Granted Shaq made the comment about flopping, but he also said:
"We had a lot of opportunities to win,'' O'Neal said. "You can't make mistakes against a team like that especially here in this building.''
Seems like he's giving SA some respect there. I don't remember Duncan going out and saying "Man, that Dirk is the best player on the floor and we should be honored to be playing with him" after a loss to Dallas in the playoffs. In fact, I remember this comment after the early playoff loss to Dallas in 2006:
"One play either way, one call either way, whatever it may be, it came down to that," said Duncan, who was visibly upset and hardly spoke to reporters after the game.
Yeah, blaming the refs when you get beat shows great respect. Let's also remember that Duncan has never committed a foul in his own mind in his NBA career:
