Shaq's 2001 Dominance

[Reggie]

Shaq 1 on 1 in the post was an automatic bucket or foul damn near every time. It was unfair to have to watch him dominate even the best of the best at center in his prime. As i got older though i appreciated his greatness and realized that he wasn't that good just cause he was "big" like some were prone to say.

 

[FTBS]

Not if you're giving Shaq another top tier perimeter player on his team, Duncan/Kobe would have hell getting through them.

Also, it's more likely Duncan would've been relegated to Kobe's sidekick than the other way around.

Shaq lost against Duncan WITH Kobe twice and was a D. Fish miracle from a 3rd time. Outside of cloning prime Mike, what perimeter player was he gonna get that was gonna balance that out? And why does he get a top tier perimeter player when Duncan didn't have one until Parker and Ginobli came into their own after the fact?

 

[CarbonBraddock]

Yeah I remember how Oliver Miller was punishing nikkas


Penny did his thing in that series.....but I don't see how this is even in the same conversation as Shaq 01. And his team got swept

did oliver miller have shaq's athleticism? don't reply to me again if you can't even formulate a proper response guy. and before you try to come back and say it wasn't only about shaq's size and I didn't mention that before,it doesn't matter. if shaq and mutombo had both been 240 or whatever mutombo weighed, and shaq kept his athleticism, he'd still dominate, but nowhere near what he did being 300+. His weight always gave him an advantage against everyone he played against.

 

[Remote]

Shaq was so dominant by 2001.

We should also remember that Orlando Magic Shaquille could run the floor and was quite agile. That version of Shaq was so good.

 

[Piff Huxtable]

I never understood why the got rid of Horace in the off-season

 

[mr. smoke weed]

Shaq played from 92-11 breh. Those other years count too. He had everything needed to dominate individually and teamwise in the majority of those other years as well. We do this thing with him where we only talk about those 3 apex years and totally ignore all the other years where he was getting swept by squads with equal or less talent every year. We don't talk about defense with him, despite the importance and relevance of big man defense. And Shaq was the one who put the 28 and 15 shyt out there, despite never doing it.

19 years, 5 of em he was washed.

Made the finals 6 times, won 4

So 6 out of 19 years, he made it to the finals, and 4 out of 19 he won the finals.

WHERES THE UNDER ACHIEVE?!?!?!?

 

[mr. smoke weed]

did oliver miller have shaq's athleticism? don't reply to me again if you can't even formulate a proper response guy. and before you try to come back and say it wasn't only about shaq's size and I didn't mention that before,it doesn't matter. if shaq and mutombo had both been 240 or whatever mutombo weighed, and shaq kept his athleticism, he'd still dominate, but nowhere near what he did being 300+. His weight always gave him an advantage against everyone he played against.

BECAUSE DUDES WHO WEIGHT 350LBS ARENT SUPPOSED TO MOVE LIKE THAT!!!

Yall hear the name Shaq and go Alex Jones stupid. Sad what that Kobe rivalry caused.

 

[FTBS]

19 years, 5 of em he was washed.

Made the finals 6 times, won 4

So 6 out of 19 years, he made it to the finals, and 4 out of 19 he won the finals.

WHERES THE UNDER ACHIEVE?!?!?!?

There is no reasonable way he could've scored more points? Played better defense? Won more while doing that with the likes of Penny, Kobe, and D. Wade by his side?

 

[nieman]

So how does one who is considered the most dominant force of all time, 3 time final MVP winner, UNDER achieve? Nobody in real time called Shaq an under achiever. Its an internet Kobe/Shaq feud based talking point that makes little sense.

Everybody started callin Shaq an underachiever once he started gaining weight, coming into camp out of shape on purpose, and stopped playing defense completely. They would criticize him wanting to be a rapper and actor more than play ball. It was noticeable in his rebounding and blocks. Young Shaq ran up and down the court, played defense, handled the ball, rebounded...he stopped giving AF after that first ring. He was coasting...hell, he coasted a lot during the playoffs too.

 

[Erratic415]

Shaq would sometimes begin the season fat and work his way into shape during the season, so there's that element of people feeling he could/should have done more. I don't know if his body could handle being a gym rat like a Kobe, he's a huge guy and his joints might have broken down, but his diet could have been better.

