The Los Angeles Lakers retired Shaquille O'Neal's extra-extra-large No. 34 jersey in the midst of their playoff-altering game with the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night. As you can imagine, there were some interesting twists and turns along the way.
Los Angeles' game was going well for the first half, even if Dwight Howard may've been doing his best to pay homage to O'Neal throughout the game.
It all started out with Shaq's family rocking out onto the floor and a terrific, hilarious video tribute. That was followed with a recorded video speech from Kobe Bryant, congratulating his former teammate for his deserved honor.
Phil Jackson came out next, and that's when things started to get awkward. The fans weren't exactly supportive of their current head coach.
Eventually Jackson gave his speech—the main takeaway being that Shaq was a weird dude but Phil enjoyed being around him.
After halftime, Craig Sager reported that the Lakers heard the "We want Phil" chants back in the locker room. The reaction was mostly a shoulder shrug and a realization that they've got a crucial basketball game to play.
Shaq finally took the microphone, thanking everybody from Phil Jackson and Jim Buss to Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler. He did, however, leave somebody out, leaving Twitter ablaze.
In the end, Shaq's decision to exclude all of his former teammates seemed more an issue of expediency (although he did give a thanks to about a dozen celebrities), and he tweeted out a video thanking his teammates after the fact.
In the end, it was the perfect tribute to Wilt Chamberneezy. It was at times goofy, serious, completely unexpected, awkward and weird—sometimes all of the above.
Congratulations to the biggest, most lovable dude ever to shove Chris Dudley to the ground. I'm sure even Duds was smiling a bit Tuesday night.
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