We’ve seen it before… but now there’s a new episode, with a holiday twist. We’re talking about the always-funny scenes on Inside the NBA, where Shaq will occasionally try to race the spry Kenny Smith to the big video wall during halftime highlights.
So…did you see this week’s latest? (As of this posting date, of course.) It happened during the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers. (Both teams have seen Shaq in uniform, BTW.)
As Kenny got up to make his move to the big board, Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley remained at the desk, as they always do. But – as he sometimes does – Shaq got up and offered Smith another challenge in getting to the wall first.
Now… we did say this was a “holiday edition” of the race, right? Yup. As the pair headed for the video wall at the back of Studio J, Kenny The Jet got out to an early lead, and then pushed the big man into an even bigger Christmas tree stationed at one side of the studio.
As big as he is, O’Neal was no match for the big tree. Score Tree – 1, Shaq – 0 as the big man tumbled over packages stashed under the tree and then landed in a heap. Check out the video below for full coverage of that night’s action.
Shaq then crawled from beneath the tree with some help from his other co-hosts and had a few lighthearted yet ominous words for Smith. “This means war, Kenny,” O’Neal said…several times.
Still, Shaq seemed to recognize the humor-factor of his powering into the tree the way he did. Might have reminded him of some of his strong-armed moved under the rim from back in playing days.
So just like making a move for the layup, O’Neal went back for more. That led to another Shaq-dive into the tree again! Not surprisingly, the laughs were huge and the damage was real. Smith’s comment: “We need a new tree now man, come on.”
Hopefully the big man was undamaged by his run-in with the big tree. We’d be on the lookout for future trouble, if we were you, Kenny Smith!