Shaquille O’Neal delivers impressed reaction to bucket by Alijah Martin

Shaquille O’Neal has seemingly delivered a few million impressive made baskets in his roundball life, whether it was at LSU or during his legendary NBA career.

In fact, Shaq probably has one of the biggest highlight-reel collections in basketball history, with his array of buckets around the basket and, of course, with all those thunderous dunks. He even took down a few of the baskets themselves in his NBA life, causing stoppages of play that became the stuff of legends.

So, for Shaq to be impressed by somebody else’s shot-making is impressive in itself. And Florida senior guard Alijah Martin did just that during the first half of Saturday night’s Final Four showdown against Auburn in San Antonio. Martin averaged 14.5 points per game this season for the high-octane Gators, so the fact that he was at it again in the Final Four isn’t much of a surprise.

But it was his pull-up jumper from just inside the free-throw line on Saturday that caught the attention of Shaq, who shook his head in reaction to Martin’s latest shot-making.

It was 1 of Martin’s 3 field goals in the first half. Martin had 10 points at halftime as the Gators trailed the Tigers, 46-38. Martin also made his only 3-point attempt and converted all 3 of his free-throw attempts.

Surely, Martin had more in store for the second half, and just maybe a reaction or 2 more from legends like Shaq sitting courtside.

Cory Nightingale

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.