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If you were looking for evidence to see if Shaquille O'Neal was still able to dominate in his 17th NBA season, then let his game against the Bucks serve as Exhibit A. Shaq was unstoppable, finishing with 35 points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots in 34 minutes of action. It was his biggest scoring output since joining the Suns last season, and in fact it was the most he's scored in a game since March of 2006. As great as Shaq was against Milwaukee, the team has a bigger test on their hands tonight when they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers. And the fact that Shaq played all of those minutes the night before would lead you to believe that he'd be on the sidelines for the second game of a back-to-back, as has been the case for most of those scenarios this season.
Suns' coach Terry Porter was coy about Shaq's availability for the Laker game, saying "We're going to decide [Thursday] what we're going to do with him." O'Neal himself, however, confirmed afterwards that he'd be skipping the trip to Los Angeles, but it would be for a reason other than needing some additional rest.
A couple of days ago, Shaq mentioned on his Twitter feed that his 92-year-old great grandmother had passed away. When asked if he was close to her, Shaq replied, "Yes, of course. She raised me. She made me who I am."
It turns out that O'Neal knew all along that he wouldn't be accompanying the team to Los Angeles. Because when he was asked about his availability for tonight's game after going so strong against Milwaukee, Shaq said simply, "Not gonna be there. I've got family business to attend to," likely referring to taking care of some details regarding his great grandmother's passing.
That makes a lot of sense, whether Porter wanted to tip his hand or not. The Suns led by 14 points with over seven minutes to play in the game, but Shaq was left in until there were just over two minutes remaining. Five minutes (give or take) may not seem like a huge deal, but with the game already decided and a contest against the West's top team looming on the following night, you would think Porter would have done anything he could to get Shaq some extra rest.
At the time I thought the Suns were basically conceding their game against the Lakers. But as it turns out, Shaq already had some things to take care of that were far more important than his responsibilities on the basketball court.
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