“Didn’t Really Care He Was Playing Against Michael Jordan”: Shaquille O’Neal On Penny Hardaway’s Nonchalance

The Orlando Magic have once again found relevancy as their young team made the playoffs last season. Former Magic stars Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway even vocalized their support of the young squad and recently even caught up on O’Neal’s Podcast to reminiscence about the years they donned the blue jersey. While the duo took a trip down memory lane, Shaq revealed an interesting fact about his former point guard involving Michael Jordan.

Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Hardaway handed Michael Jordan his only post-season exit since winning his first championship in 1991. The young Magic team dominated on both ends of the floor in the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals, winning the series in 6 games.

During a recent sit down on O’Neal’s podcast, the Laker legend revealed that Hardaway was a big contributor in beating MJ and his Bulls in the series. While his dimes to O’Neal were undoubtedly helpful, Shaq revealed that it was Hardaway’s nonchalant attitude towards facing MJ that inspired O’Neal and his teammates to try their best. 

“Penny is the only guy that I have seen that didn’t care that he was playing against Michael Jordan… and I was like that,” O’Neal declared.

The contest between the two teams was a nail-biting affair, as no one believed that MJ could lose, considering his god-like status in the league. But such preconceived notions were tested after Orlando took both games 1 and 3 in dominant fashion.

In the end, a rusty Jordan was unable to will his Bulls to victory in a must-win game 6 with O’Neal and Penny putting the Bulls out of their misery in Chicago. But in true Jordan fashion, No.23 swept the Magic the following post-season and even left O’Neal with some crucial advice about accepting loss.

MJ’s advice to Shaquille O’Neal after beating his Magic in 1996

The Bulls and the Magic clashed again a year later, but this time in the Eastern Conference Finals. Jordan seemed to have remembered his beating from the previous year because the Bulls legend came out, guns blazing. The Bulls strangled the Orlando side from the jump and eventually swept the young roster on their way to securing their fourth title.

But after securing their Conference title in ’96 Jordan decided to leave O’Neal with some advice as they exchanged words after the loss. Appearing on the show “Point Game” O’Neal revealed that MJ’s advice to him concerned the concept of accepting loss to finally win. Talking about the incident further, Shaq said,

“I can remember after the Bulls beat the Orlando Magic in ’96, as I was walking off the court, Michael Jordan said to me, ‘Before succeeding, you must first learn to fail,'” So I wrote it down. I’m like, ‘What the f**k is Mike talking about?”

Shaq would later understand the depth of Mike’s advice, as O’Neal had to contend with a lot of heart-wrenching losses on his way to capturing 4 titles in the league.