Shaq predicts major upset in first round of NBA Playoffs

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) is greeted by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) at the start of the game at Crypto.com Arena.

Shaquille O’Neal believes the Lakers “want all the smoke” and will upset the defending champion Nuggets in the first round of the upcoming NBA Playoffs.

Making his postseason predictions on Friday’s “Inside the NBA” on TNT, O’Neal didn’t hesitate for a second to pick his former team to upset the apple cart.

Shaq might be on an island as one of the few analysts to pick the Lakers to win, considering they’ve lost eight games in a row to the Nuggets dating back to last year’s Western Conference Finals. Furthermore, by all accounts, Denver has improved as a team since its championship run last year, posting a better record (57-25 to 53-29), offensive rating (117.8 to 116.8), defensive rating (112.3 to 113.5) and net rating (5.5 to 3.3) in the 2023-24 season.

To Shaq’s point about the Lakers seeking revenge on the Nuggets, Anthony Davis and Darvin Ham have been vocal about the budding rivalry between the teams. After Nuggets coach Michael Malone called himself “the Lakers’ daddy” during his team’s championship parade last year, Ham said, “This s**t ain’t over,” in response to his counterpart’s comments.

Similarly, Davis made it clear during the Lakers’ preseason media day that his team wanted to avenge their loss to the Nuggets in last year’s playoffs.

“There was just so much of that [talking] going on it was like, ‘All right, we get it, y’all won,'” Davis told reporters last October via ESPN. “But me and Bron [LeBron James] had some conversations like, ‘We can’t wait [to play them again.]'”

Davis and Ham definitely got their wish. Now, can they walk the talk?

Game 1 in Denver tips off Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET. The home team is a -7.5 favorite to win the opener and a -350 favorite to win the seven-game series.

Want more articles like this? Follow Yardbarker on MSN to see more of our exclusive NBA content.

More must-reads:

Trending slideshow: The most notable individual NBA rivalries (Provided by Yardbarker)