{"id":61539,"date":"2025-06-06T21:20:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T20:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/?p=61539"},"modified":"2025-06-06T21:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T20:20:24","slug":"shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaquille O\u2019Neal Challenges Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s Mentality After Thunder\u2019s Game 1 NBA Finals Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The NBA Finals is underway and by now, if you&rsquo;re an NBA fan, you must know that Indiana Pacers&rsquo; guard, Tyrese Haliburton, hit yet another game winning shot this postseason, and help his team steal Game 1 from arguably the best team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder gave up a 15-point lead in the final nine minutes of the fourth quarter, which reminded us about Pacers&rsquo; Game 1 win against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals this season. The Pacers have reminded everyone in the NBA, that they have the ability to win a playoff series and it does not matter if the opposing team has the best defense in the NBA, regular season MVP, former coach of the year, they simply do not care. <\/p><p>Just like the Knicks series, the Pacers are once again the underdogs in this series but that does not mean anything to this team. Meanwhile, the Thunder blew a nine-point lead late in the fourth quarter, and they had no else to blame but themselves. The Pacers&rsquo; entire roster was having a less than ideal night, and this was actually supposed to be a blowout victory for the Thunder. However, the Pacers kept chipping away and eventually took the lead in the final seconds.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">OVERRATE THAT.<br><br>Tyrese Haliburton has hit FOUR game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final 5 seconds of a game in these playoffs &#128563; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VkLFGHFm30\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/VkLFGHFm30<\/a><\/p>&mdash; ESPN (@espn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/espn\/status\/1930837887819399548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>June 6, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shaq Calls Out SGA&rsquo;s Mental Toughness Post-Game 1<\/h2><p>After the heartbreaking Game 1 loss for the Thunder, in the post-game interview, when Shai Gilgeous Alexander was asked about how the Thunder plan to make a comeback in the series after going down 0-1, SGA said,<strong><em> &ldquo;We just gotta treat it like every other game. Every other situation we&rsquo;ve been in&hellip; Doesn&rsquo;t mean we have to change. It&rsquo;s still basketball, the game that we grew up playing&hellip; We&rsquo;ve been in this situation before and other situation. We handled it well, we came back better for Game 2 and that&rsquo;s the goal.&rdquo;<\/em><\/strong><\/p><p>Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, aka Shaq, is one of the greatest players ever to play in the NBA, and he did not appreciate SGA&rsquo;s mentality headed into Game 2. <strong><em>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just another game&hellip; I understand it&rsquo;s your first time here&hellip; You don&rsquo;t win? There&rsquo;s a chance you don&rsquo;t get back. I was fortunate enough to go back 6 times but this is not another game.&rdquo;<\/em><\/strong><\/p><p>While Shaq can be extremely critical and harsh on some of the younger players today, he did win four championships in his NBA career and knows how hard it is to just get back to the NBA finals, let alone with it all. The Thunder are an elite team, but teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Lakers, Clippers, Timberwolves, are only going to get better, and one can never know if they&rsquo;ll get back to the NBA Finals ever again. So despite the mentality, the Thunder and SGA need to treat Game 2 like it&rsquo;s a win-or-go-home situation, because it is extremely hard to win even a single game at Indiana, where the Pacers&rsquo; entire roster has a tendency to explode.<\/p><blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DKi-CZKgkKx\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"><div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DKi-CZKgkKx\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'> <div style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\"> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div> <div style=\"display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;\"><svg width=\"50px\" height=\"50px\" viewbox=\"0 0 60 60\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\"><g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><g transform=\"translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)\" fill=\"#000000\"><g><path d=\"M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631\"><\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/div><div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\"> <div style=\" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div><\/div><div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\"><div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div><\/div><div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div> <div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div><\/div><div style=\"margin-left: auto;\"> <div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div> <div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div><\/div><\/div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div><\/div><\/a><p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DKi-CZKgkKx\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>A post shared by @nbatv<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><p><\/p>\n<div class=\"mm-layout mm-layout-type-post mm-layout-slot4\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NBA Finals is underway and by now, if you&rsquo;re an NBA fan, you must know that Indiana Pacers&rsquo; guard, Tyrese Haliburton, hit yet another game winning shot this postseason, and help his team steal Game 1 from arguably the best team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder gave up a 15-point [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":61541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mux_skip_reasons":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[781,7461,7472,109,312],"class_list":["post-61539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals-2025","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder-vs-indiana-pacers","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","tag-shaquille-oneal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal Challenges Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&rsquo;s Mentality After Thunder&rsquo;s Game 1 NBA Finals Loss - The Playoffs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal criticizes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&rsquo;s mindset after the Thunder&rsquo;s 111-110 Game 1 loss to the Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal Challenges Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&rsquo;s Mentality After Thunder&rsquo;s Game 1 NBA Finals Loss - The Playoffs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal criticizes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&rsquo;s mindset after the Thunder&rsquo;s 111-110 Game 1 loss to the Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Playoffs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-06T21:20:24+01:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26385297_168416100_lowres.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1776\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1184\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eric Divakaran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/x.com\/EricHar44584857\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ThePlayoffsEN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eric Divakaran\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eric Divakaran\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/98ac2e1774499fd4d7a7e37d04514940\"},\"headline\":\"Shaquille O\u2019Neal Challenges Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s Mentality After Thunder\u2019s Game 1 NBA Finals Loss\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-06T20:20:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-06T20:20:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/\"},\"wordCount\":539,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.theplayoffs.news\/en\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26385297_168416100_lowres.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"NBA\",\"NBA Finals 2025\",\"Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers\",\"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\",\"Shaquille O\\\\'Neal\"],\"articleSection\":[\"NBA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2025\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shaquille-oneal-challenges-shai-gilgeous-alexanders-mentality-after-thunders-game-1-nba-finals-loss\/\",\"name\":\"Shaquille O\u2019Neal Challenges Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s Mentality After Thunder\u2019s Game 1 NBA Finals Loss - 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