I am a big fan of Shaquille O'Neal and I can't stand Pat Riley, but Shaq is wrong for the criticism he fired at his former team the Miami Heat on Tuesday. Shaq told a Boston Globe reporter, quote, "I love playing for this coach and I love playing with these guys," O'Neal told the Boston Globe. "We have professionals who know what to do. No one is asking me to play with Chris Quinn or Ricky Davis. I'm actually on a team again." I don't understand why Shaq felt the need to stoop to what I like to call sports adolescences. Obviously he harbors some ill-feelings about the Heat - but why now? Why utter these sentiments if they have no bearing on anything? The Miami organization did not criticized or berate O'Neal after sending him to Phoenix for forward Shawn Marion back in February - in fact, they praised him for his contributions to the team and his help in winning the team's only NBA title in 2006. Again, I am not a Pat Riley fan! I still believe he's a weasel for kicking Stan Van Gundy to the curb when it was he who built a winning system in Miami only to have Riley come in and swipe the team out from under his control to claim a title after Van Gundy had done all the hard work. Yet, I must say, in Riley's defense, he handled what Shaq said to the Globe with class. Shaq claimed he did not get enough touches this year before the trade and complained about how he was not getting sustained minutes. But Shaq was injured for most of the first half of the season and I don't know how one gets substantial minutes while injured. I believe, however, he is right about not being a focal point in the offense, but he was not playing Shaq like basketball either and the club made a conscious decision to not make him an integral part of their offensive scheme. Bottom line, there is really no reason, I believe to slam these guys! Maybe this is karma coming back in a negative way to Pat after dissing Stan. But Shaq is with a better team headed for the playoffs and the Heat are not. So this is all an unnecessary one sided war of words all belonging to the Big Cactus who should just focus on playing basketball! Come on, Shaq, you can do better, bro! Just my thought. What about you?