MIAMI (AP) - Shaquille O'Neal has some advice for former teammate Kobe Bryant when the rivals play against each other for the first time - stay out of the lane "If you've got a Corvette that runs into a brick wall, you know what's gonna happen," he said in a halftime interview on ABC's "Monday Night Football." "He's a corvette. I'm a brick wall. So you know what's gonna happen." O'Neal and his new team, the Miami Heat, play Bryant and the Lakers on Saturday in Los Angeles. The two feuded for most of his time there. O'Neal asked to be traded to Miami in the offseason after the Lakers lost to Detroit in the NBA Finals. "A lot of people think you have to have a relationship to play together and win championships. That's not true at all and it was evident. But you have to have respect," O'Neal said. "Were we ever close? Not really. Did I respect his game? Of course I did." O'Neal said he didn't find out that Lakers coach Phil Jackson had been fired after losing to the Pistons until seeing it on the NBA's Web site. "Now usually when something like that goes down, I'm either the first or second to know about it," he said. "So when he was fired without my knowledge, I knew some changes were going to be made." Bryant told ESPN last week that he couldn't reach O'Neal to talk to him before the trade because he didn't have his phone number. O'Neal told ABC's Al Michaels he had no reaction to that. "Because I know how he really is. I've been trying to say that for eight years. But you have to look at the individuals and see what type of people that they are," he said. "I've always done things the right way, I've always done things the classy way." Ouch!
Shaq is just doing what he does best. Making sure the ratings 4 the Lakers vs. Heat are the "best in sports history!"
I have to say all this is really going to help boost ratings for that game. You know everyone will be watching and waiting for Kobe to drive in the Lane and see what happens. I suspect Kobe will be a puss and only drive the lane when shaq is out and stick to shooting jumpers.
no, quite frankly i suspect the opposite. Kobe's arrogant ass is gonna try to show up shaq, and he's gonna try to drive whenever he can. Then he will get knocked the f*ck out!
The most logical guess is that Kobe has a huge game but the Heat win. I hope that is the case as Kobe is my top guy on my fantasy team.
Kobe will get his.. (he's on my team too) but I do imagine Kobe will get knocked on his ass quite a few times when driving the lane. I dont know if Shaq would try and hurt him?!? who knows? I would be pissed if Kobe talked about my personal business like that too. J
these hype up matches usually don't pan out as expected, it might pan out as just a great bball game, but not a lot of aggression and stuff. Can't wait to see both the pacer and the laker games though
does anyone else just not care? i am so sick of hearing these grown men whine and cry about nothing. get over it already your on different teams
I hope Shaq plays. The game is so much more interesting if they both play. After the "brick wall" comment he has to play http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1951179
