Shaquille O'Neal has words for the Lakers after Game 5 loss

Shaquille O'Neal has words for the Lakers after Game 5 loss originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Los Angeles Lakers had everything set up to close out the Houston Rockets in Game 5 on Wednesday.

Playing at Crypto. com Arena, holding a 3-1 series lead, and with the Rockets playing without Kevin Durant for the third straight game, there was nothing standing between Los Angeles and a second-round berth except the game itself. The Rockets won 99-93, hitting 14 three-pointers and making it two straight wins to pull the series back to 3-2.

For former Lakers center, Shaquille O'Neal, watching his old franchise let this slip on live television was too much to sit through in silence. On Inside the NBA after the final buzzer, he said exactly what he thought. O'Neal went after the way the Lakers played in the closing minutes, calling it "hero ball" and saying the crowd was flat, the team was flat, and the intensity never showed up when it was needed most.

He acknowledged that LeBron James knows what winning a championship requires. He didn't say that last part in a complimentary way. Shaquille O’Neal didn’t hold back on the Los Angeles Lakers after these fell to Houston in Game 5, 99-93: “I hate watching the Lakers play sometimes, because, towards the end, they start playing hero ball.