Celtics center Shaquille O’Neal has been fined $35,000 by the NBA for criticizing the referee Bob Delaney after his team’s 86-78 loss to the Magic in Orlando on Christmas Day.

Following the Celts’ loss, O’Neal was quoted as saying, ““We have two premier big men out there.  He is pushing, I’m pushing. Let us play. I guess they [fans] come out to see No. 26 [Delaney] play. He was a great player out there today. They paid all that money to see No. 26 come play. My thing is, if you’re going to call it, call it the same way every time. Don’t pick and choose who you are going to call it against.”

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