"In the same breath, Shaquille O'Neal's announcement that he is retiring makes perfect sense — and it makes none.

According to NBA sources, while Shaq was telling everyone publicly that he was giving the Celtics two years, he was saying at times to others that this was to be his last season in basketball.

Yesterday via Twitter, Shaq said "im retiring," and included a link to a short video of him saying, "We did it; 19 years, baby. Thank you very much. That's why I'm telling you first: I'm about to retire. Love you. Talk to you soon."

But the fact he bought in so heavily to the Celtics situation, in terms of both franchise history and the desire to win with the current veterans, makes it seem odd that he will leave before playing one last song with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.

The Big Sentimental Journey cried real tears as the Celtics were in the process of being eliminated from the playoffs. When he tells you he was upset and that he believed his absence let a lot of people down, he's not just speaking for show.

O'Neal wanted another championship, and he wanted it here. Badly.

While others have dived into the local scene, Shaquille O'Neal did a cannonball off the 10-meter platform. He enjoyed the hell out of Boston, and he wanted to give the area an even better reason than his personality to hug him back.

Accordingly, Shaq went through all manner of rehab treatments to make it back from, first, a bruised knee (kicked by Amare Stoudemire), then a strained Achilles tendon and, last but certainly not least, a torn calf muscle.

In his attempt to come back from the knee issue, he pounded down the anti-inflammatory medication to the point at which he began defecating blood and had to back off. In the last weeks of the Celtics run, O'Neal was receiving treatment at all hours.

That makes it a bit difficult to fathom why he would bid adieu on June 1, when training camp isn't scheduled to start for four months and, in reality, is probably several months away because of the expected lockout."