Although Stephen Curry & Co. won the West Semis opener on Tuesday, they could not fully enjoy the road victory. Why, though? They had a major concern to worry about—the kind that puts their season in serious jeopardy.

Stephen Curry suffered a Grade 1 left hamstring strain that forced him to miss the entire second half. Even worse, he is now sidelined for at least a week, which means the earliest he can return is Game 5. As expected, the Warriors felt the effects of Curry’s absence tonight. Without their primary scorer, the Bay Area team got dominated by the Timberwolves in Game 2. It was a 24-point blowout win for Anthony Edwards and Co., bringing the series back to level terms.

Now, the whole caboodle heads to the Bay Area for the next two games, and Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal had a message for Steve Kerr’s squad ahead of Game 3.  “I think Golden State will come with a little more energy when they get home,” he noted. The Lakers legend expects the Warriors to shake off tonight’s loss and come out with better energy on their home court, even without Steph.

However, Shaq fears that it might not be enough to get the job done. “Probably won’t be enough but Minnesota has to not take them lightly,” he said on Inside the NBA. Well, the Warriors have found success in the playoffs without Stephen Curry before.

In 2016, he missed six games dealing with ankle and knee issues. But Kerr’s squad took care of business in his absence, going 4-2 in those games. Then two years later, Curry again missed six playoff games, this time due to a knee sprain. The Warriors somehow performed even better than the last time and went 5-1. However, the circumstances were a lot different from what they are today.

Back then, they had the luxury to rest Steph for a few games because they had prime Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to rely on, along with Kevin Durant in 2018. But this year, they only have Jimmy Butler as a consistent scorer apart from Stephen Curry. So, regardless of the energy they come out with on Saturday, it might not be enough to beat Anthony Edwards and Co. Surprisingly, Shaq also had a message for Ant-Man.

Shaquille O’Neal urges Anthony Edwards to play “better” after back-to-back disappointing performances

Following Tuesday’s loss, Chris Finch openly called out Edwards for not playing with the right energy, “You’re the leader of the team and you’ve gotta come out and set the tone. If your shot’s not going, like you still have to carry the energy you know.” He scored 23 points on 9 of 22 shooting that night. So, everyone expected Edwards to come out more aggressive for tonight’s game. Even though his team won, there was not much improvement in his performance.

Continuing his struggles, Ant-Man finished with just 20 points on 6 of 13 shooting. And Shaq was not satisfied with what he saw from the young forward. “Still need Ant to play better. He played okay but when you wanna be great, okay is not good enough. You gotta be way better than okay,” the big man pointed out. Yes, many claim Edwards to be the next face of the NBA once LeBron, Steph, and Durant retire. Someone with those expectations cannot settle for twenty-point performances.

Shaq continued, “They won, so they can forget about this game, but you still not shooting the ball like a superstar is supposed to if you wanna get to that next level… So, for them to make it to the Western Conference Finals and beyond, he has to be a superstar and play a little bit better.” With the series heading to Golden State, the responsibility will fall on Ant’s shoulders to get the Wolves their home-court advantage back by winning at least one of the two road games. So, 20 points might not cut it on Saturday. Do you believe he can play at the level Shaq (and the whole world) expects him to?