Shaquille O'Neal is a rich man but he just got a little richer after Game 2 of the first-round series between two of his former teams, the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, Wednesday night. Before the game, Shaq predicted that Miami would beat Boston by 10 points and made a bet on it against Charles Barkley. At the half, the legendary NBA big man doubled his wager, and that ended up as a great business decision because the Heat stunned Boston in Beantown, 111-101 — just like how Shaq called it.
The Heat were around 14-point underdogs entering Wednesday's game. They were blown out by the Celtics in Game 1 by 20 points (114–94) and they were also still missing their leader and best player this season, Jimmy Butler, because of a lower-body injury. Most signs point to another big Celtics win in Game 2, hence the wide betting spread. However, the Heat proved once again that they are a team that's simply hard to kill in the playoffs. Even without Butler, Miami operated fearlessly on the floor.
Tyler Herro bounced back from a poor performance in the series opener and generated a total of 24 points in Game 2 while shooting 7/13 from the field and making all of his four attempts from behind the arc. In addition to that, Herro dished out 14 dimes to sustain the rhythm of Miami's offense even when he's not scoring. Bam Adebayo stepped up as well, as he dominated his matchup against Kristaps Porzingis with a double-double outing of 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Herro and Adebayo are always going to be relied on by the Heat to deliver the goods, especially with Butler sidelined for multiple weeks due to an MCL injury, but it's the supporting cast for Miami that also made the upset win in Game 2 possible. Caleb Martin provided 21 points and Nikola Jovic produced 11 points. Martin and Jovic combined for a scorching 8/10 shooting from the 3-point area which really hurt the Celtics. As a team, the Heat hit 23 3-pointers on 43 attempts for an incredible 53.5 percent success rate from downtown.
Did Shaq predict all that? It doesn't matter because, at the end of the day, he got his game prediction right.
It is also going to be interesting to hear what Shaq's prediction will be for Game 3 when the Heat take their turn to host the Celtics this coming Saturday.
Fans react to Shaq's Heat-Celtics Game 2 prediction
Shaq surely had people buzzing online after his prediction came true. Those who based their bet on his Heat prediction made bank, while those who faded his pick were left scratching their heads about what just happened at TD Garden.
“When are people gonna stop doubting my Heat all the time? 😌,” said X (formerly Twitter) user @EmanSavageLife.
“Boston knew it was over the moment *bet* left Chuck’s mouth,” shared @ShaolinMonkeyts.
“Shaq will always be a real one. He is a true Heat legend 🔥🔥🔥,” commented @KingDami5299.
“A broken clock is right twice a day 🤣” chimed in @Dannyphantom441, who still doesn't seem to fully buy into Shaq's foresight.
“Imagine if could predict la va nuggets games🙃,” said @IvanaSt1984.
From @MacleanVinnie: “Shaq ain’t wrong ! 💯 spot on ! Plus the bastards are soft and are getting out coached ! Cmon say it ! It’s true ! Cmon green teamers ! Own it ! Be honest ! At least l am ! Too soft 🤬🤬🤬”
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