The chances for the New Orleans Pelicans to clinch a playoff spot seemed to have diminished after they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers by a score of 106-110. However, the team managed to defy expectations and avoided getting eliminated by defeating the Sacramento Kings through a score of 105-98. Having secured the 8 seed, the Pelicans now are the final team that is confirmed to head to the playoffs. Their recent performance proved to be a complete contradiction of what NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal said earlier, and the team was not ready to let him forget the same.

The official X account of the New Orleans Pelicans recently highlighted Shaq’s comments on his ‘NBA on TNT’ show. The host had given out his opinion that it would be hard for the team to pull off a win without the presence of one of their lead scorers. He even went as far as to state “Y’all ain’t got Zion. Y’all are cooked.” A couple of hours later, that prediction has turned out to be wrong. The franchise retaliated by highlighting a photoshopped picture of Brandon Ingram standing next to a grill and captioning the post “BBQ CHICKEN”.

Zion Williamson had been declared out of the Kings clash after developing a hamstring injury during the previous game. Fortunately for the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram had recently returned to the main lineup after missing 12 consecutive games in a row. In Williamson’s absence, the 26-year-old small forward took the offensive charge and managed to score 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. The additional assistance provided by Jonas Valančiūnas and Trey Murphy III further helped to reduce the sole pressure to generate the points for the team.

The victory provided an extra dosage of enjoyment to the Pelicans. Not only did they prevent themselves from becoming the first team in half a century to win 49 games but still manage to miss the playoffs, they also got the chance to make a former Lakers star eat his own words.

Shaquille O’Neal apologizes to Brandon Ingram for his comments

In the aftermath of the Pelicans-Kings clash, Shaquille O’Neal and the other ‘NBA on TNT’ crew got first dibs on interviewing the MVP of the game. With Ingram listening on, the 7-foot 1 former player proceeded to be the bigger man, literally and figuratively, and highlighted his mistake for everyone to hear.

“I owe you guys an apology,” said Shaq. “I thought the absence of Zion was going to take an emotional toll on you guys.” Fortunately, Ingram did not choose to take the discussion further on and instead just proceeded to answer the question that Shaq had put ahead of him.

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The New Orleans Pelicans will next be facing off against the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of a 7-game series during the first round of the playoffs. Shaquille O’Neal better hope that he does not falter with another prediction, now that he knows that Williamson’s second in command is capable of.