"Charles Barkley got the day off, so Shaquille O'Neal handled the Miami Heat pontificating Tuesday when TNT's announcers had a conference call in advance of the network's All-Star coverage later this month.

Unlike his previous approach, when he essentially overlooked Chris Bosh, be it his predictions for All-Star reserves two weeks ago or his previous comments of the Heat essentially only having a Big Two, with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, O'Neal was a bit more conciliatory this time around.

"Well, Miami's always going to be at the top of the list," said the former Heat center, who is in his first year as a TNT studio analyst. "They have two, three fabulous players. They're playing well right now. They seem to be having a rhythm.

"The good thing about them, if one of their stars goes down, like when D-Wade went down for those five or six games, one of the other ones know how to step up.""