The Boston Celtics are five games ahead of the Denver Nuggets, who are the top seed in the Western Conference. While this massive lead over the defending champions looks quite comfortable, these are the times that a team in title contention must be careful. Every win is a statement, but a loss will easily reveal the flaw as well. With a very crucial playoff run ahead, Shaquille O’Neal decided to give out two important pieces of advice that the Celtics can make use of.

The Celtics have 16 games remaining after they faced the Phoenix Suns today. Ahead of this blockbuster match-up, the Los Angeles Lakers icon shared, “When you have a lead like that, you have to stay motivated. It’s two things Celtics must do to win a championship. One, you gotta stay motivated, right. The only problem right now is they get complacent sometimes and shoot a lot of 3s. If they can fix those problems, like ‘OK we are not hitting jumpers, let’s go mix it up’, they will be a champion.” 

He further added, “When you have a lead like this sometime…when playoffs get ready…you know, ‘I don’t wanna get hurt, just chill out and relax.’“ The 4x NBA champion hinted that the Celtics must prevent injuries that can cost them another deep run in the postseason. 

While Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been healthy all season, their X-Factor Kristaps Porziņģis has spent quite some time on the sideline. The injury-prone center missed another game today against the Suns, which should not be the case in the playoffs. However, Charles Barkley did suggest a solution for this. The 76ers legend shared that the Celtics can use him for a restricted time by making him the sixth man. Anyhow, at the same time, he does not want to hear any excuses from the team. 

After Shaq’s idea for the championship, Kenny Smith chimes in with a bold take

Smith has endorsed the Celtics throughout the year, and that is only because of the team they assembled in the off-season. In 26 games this year, all five starters have scored in double figures, which shows how dominant the men in green are. And that is exactly why Smith is a fan of their game.

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He said, “They gonna with the championship, they just play up to their potential.” However, if in case the Celtics don’t secure the title with a team like this, the TNT will be the first to show their wrath. Barkley had already warned once. 

Barkley said, “If [the Celtics] don’t win a championship this year, it would be a total gag job because they’ve got everything… I would be shocked if the Celtics don’t win.” At this point, the entire ‘Inside the NBA’ crew believes the Celtics are the team to beat. We are just a few months away from big results. It’ll be interesting to see how he postseason pans out. 

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