Shaquille O'Neal

Shaq: We need to improve on our 1-on-1 defense and play better team defense.

Shaq: It wasn't really an incident. I came out with a dunk and he put a little Artis Gilmore move on me. I really didn't know his game. But it was a nice move. Then he came and bumped me and I bumped him back.

Shaq: We would have liked it to have been 6-1, 5-2. We just have to get better. We will.

Shaq: We know when we have a performance like that most of the time we're going to hear it.

Shaq: The man upstairs got me here before I blew a head vessel or before I was going to bust somebody's head open.

Shaq: I didn't say anything about Los Angeles. I said something about certain people. How can you hate a whole city. It doesn't make sense.

Shaq: It is a sign of respect. I been booed before. I been booed at Mississippi State, I been booed at Georgia, I been booed at little small towns in high school.

Shaq: Right now sometimes we're doing it, sometimes we're not. We just have to develop some consistency.

Shaq: It shows that if we get out and do what we're supposed to do, we'll be fine.

Shaq: We just need to develop some type of consistency.

Shaq: We just match-up with them pretty well. We knew we'd beaten them 13 in a row, and we knew they'd be coming with extra energy.

Shaq: Now having kids of my own, I wanted to create a performance shoe that parents everywhere felt good about providing for their kids or themselves.

Shaq: We know what we have to do, offensively and defensively. I told the guys that I've been in this situation many times before, I've been down before, and not to worry about it. We've just got to fight. It's not going to be easy, it was easy in the first two rounds, but it's not going to get any easier.

Shaq: They just need to come to me. Tired or not, just send it to me.

Shaq: I don't know what's going to happen and I don't care. It is one of 82. I don't look at it as a do-or-die game to me. It doesn't mean anything.

Shaq: When we step up and make shots, it's hard for teams to beat us.

Shaq: I think he's the true definition of a great player and you guys should recognize that. I think the recognition of a great player has been lost the last 10, 15 years.

Shaq: I should have had 40 tonight, if I made my free throws I would have had 40. My ankle is feeling a little bit better and I am getting my legs back under me. They weren't really doubling so I went for what I knew.

Shaq: I was running the court very well, getting the ball and making the aggressive move. I'm still missing two or three jump hooks that I don't usually miss. I'll get it back.

Shaq: That's what a great player does. A great player always looks for his teammates, always makes other people better and still gets his numbers. That's why he's one of the top guards in the league today.

Shaq: I was just a little too anxious. My teammates stuck up for me. I was just trying to kill them all on every play.

Shaq: I just wish you all could stop asking me about it. I do what I do. Always. Nobody's going to tell me how to be different, so stop asking me. Stop asking me what two-plus-two is. Everybody knows two-plus-two is five.

Shaq: I've been playing on Christmas for the last 10, 11, 12 years. So just got to get up early with the babies, and give them their toys and try to get a nap in and just come to play.

Shaq: Bigger people. Bigger story behind it. It's going to be a big game.

Shaq: Hopefully it's the highest-watched game in NBA history. So when I get old, I can tell my kids I played in the game where 700 million people watched.

Shaq: Just another game to me. It'll come back around in about 15 more days, because we go back out there in January and it'll be the same old stuff again. I wish you all would stop asking me about it.

Shaq: We were a little bit anxious for a win today. We played well.

Shaq: It's my job to make him look good. He's a very good looking man, so it's my job to keep him looking good.

Shaq: I'm just trying to get back in the flow of things. The guys are looking for me when I get the ball deep like that. There isn't much a person on another team can do.

Shaq: This is my sixth game back. I'm just trying to get back in the flow of things. He told me the day he took the job, that he was going to be coming to me. I'm just trying to get myself ready.

Shaq: Obviously, do all the math and. everybody knows what that [trade] is really about.

Shaq: Everybody knows what that is really about. He had to make a choice, the young guy [Bryant] or the old guy. He made his choice, and good luck with his choice.

Shaq: We would have liked to come away at 4-0. If we could just keep it going and develop some type of consistency, we're going to be fine.

Shaq: (LeBron James) hit a lot of tough shots. We got ourselves in too deep of a hole.

Shaq: We wanted to power the ball inside. We did that and the whole team played good tonight. We played good defense. The team is playing pretty well right now.

Shaq: He's cool, calm and collected and just uplifting guys and he's just a leader. He wants to add to his legacy, I want to add to my legacy. I think it's a good match.

Shaq: It was a shock to me. I found out when (the media) found out. I didn't know what was going on. Stan came in and talked to us and told us his reason for stepping down and we have to accept that.

Shaq: We have a new leader, and we just have to go out and get the job done.

Shaq: I knew I was going to make one. I wanted to make two, but the first one rattled in and rattled right out.

Shaq: I don't get nervous in any situation. There's no such thing as nerves when you're playing games.

Shaq: I felt pretty good. I just wanted to get my guys going -- bring some energy and spirit to the lineup.

Shaq: I'm going to practice Tuesday and see how hard I can go, and the true test is always the next day after that. We'll just wait until Tuesday and then we'll just see what happens.

Shaq: If they want to play football, we can play football.

Shaq: I nicknamed him 'Flash,' because he is so fast out there on the floor and he does it with ease.

Shaq: There was a kid that had five brothers and sisters, and the family was missing for like five days. I was watching TV, they [found each other] and now they're in San Antonio. So I bought them a little apartment in San Antonio. But I'm doing stuff like that all over.

Shaq: I don't see us having a problem. It's going to be my job to manage the locker room, anyway, so it will work out.

Shaq: We want to win. We want to win big. We want to win the whole thing.

Shaq: We're going to miss Damon. He was a great shooter. He got what he wanted, but he gave up a lot. No more night life, no more warm weather and no more a lot of media attention. I guess this was his first shot at getting something big. I guess he had to take it.

Shaq: We would love to have Gary down here. He's still tenacious on defense, and I know he still wants a title. And I'm the only guy in the world who can get him one.

Shaq: When you flop, that's just another message that you don't know how to play me. Stand up and take your medicine like a man.

Shaq: He doesn't need advice on how to play his position, but he needs advice on how to play team ball. If it's going to be my team, I'll voice my opinion. If he don't like it, he can opt out.

Shaq: Our offense is like the pythagorean theorem: There is no answer!

Shaq: One lucky shot deserves another.

Shaq: I knew I was dog meat. Luckily, I'm the high-priced dog meat that everybody wants. I'm the good-quality dog meat. I'm the Alpo of the NBA.

Shaq: I would like to be refered to as 'The Big Aristotle'.

Shaq: This is a tough game. There are times when you've got to play hurt, when you've got to block out the pain.

Shaq: Why don't you bring your face up here and let me punch it? Then you can tell me (if I'm stronger).