There are two things Shaquille O’Neal loves more than anything else: dunking the ball on some undermatched center’s head and appearing on podcasts. Shaq has been retired since 2011 and doesn’t do much of the former anymore, so that leaves more time to talk into a microphone, and the Inside the NBA star usually takes full advantage.
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On the latest episode of the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, Shaq was given the opportunity to indulge in both of his favorite activities, as Travis asked him to relive his favorite dunk of all time. Shaq spent years putting fools on posters, so it was understandable that he couldn’t narrow it down to one and gave them two instead.
The first is one of the funniest NBA clips ever, while the second was the moment that the Shaq and Kobe Lakers dynasty really took flight.
“I took it as a sign of respect when you didn’t double me,” Shaq said, “so I’m backing, I don’t even know who was on me, and I’m like, ‘I know this ain’t f***** Chris Dudley.'”
He described how he backed Dudley down while the former Knicks center tried to stop him with an arm in his back. “I take one dribble, I’m like, ‘The f***?’ I take two dribbles, I even carried it on the second dribble, and I was like, ‘Oh these m************ not coming?'”
Shaq drop-stepped and threw it down, going right through Dudley in the process. “He was all on me and I was like, ‘F*** off me,’ and I pushed him,” Shaq recalled while laughing.
Dudley didn’t take the disrespect well, and he got up and chucked the ball at Shaq’s back as the Big Diesel ran down the court, setting off a firestorm that resulted in Shaq getting a technical foul and Dudley getting ejected.
Shaq’s other favorite dunk is another all-timer
Shaq told the Kelces that his other favorite dunk was the one in Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals, when Kobe Bryant threw an alley-oop to him in the final minute to help the Lakers put the finishing touches on a 13-point fourth-quarter comeback.
That dunk sent the Staples Center crowd into a frenzy, and it catapulted to the Lakers to their first title of what would become a Shaq-Kobe three-peat. The way Shaq told the story made it even better.
“Game 7, Portland’s kicking our a**, so we come to the timeout in the fourth quarter, and Phil Jackson, remember I used to tell you he would play with your mind? ‘Alright guys, great year, they’re kicking your a**, I’ll see you next year.'”
That’s all it took to ignite a spark in L.A.’s dynamic twosome. “Kobe’s pissed that he said it, I’m pissed that he said it, I’m like, ‘F*** that, let’s go on a little run.'” Shaq spoke about how Kobe went into “Kobe mode” and started taking over, all the while the big man was telling him that the lob was open.
Finally Kobe listened, and he signaled to Shaq that it was time to go. The rest is history, and a new Lakers dynasty was born.
Shaq may appear on a lot of podcasts, but he’s still as entertaining as ever on them. Getting to relive these two iconic dunks was a treat.
