The Unicorn factor is serving the Boston Celtics well. They have extended their winning streak to nine games. But Shaquille O’Neal is not celebrating prematurely. During the post-game coverage of the Celtics’ dominant 117-99 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Big Aristotle shared his status report for the team where he spent his last NBA season. Specifically, Shaq believes the Celtics’ chances are only as good as their All-Stars are.

“Boston problem has been – if we don’t shoot threes well, we just keep shooting,” O’Neal said on TNT Tuesday. He was not ready to put the team in Big 3 or playoff contention yet. But he’s hoping Kristaps Porzingis will be the one to lead the Celtics into that tier. “If they are a big two, I want Porzingis to be that other,” the 4x NBA champion emphasized. “He’s a very important ‘other.’ If he can give me high 20s in the playoffs, Boston going to be very difficult to beat,” he added.

With Brown, Tatum, Jrue Holiday, and Derrick White, they also have high expectations from Porzingis being the decisive center. Shaq shared the same opinion he did tonight on Inside the NBA ahead of the All-Star Game too. “It is my opinion, based on experience, and other factors, we all know that Tatum and Brown, they’re the one-two punch. So, that automatically puts Porzingis to an “other”. But, he is a vital “other”. He’s not just a regular other.”

Well, KP dropped 22 in his Madison Square homecoming earlier this week and carried forward the confidence into the duel against Sixers. Porzingis went for 23 points, 1 assist, 1 block and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes tonight. Jaylen Brown recovered from the Slam Dunk embarrassment to put 31 points on the board and Jayson Tatum complemented him with 29. The current Celtics roster has been ticking all the boxes for most of the TNT analysts.

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Jamal Crawford agreed with Big Diesel that Porzingis is the best complement to Brown and Tatum. He too claims that Boston needs to shake off their stagnant offense. Moreover, he’s seeing Porzingis fit any role he’s required in and proving to be more reliable with every game.

But if you ask Shaquille O’Neal, the team has taken note and implemented his advice already. “Tonight they mixed it up very well. If they can get a steady diet of mixing up, especially when the three is not falling, they’ve been successful doing that, they continue to be successful,” the 4x NBA champion said.

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With multiple stars on the roster, Shaq expects the likes of Porzingis to, “go for the high percentage shot,” if they miss. They had a slow start against the Sixers but they have increasingly shown that they can adapt to the game. Several analysts see that the Celtics’ momentum makes them strong contenders. That is, if they keep their streak intact in future matchups. They will be hosting Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday. Who do you think will win?

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