Shaquille O’Neal is known for his larger-than-life personality both on and off the court, and during his time with the Miami Heat, he proved that even the toughest coaches could bend to his will. On the ‘OGs’ podcast, Shaq shared a story about how he made the legendary Pat Riley, a coach notorious for his strictness, change his ways to accommodate the team’s lifestyle—especially when it came to partying and practice schedules.
(Cleaned up for better understanding)
“My favorite part about UD is, let’s just say we go to New York, because you know they talk about LeBron and them, the Heatles. We were the original Heatels.’ So let’s just say I go to New York and party a little too much.”
“UD can tell in the first three minutes if I’m ready or not. He’d say, ‘Don’t throw the ball to that motherf***er, he ain’t ready. He’s out there bullsh***ing, coach.’ UD would keep everybody in check. I was the first guy to convince Pat to change his ways.”
“When we first got here, we were winning and playing well, but we’d still go out. So Pat came to us one day and said, ‘We’re going to give you guys a curfew, and if you break curfew, it’s $1,000.’ I went into his office with a check for $41,000.”
” I said, ‘Here’s $1,000 times 41 home games. I’m a grown man, and that’s just not going to happen. I don’t drink, but the other guys do. Pat, the guys are going to go out, so just move practice back to 12:00.'”
“I told him, ‘Look, if we go out until 3:00 and get to bed at 4:00, we’ll still be fine.’ As athletes, we only need three or four hours of sleep, but a lot of guys were hitting the 1942 and Patrón, staying out until 3:00, and then trying to show up at 8:00.”
“Our practices were messed up. So I said, ‘Pat, move practice back to 12:00.’ He said, ‘If you do that, you better show me something.’ That’s when we went on that legendary streak. But after the streak was broken, he went back to the 8:00 practices.”
Shaq talked about how the Miami Heat, during his time there, were often referred to as the “original heels,” a team full of larger-than-life personalities who would still go out and party despite their intense game schedules. He explained that Udonis Haslem, his longtime teammate and the locker room enforcer, would immediately recognize when Shaq wasn’t at his best due to a late night.
Shaq recalled that as the partying and late nights continued, Pat Riley decided to crack down on the team. Riley, who built his success on discipline and hard-nosed practices, imposed a curfew on the team, telling them that breaking it would result in a $1,000 fine. However, Shaq, ever the free spirit, wasn’t having it. He marched into Riley’s office with a check for $41,000, symbolizing $1,000 for every home game that season.
Although Shaq himself wasn’t much of a drinker, he knew that other guys on the team liked to hit the nightlife scene. He presented a solution to Riley: move practice back to noon instead of the usual 8:00 AM. Shaq explained that the early-morning practices were counterproductive because the guys were still recovering from the previous night’s festivities.
At first, Riley was skeptical but open to the idea. He agreed to Shaq’s suggestion, but with one condition: the team needed to perform. The Heat went on a winning streak, proving that Shaq’s unconventional approach to managing late nights and practice times could actually work.
However, the honeymoon didn’t last forever. Once the winning streak ended, Riley quickly reverted back to his original methods, reinstating the 8:00 AM practices. Shaq acknowledged that while the experiment worked for a time, Riley was never one to let discipline slip for long.
This story highlights Shaq’s unique ability to navigate both the competitive and social aspects of NBA life. Not only was he a dominant force on the court, but he also had the influence and charisma to challenge one of the most respected coaches in the game. Shaq’s time in Miami not only delivered a championship to the Heat but also created legendary stories about how he could bend even the most unbendable rules.