People often overlook Shaq's longevity though. Shaq was an elite player for about as long as Kobe was, and Kobe is someone that everyone knows had great longevity. Kobe started being an elite player either 99/00 or 00/01 (depending on your opinion) and it went to the Achilles injury late in the 12/13 season. 13 or 14 seasons as an elite player. Shaq was already beasting his rookie year in 92/93, putting up 23/14 a game. The next season, he was putting up 29/13 a game and shooting 60% from the floor. Shaq stayed an elite player through 04/05, his first year in Miami, when he finished 2nd in MVP voting.

Shaq's peak is always talked about, for good reason, but he was a great player for a long time.

 

[FTBS]

Shaq would sometimes begin the season fat and work his way into shape during the season, so there's that element of people feeling he could/should have done more. I don't know if his body could handle being a gym rat like a Kobe, he's a huge guy and his joints might have broken down, but his diet could have been better.

People often overlook Shaq's longevity though. Shaq was an elite player for about as long as Kobe was, and Kobe is someone that everyone knows had great longevity. Kobe started being an elite player either 99/00 or 00/01 (depending on your opinion) and it went to the Achilles injury late in the 12/13 season. 13 or 14 seasons as an elite player. Shaq was already beasting his rookie year in 92/93, putting up 23/14 a game. The next season, he was putting up 29/13 a game and shooting 60% from the floor. Shaq stayed an elite player through 04/05, his first year in Miami, when he finished 2nd in MVP voting.

Shaq's peak is always talked about, for good reason, but he was a great player for a long time.

If he takes care of himself he could have been even better for even longer. You ain't gotta be doing 3 a day navy seal training to take care of yourself. Like you said, his longevity was actually impressive. That wasn't the issue. The issue for me, at least, was the fact that his best came against the worst. Shaq's best series came against overmatched "leastern" conference squads that had no shot. What was stopping him from doing this against Dream or Duncan? His peak just happened to coincide with all the top bigs either being retired or flabby AND he had Jeffrey Jordan by his side. When there was someone that could fight back with a halfway decent supporting cast on the other side he folded.

 

[Dwight Howard]

2017 Kevin durant

 

[ISO]

Dominated a weak era

 

[ISO]

So how does one who is considered the most dominant force of all time, 3 time final MVP winner, UNDER achieve? Nobody in real time called Shaq an under achiever. Its an internet Kobe/Shaq feud based talking point that makes little sense.

It has to do with being swept 6 times. It has to do with not keeping his body in shape which hurt his longevity. It has to do with never improving as a FT shooter or developing any type of range. It has to do with not defending the pick and roll which was partly due to weight/laziness. It has to do with his immature personality and leaving great situations bitterly in LA and Miami.

Go look up his records against the real elite bigs of his era like Duncan, Malone, Hakeem. Easy to dominate overmatched early 00’s East teams and feasting against Todd MacCullough and Jason Collins.

It has to do with having the most help out of any All-Time great. From Penny to the Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Rondo Celtics. Kobe, Nash and the 7SOL Suns, D-Wade, LeBron in between.

 

[mr. smoke weed]

If he takes care of himself he could have been even better for even longer. You ain't gotta be doing 3 a day navy seal training to take care of yourself. Like you said, his longevity was actually impressive. That wasn't the issue. The issue for me, at least, was the fact that his best came against the worst. Shaq's best series came against overmatched "leastern" conference squads that had no shot. What was stopping him from doing this against Dream or Duncan? His peak just happened to coincide with all the top bigs either being retired or flabby AND he had Jeffrey Jordan by his side. When there was someone that could fight back with a halfway decent supporting cast on the other side he folded.

Shaq put 28, 12, and 2 blocks up in those 95 finals, so what are you really saying my guy?

What it comes down to is there's all this revisionist history when it comes to Shaq, b/c he's turned into a clown since retiring. Likewise, he had a lot of haters when he played too is what it is.

What big from the 90s did Shaq not give the biz too? You out of your mind. He actively shyt on prime D Rob, Ewing, Zo, Dikembe etc.