Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal recently took a dig at Dwight Howard for allegedly celebrating L.A.'s recent championship a bit too much. Howard caught wind of Shaq's comments, and as it turns out, Howard has no clue as to how the beef all started.
Howard took a high-road approach, as he praised Shaq for everything he's done for the game of basketball, while also saying that O'Neal is “probably the most dominant player to ever play the game.” Howard also refused to get into a war of words with the Lakers legend:
“I just realized that you can't please everybody,” Howard stated, via Alex Kennedy of BaksetballNews.com. “Everybody's not gonna be happy with you or what you've done with your life. And the way that you kill them is with kindness. Instead of going back and forth with them, just stay locked in.
“If I had anything negative to say about him I won't ever say that in the public eye or say that where people can hear it. Because I don't think it's necessary. He has family. He has kids. He has people who love him. I just wasn't brought up that way.”
That's actually very mature of Howard, and not a response that we'd expect from him some five or ten years ago. Clearly, much has changed since then.
Howard then described what he thinks he must do from here on out, in terms of trying to prove Shaq and all his critics wrong:
“The way to beat him is to continue to play at a high level,” he added. “Just stay focused.”
Howard has chosen to stay locked in on his basketball, and this has resulted in a resurgent campaign for him last term — something that he hopes to keep going this coming season as well.
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