Shaquille O’Neal’s bitter blow-trading fight with Charles Barkley during a high-octane clash between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets in 1999 ended with the two going out for dinner soon after the game.
The Lakers big man set the record straight on what happened in the aftermath of the infamous fight — an event that he believes the media blew out of proportion.
“It wasn’t really a fight scene, because he didn’t want to hit me,” Shaq said. “I really didn’t want to hit him, I just wanted to tag him. But, you know it was a wild punch. He tackled me and we lay there. We went out for dinner after the game. See! A lot of people didn’t know that we went out to eat after the game. It was all marketers!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky3KVqswIsw
During the game, Barkley lined up for a shot near the basket when he was fouled by Brian Shaw. In the meantime, Shaq tried to block him while the foul was being called. Soon after, the latter pushed Barkley, who responded by throwing the ball at Shaq’s face. Soon after, it was a proper brouhaha and the two had to be separated.
Fast forward to the present, both legendary players are now analysts for TNT’s ‘Inside The NBA’. While they still trade shots in the form of friendly ribbing and banter, the duo seem to have left their flaring tempers on the hardwood and have since moved on.
Charles Barkley On The First Word That Comes To Mind When He Thinks Of Shaquille O’Neal
Such has been the duo’s friendship after all their skirmishes on the court, that they have mutual respect and admiration for each other. And both of them have good things to say about each other
Speaking on the sidelines of an event centering around the Lakers star’s documentary ‘Shaq,’ Barkley highlighted a few words that first come to his mind when he thinks of his co-analyst.
“Funny”, hilarious, great businessman, great, great, great player, and Hall of Famer,” were some of the words that the former Phoenix Suns star used to describe Shaq.
It’s nice to see how two players buried the hatchet no matter how ugly things got. It’s not every day that we see highly competitive athletes back down and forget the past, but these two men have managed to forgive and forget. And it’s worked out pretty well so far.
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