Before last night’s Game 2 Celtics-Heat game, Shaquille O’Neal he predicted Miami would beat Boston by 10 points and bet on that against Charles Barkley. At halftime, the legendary NBA big man doubled his bet, and that turned out to be a great decision as the Heat stunned Boston in Beantown to win 111-101. Just like Shaq predicted. The bet then went viral among fans, triggering numerous reactions of all kinds.
Most signs pointed to another big Celtics win in Game 2 due to both the absence of Jimmy Butler and the 20-point deficit in Game 1, hence the large betting margin. However, the Heat have proven once again that they are simply a tough team to kill in the playoffs. Even without Butler, Miami operated fearlessly on the floor, holding its own in rebounding and hitting 23 3-pointers on a 53.3 percent success rate. Did Shaq see all this coming? It doesn’t matter because, in the end, he got the prediction of the match right. It will also be interesting to know what Shaq’s prediction will be for Game 3 when the Heat host the Celtics next Saturday.
