NBA: Shaq blames ‘the man upstairs’ for his poor free throw shooting

Shaquille O’Neal poses after the unveiling of his statue in front of Staples Center, Friday, March 24, 2017, in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

At the peak of his career, retired NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal was arguably the most dominant force the league ever saw, and was merely unstoppable inside the paint due to his massive size and sheer power.

However, one thing that held him back was his porous free-throw shooting, averaging an atrocious 52.7 percent throughout his 19-year NBA career.

Shaq recently addressed his charity stripe woes to Nina Mandell of USA Today’s For the Win and said that it was all the work of the “higher powers that be.”

“The theory is, it was the man way upstairs’ way of keeping me humble,” the 45-year-old Hall of Famer said. “Seriously. Because the way I played, the way I made everyone else around me better, all of the publicity I was doing—imagine if I was doing that and had shot 90 percent from the free throw line. I would have been arrogant. I’d probably be so arrogant. So it was just his way of saying ‘Hey, buddy, you’re just like everybody else.’”

The player-turned-analyst also downplayed speculations that he didn’t work enough on his shooting during his storied career.

“I tried to make 200 a day,” Shaq revealed.  “And then when I got really big time and was able to build gyms in my house, I shot all the time. But there’s a difference between playing craps at your house with your boys and going to (a) casino and playing craps. When I’m by myself I shoot like Steve Kerr. But it’s just something about when I’m in a game, there’s pressure, I just tighten up.”

O’Neal’s shooting was so bad that coaches resorted to the “Hack-A-Shaq” strategy, where opposing players deliberately fouled him since he couldn’t make most of his free throws.

The scheme continued long after O’Neal retired, with NBA commissioner Adam Silver placing a new rule to alter the tactic.  Khristian Ibarrola /ra

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