The Los Angeles Lakers won three consecutive championships during Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal's eight-year tenure with the franchise, from 2000-02, and appeared in a fourth NBA Finals circa 2004. And fans may have to credit some unorthodox motivation for helping get O'Neal that far.
MORE: All-Defensive rising star doesn't hold back on LeBron James comparison
O'Neal's game was fairly indestructible during that run, with one glaring exception: the 7-foot-1 LSU product was an infamously weak free throw shooter.
For his career, he connected on a scant 52.7 percent of his tries from the charity stripe. O'Neal's inefficiency at the line was so well known that it prompted otherwise-powerless opposing frontcourt defenses to intentionally foul him and send him to the line, on the chance that he'd miss one or both of his looks and the other squad would get the ball back.
What did it take to improve O'Neal's free throw shooting?
To galvanize the 15-time All-Star a bit, his winningest teammate thought a bit outside the box.
During an appearance on the FanDuel Sports' "Run It Back" show with hosts Michelle Beadle, DeMarcus Cousins, Chandler Parsons and Lou Williams, former Lakers sharpshooting power forward Robert Horry revealed the jokes and ploys he would use to motivate O'Neal.
"I told him a multitude of things, because Shaq and I used to shoot free throws together almost every day after practice. So I [saw] the runs he would go on. 10, 15, 20 free throws in a row. And so I would just go up to him sometimes, be like, 'Yo man, Halle Berry over there, she said if you make these, you can go out with her.' Just crazy s---."
Berry, at that time one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, won her Academy Award for "Monster's Ball" in 2002.
Horry went on to ditch LA for the San Antonio Spurs heading into the 2003-04 season, ultimately winning two more championships next to another all-time great big man, power forward/center Tim Duncan. Horry had begun his career on the Houston Rockets alongside Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, at one point beating O'Neal's Orlando Magic in the 1995 Finals.
MORE: Kendrick Perkins gets candid about friendship with Lakers' LeBron James
All told, Horry won a whopping seven championships, below only six Hall of Fame players from the Bill Russell-era Boston Celtics. So the man knew what it took to win it all, clearly.
"I would tell him these things just to try to get his mind off of it or just make him laugh," Horry said of his approach to O'Neal. "You think about it — we do so many things in practice that make us competitive, perfect for a game. I just felt like that was a way for him to get his mind off it and just enjoy the moment."
More Lakers news: