Never one to shy away from a public feud — most famously with Kobe Bryant and most recently with Dwight Howard — it appears Shaquille O’Neal has his dander up again, and this time it’s Blake Griffin earning the ire of the Big Contrarian.
“Big Shaq is, was, and always will be the most dominant ever at blowing potential three-point plays,” said O’Neal. “Along comes little boy Blake, who wants to take over LA, dunking on people’s heads, drawing fouls and then clanking free throws. Guess what: That role’s already been cast, and it’s Big Shaq on the movie poster.”
Over the course of a 19-year NBA career, O’Neal made just 52.7 percent of his free throws. Now 28 games into the 2011-12 campaign, Griffin is shooting 52.8 percent from the charity stripe.
“Hack-a-Shaq is part of the NBA vernacular for a reason,” said O’Neal. “My ninth year in the league I took almost 1,000 free throws. Missed 473 of them. Hell, I went 0-11 one night. Rake-a-Blake? Miff’n-a-Griffin? Shaq ain’t it hearing it.”
Griffin however has taken a defiant tone in the face of the legendary big man.
“Just this month I put up a 1-7 and a 2-9,” reminded Griffin. “Not quite 0-11, I know, but it’s only my second year. Teams are starting to realize after I take a couple of hard fouls I get mad, and then I play like shit. This rodeo ain’t leaving town any time soon. The Big Retired is just gonna have to get used to it.”
