“Don’t EVER help nobody up Shaq!”: Shaquille O’Neal remembers the time when he brought down Michael Jordan as he attempted to dunk on him
Shaquille O’Neal speaks on how Bulls legend Michael Jordan almost dunked on him and the conversation they had right after
It’s been a while since he hung his sneakers up for good, but Shaquille O’Neal is still considered by many to be the most dominant player of all time.
The 4-time champion loved to humiliate opponents during his hay day, blocking shots and dunk attempts flawlessly while also giving you a dominant performance on the other end of the floor.
Speaking of dunk attempts, let’s talk about the time MJ tried to posterize Shaq, but got completely denied… or well, Shaquille O’Neal’s account of the whole thing.
Shaquille O’Neal talks about the whole experience of fouling Michael Jordan when he went up for his dunk attempt
Given the jumping prowess Michael Jordan is known for (among other things, of course), the man probably dunked damn near every player in the league during his time in it. So, when he went up against Shaq, the man was justifiably pretty confident that he’d make it.
What happened instead is that Shaquille O’Neal fouled him and brought him down. When he went to pick up MJ though, he had a very interesting response waiting for him.
Here is his recent account of the whole thing on NBA.com.
“I take pride in never being dunked on. In 19 years I can probably say I’ve probably only been dunked on three or four times… But his Airness Micheal Jordan came baseline one time and tried to dunk on me and it hurt my arm but I had to flagrant foul him and lay him out.
When I went to shake his hand to pick him up he said ‘don’t ever help nobody up’ and he bounced back up. And I knew then why he was the best player in the game. It resonated with me later because Pat Riley once told me ‘you show other players respect by showing them none.’ And Michael Jordan was like ‘yes we’re friends, we’re fraternity brothers, we’re on different teams. But when we’re on this court, I don’t know you Shaq.”
Really, did you expect any different a reaction?
That right there was the very epitome of Michael Jordan.
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