“I think when Carmelo plays against LeBron (James) and (Dwyane Wade), he should take it personally, like he’s always talked about last (among the three). When Amare plays against (Chris) Bosh, he should take it personally,” O’Neal said. “That’s what I always used to do. I played against guys, I used to take it personally that you’re not talking about me.
“They need to do that. In order to beat Miami, they’ve got to.”
via Shaquille O’Neal says New York Knicks, not Brooklyn Nets, are team to beat in New York - ESPN New York.
That’s great quote material, which is what Shaq does, besides laugh really big and give himself nicknames.
But here’s the thing. The Knicks will play 82 games this season (thank God). Four of them will come against the Miami Heat. The other 78 are against other teams. And there’s a substantial set of reasons to believe they won’t face them again in the playoffs. If it’s Boston, Brooklyn, Indiana, Chicago, having this be a focus is silly. Yes, they like to think of themselves as rivals to the Heat, because, well, let’s face it, New York aims high. But the weird thing is they actually mtach up conceptually with the Heat extremely well.
A slow-it-down, grind-it-out defensive team with a high-scoring forward who likes to work out of the mid-post and Tyson Chandler protecting the rim, along with quality veteran shooters on the outside. Yeah, that’s pretty much Dallas 2011, except that Dirk Nowitzki is considerably better than Carmelo Anthony.
They match up well with them. And yet they got steamrolled in the playoffs because of the talent disparity. There’s not much that New York can do to make up for that other than “be a lot better” and I’m not sure taking it personally is going to work. Also, considering how close Melo and that whole crew in South Beach is, I wouldn’t come along expecting any bad blood.
It’s not O’Neal’s fault, he was asked a question, answered honestly. Just not sure what it is New York’s really supposed to do with that information.
(Side note: Shaq does himself a disservice by saying that he and Kobe, in the years they didn’t win a championship, only played “OK” and then saying Melo and Amar’e played “OK” last year. Bad Shaq and Kobe was still very good, like pizza. So far Melo and Amar’e sharing the floor has been a dumpster fire in a sewage refinery. )