Big 2: Shaq Disses Chris Bosh, Leaves Forward Out Of Miami Heat's Big 3

No basketball? No problem. Apparently Shaquille O'Neal, the newest member of 'Inside the NBA' on TNT, is getting an early start at making inflammatory statements.

During a Tuesday broadcast on NBATV, O'Neal heaped praise on Miami Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, while apparently omitting NBA All-Star Chris Bosh.

"The Miami Heat, they’ve got a lot of great players, the 'Big Two,' said O'Neal, referring to James and Wade. "They will be back."

As most NBA fans know, the Heat trio of James, Wade, and Bosh are often referred to as the "Big Three."

This is not the first time O'Neal has taken a jab at Bosh. In March of 2009, the Big Diesel referred to the All-Star power forward as "The RuPaul of Big Men"

O'Neal, who won a championship in 2006 with Wade on the Heat and spent the 2009-10 season playing with James in Cleveland, will join Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley this season on TNT. Despite his glaring omission of Bosh, O'Neal made it clear that he felt the Heat would be a tough team next year. "They’re going to get back. They play well, they went through a lot, they put a lot of pressure on themselves," O'Neal said during the program. "That’s how they like it. And they will be back.”

O'Neal's belief in the Heat will likely set up some interesting debates with his future colleague in Barkley, who didn't exactly keep his disdain for Miami's squad a secret last season.

WATCH FOR MORE DETAILS (via ESPN):

Comments

[alicam]

07:48 PM on 07/21/2011

I just thought of something: How come Jordon didn't become an analyst like all the rest of the former player? If Shaq can do it, I know he could.

[Six Gator]

04:16 PM on 07/21/2011

dang, missed the twitter mark!....that time!
Barkley and Shaq at the same time?...wow, darn glad I have dvr ( see sarcasm!)

[Six Gator]

04:12 PM on 07/21/2011

w/o reading the story, let me guess...."ON TWITTER"?...where everyone who thinks they're ANYONE goes to talk smack!.....still, the dumbest media medium ever!

[lmab]

01:37 PM on 07/21/2011

Don't mess with the Deisel.....He will have you disappeared.

[jazzman]

12:00 PM on 07/21/2011

Greatest backcourt assembled doesn't translate into greatest team or even an NBA championship. The great Celtics teams had great backcourts and then great forwards and centers. The great Lakers teams with Magic and Kareem and Worthy had a great 5. Kobe and Shaq were a great 2. Chicago had Pippen, Jordan, and Rodman. Miami has to come up with more than the great 2 to be perenial champions. They need to be a great team.

[Hard2kill]

07:16 AM on 07/21/2011

I'm a solid Mavs fan but Bosh is the classiest of the 3. The reason why he was not performing well, and also a part of the reason why Miami heat lost is because he was not getting any pass from the 2-man players....

Bosh should play his hometown team, Dallas Mavericks.... He has no place in Miami... he will only be clouded by the 2 self-proclaimed heroes....

[Minnehaha]

02:34 AM on 07/21/2011

Bosh needs to exit Miami as soon as possible. He will be traded more than likely!

[Darcel Green]

09:31 PM on 07/20/2011

Oh,oh-I see an episode of Basketball wives coming out of this:)

[STParker]

06:29 PM on 07/20/2011

how do we know he wasn"t refering to Wade and Bosh?

[jtowned]

04:36 PM on 07/20/2011

I'm pretty sure the entire city of Toronto agrees with Shaq...at least the ones who know what basketball is.

[bsultan]

04:32 PM on 07/20/2011

In the finals there was only a big 2 for the Heat...but Bosh wasn't the missing star.

[Bob Mirabile]

03:23 PM on 07/20/2011

unless spole and the rest figure out how to be a 3 2 trap the passing lane the heat is going nowhere but home again such a basic 'd' that most highschoolers learn and spole cant teach how to beat it what a joke

[antrich4000]

02:23 PM on 07/20/2011

Wade is the top athlete in sports, I think, a class act, well spoken, well respected, loves his mother, helped his mother who was on drugs. He is engaged in all kinds of charities, and a winner, and he dates movie stars. Got it all. As long as he is with the Heat, things will never get out of hand. So he is the glue to the Heat, and inch for inch, probably the best baller on earth, given his size, and ability to play and dominate much taller men. I think Lebron looks up to him because of all of this and how Wade carries himself. So there is character on this team and talent, and the Heat will again be one of the top teams. Chris Bosh is a great player, he had quite a few great games in the playoffs. He is one of the better players in the NBA.

[beasteben]

01:30 PM on 07/20/2011

I'll help Miami out with getting a championship. Here it is: Wade is your star, everyone else is a role player supporting him.

[drweaks1]

12:32 PM on 07/20/2011

please stop the madness!!!!! somebody here said it right shaq cant talk and i think if you engaged him in REAL conversation other than b ball hed show hes not intelligent...that said even tho he may have shot 41% Bosh was clearly the most concistent on the floor...queen james choked again and again at the end of most of the games....NO BALLS WHEN PLAYOFF PRESSURE IS ON THE LINE....LIKE A-ROD!!!

[antrich4000]

02:35 PM on 07/20/2011

D-Wade had an awesome peformance in the finals, clearly the second best player in the finals behind Noviski. The last game he did not look that well, but in some of those games he almost looked like his old 2006 self when he was the Michael Jordon of the playoffs. In the first four games he had scored 120 points. Chris Bosh took 9 shots in the last game, made 7, and this is his problem. He is a #3 option and he accepts it. He should have taken more shots and tried to dominate but he did not. Starring is not the mentality of the #3 option. But the Heat is too good, if they can sign Joel Anthony, who is now one of the best defensive players in the leagues. Mike Miller had an injury to his shooting had last year, after repairs this summer, he will be twice the player he was last year. Haslem will be back the entire year. Chambers made great progress. This is the team to beat. The only problem is Lebron, if he checks out mentally like he did in this year's finals, well, there is no accounting for that......but I hope he grows mentally as a player. Lebron problems were all mental, seems incapable of handling criticism.