All this week, TNT has been running The Inside Story, a four-part behind the scenes documentary on Inside The NBA. It concluded on Sunday night with a look at Shaq’s addition to the show and the more recent years, and for many that meant hope that they would dive into what has become one of the all-time great moments in the show’s history: Shaq tripping and falling while trying to race Kenny to the board.
It, along with the reaction of Shaq and Chuck to the tunnel incident between the Clippers and Rockets, is probably the moment most think of when asked for their favorite Inside moment. Happily, they went back to relive that moment on Sunday’s episode, laughing at Shaq’s tumble like it happened yesterday, with Ernie revealing he still has to defend himself from accusations that he set Shaq up.
“Down goes Shaq!”
The story behind @SHAQ‘s infamous tumble #TheInsideStory @kia pic.twitter.com/bbptftrn4b
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 8, 2021
As Chuck says, it was most definitely not staged, which you can tell from Shaq’s reaction because he immediately seeks out someone to blame in Ernie. The best part of the segment was the producers talking about how they spent weeks prepping a lip sync battle segment they hoped would go viral, only for that to be upstaged by Shaq eating it while ripping cords out of the desk — further evidence that it wasn’t staged.
It is still a hysterical video to watch and is the best example of how the show is at its best when they riff of something that’s both fun and natural.