Shaquille O’Neal Apparently Didn’t Know Who Terry Rozier Was, Either
Don’t worry, Eric Bledsoe: You’re not alone.
The Milwaukee Bucks guard made headlines early in his team’s first-round NBA playoff series with the Boston Celtics by claiming he didn’t know who Terry Rozier was. Now, Bledsoe obviously wasn’t being serious — how could he be, given Rozier’s performance? — but there is one person who apparently really didn’t know of the Celtics guard’s existence: NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.
After the C’s eliminated the Bucks in Game 7 at TD Garden on Saturday, O’Neal and his TNT brethren reacted to Boston’s dominating performance. That’s when “The Big Aristotle” revealed that he was extremely late to the phenomenon that is “Scary Terry.”
(You can click here to watch O’Neal’s reaction to the Celtics’ win.)
“You know what I like about Boston is their ball movement,” O’Neal said after the game. “In this era that we live in now, the teams that have the best ball movement are the teams that are the very most successful. And because they don’t have that one guy, everybody stepped up, everybody was ready, everybody was comfortable.
“And the kid Rozier, I’m very impressed, cause I didn’t know who he was until, you know, this playoffs. Coming off the bench, taking advantage of the opportunity, taking it to (Eric Bledsoe).
“I bet you people know his name now.”
Come on, Shaq.
How could someone really not know who Rozier was until roughly two weeks ago? We understand that the 24-year-old isn’t a household name, but he played big minutes all season for Boston and was a key contributor in the Celtics’ run to the Eastern Conference finals last season.
Plus, O’Neal is an NBA analyst, his job (supposedly) is to know who all the players are.
In any event, Rozier ultimately got the last laugh in his quasi-feud with Bledsoe, scoring 26 points and racking up nine assists in Game 7. The Louisville product will continue his quest toward putting the NBA world on notice when the C’s begin their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.
