"You're Not Going To Be A Contender": Shaquille O'Neal Reacts To Austin Reaves Intentionally Missing Free Throws vs. Nuggets

It took an extraordinary amount of guts to pull off what Austin Reaves did Saturday night against the Nuggets. With the Lakers down by two in the dying seconds of regulation, Reaves had to intentionally miss a free throw, grab the offensive rebound, and make a basket to send the game into overtime.

Reaves pulled this off perfectly, and in the extra period, his teammate Luka Doncic hit a go-ahead basket to seal the Lakers’ 127-125 victory. It was a dramatic win, sure, but one Los Angeles legend wasn’t having it.

On “Inside the NBA” after this overtime thriller, Shaquille O’Neal had an ounce of disappointment to pour on the Lakers’ parade this weekend. “If you have to rely on a heavy diet of that,” O’Neal said. “You’re not going to win and you’re not going to be a contender.”

O’Neal, who won three titles under Phil Jackson and one title with Pat Riley, looked at the Lakers’ victory from a different lens. “I’m used to playing for coaches who wouldn’t be happy with that game…When you’re up by 15 early in the game, that’s when you’ve got to put teams away.”

Uncle Shaq was off by two points in this case, as the Lakers actually led by 17 at one point during the Nuggets game. In the third quarter, Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon led a spirited charge that allowed Denver to close the gap. Ironically, the Nuggets themselves blew an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, giving the Lakers a chance to save face.

With 5.2 seconds left, the Lakers were down 118-115 and Reaves found himself on the charity stripe. He made the first free throw, then shot the ball in a precise manner so that he could put himself in position to grab the offensive board.

Kenny Smith, O’Neal’s colleague on “Inside,” wondered out loud why the Laker legend wasn’t more enthusiastic about this feat. “That’s the Denver Nuggets, though. You wouldn’t be happy beating the Nuggets?” Smith asked.

The Diesel shook his head. “Nope,” he insisted. “Don’t let them come back. Don’t let them win.”

The Lakers have now won their season series against the Nuggets, but Shaq knows that a far more important series between the two teams could be on the horizon. The Lakers were eliminated by the Nuggets in back-to-back playoff series not too long ago, and as far as O’Neal is concerned, the same fate awaits the Tinseltown boys if they find themselves in desperate situations again.