I had a feeling someone would post this clip.
Look at the shots he's taking -
He's running across the lane with hooks, or shooting jumpshots, fading away from the rim. Rarely ever is he actually backing down a player and getting to the rim.
He's playing
away from it. Malone was not someone that bullied players in the post. That wasn't his game.
The majority of those posessions is strictly him shooting fadeaways. Even the commentary is talking about it:
"Karl Malone with that familar fadeaway"
"Fadeaway, Karl Malone"
"He gets it in the post, he turns, he shoots"
"When you've got a guy like Karl Malone who can hit a fadeaway 18fter"
"Malone, fadeaway on Rodman"
"Malone, fadeaway, he hits that shot"
"Malone, again, with the fadeaway"
"Fallaway from Karl Malone"
"Karl Malone, the fallaway, the 15fter"
"Malone, leaning, turning and jumpshooting"
"Malone, turn, twist, jumpshot"
"Fadeaway, Malone"
"Malone has a copyright on that turnaround jumper"
Thanks for proving my point.
Shaq was an anamoly. He was really the only guy who was bullying people with his size like that. Then you had players like Chuck, to a lesser degree, who weren't necessarily bullying defenders, but slowly, methodically backing down defenders eating up the shot clock. Malone was NOT playing like a superhero or this mythical 90s big man that's largely built on the image of Shaq.
He was playing like LaMarcus Aldridge, and I dare hope to God nobody ever claims LMA was playing like a superhero.