoopla and all that.”
The Celtics did win their first game, but they let Miami whittle a double-digit lead down to three points late in the fourth quarter.
“We’re kind of upset at ourselves for letting them come back and cut into the lead,” said O’Neal. “We’re a work in progress … if we keep playing like that all year then we’ll be fine.”
For his part, O’Neal chipped in 9 points and 7 rebounds in 18 minutes.
“I had a couple of early-game jitters,” said O’Neal. “I missed a couple chippies.”
O’Neal sat out the fourth quarter in favor of the more mobile Glen Davis.
— On Rajon Rondo: “He’s a perfect point guard. He knows where his guys are. He led us. Great player.”
— On Ray Allen: “Ray’s one of the greatest players ever to play the game. Doc drew up a play. It’s a play that we practice all the time. That was one of our options, and Ray Allen just did what he does.”
— On Paul Pierce: “Great player. I don’t think you guys give him enough media attention. He’s up there with the other two guys [in the Heat locker room].”
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