The Brooklyn Nets suffered a tough loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, and Ben Simmons continues to struggles offensively as he extended his single-digit scoring streak.
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal talked with journalists on an NBA on TNT program about Simmons’ struggles and scrutiny from fans. O’Neal made the comparison of Simmons’ doubters to his own free-throw hecklers.
“I understand exactly what Ben’s going through. You don’t think I, after missing ten free-throws in a row, I’m nervous about going to the line? Confession time: I used to be scared [expletive].
…. Let’s just say there’s a tie game, couple seconds left and I made that one, now I’m laughing back at you and you can’t do [expletive] about it. So, like, I never got hurt. Let me tell you something – it weighed on me. I used to go home and tear my house up. I used to go home and listen to what everybody says. Guys you thought were your friends, Stephen A. [Smith] and all that, they used to say the same thing. But I couldn’t…. that didn’t make me want to quit, it made me want to make you shut up.”
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