Shaq Returning to Old Form [David Stefanini]

Shaquille O'Neal is looking like the Shaq of old recently. He is dominating in the post, scoring at will, and grabbing rebounds. I remember thinking to myself coming into this year, Shaq is going play like an old man and not do much at all. When he went down with an injury I thought my prediction was coming true, and then Shaq proved me wrong.

Recently he has been on a tear, including last night's season high 32 point effort against Kevin Garnett and the T'Wolves. Shaq was 13 of 16 from the field, that is a percentage of 81%. This is the kind of night he used to have when he was teamed up with Kobe winning championships. With Dwyane Wade out for the near future, Shaq is going to have to keep this up, and it looks like he may be able to do that. The Heat are the hottest team in the Eastern Conference, winners of 5 straight and 11 straight at home.

If the playoffs were to start now the Heat would be the 6th seed. However, the playoffs are not starting now and they are only 3 games back of division leading Washington. If the Heat can grab that first spot, they could be the 3rd seed in the playoffs with home court in the first round. If they can do that, I feel the Heat will be facing the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals...again.