Shaquille O'Neal's memory is excellent.
This is bad news for the doubters and haters who declared the decision of the Phoenix Suns to send Shawn Marion packing and replace him with the 36-year-old Diesel a colossal blunder.
Shaq, who will face the Celtics tonight at the Garden, can tick off the litany of reasons why the pundits declared he was certain to fail: too old, too stubborn, too injury-prone, too immobile, too big, too egotistical.
The early returns were not good. His indoctrination into the Suns' free-flowing, fast-break style was underwhelming. The team struggled to score, Shaq looked uncomfortable in his role, and Phoenix simply could not stop anyone.
The coach, Mike D'Antoni, preached patience, but no one was listening. D'Antoni was drowned out by the thrashing general manager Steve Kerr and Shaq were enduring for messing up one of the elite teams in the West.
"We knew it would take time," D'Antoni explained, "because we had to change the way we played. When we added Tim Thomas [in 2006], we didn't miss a beat. When the Lakers added Pau Gasol, they didn't, either. But when you take a big piece out and put a completely different big piece in, you are going to have a few frustrations.
"We were actually playing well, but we were losing, and we really weren't sure why. We knew it would come. The guys never lost faith. But that doesn't mean there weren't a lot of sleepless nights."
After experimenting with a few different sets, including playing Shaq at the high post, D'Antoni decided to plunk his new big man on the block and leave him there. With O'Neal comfortably settled into the low post and his teammates spreading the floor around him, Phoenix morphed into a better 3-point-shooting team, a more prolific scoring team, and a better rebounding team.
The Suns ripped off seven wins in a row before losing to Detroit in overtime Monday night, holding opponents under 42 percent shooting. As Phoenix veteran Grant Hill duly noted, scoring never has been an issue for the Suns, but stopping teams has. No longer.
Think point guard Steve Nash is happy about the recent developments? During the winning streak, Nash shot 60 percent (48 for 80) from the floor, in part because nobody dares to leave the big man alone under there.
So now the Suns can play two ways: their traditional up-tempo pace, or a halfcourt, pound-it-inside Eastern Conference style.
"I love playing for this coach and I love playing with these guys," said O'Neal yesterday. "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."
