“Get Off This Court”: Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal’s Father Had a Spat Over a Spurs Game

Shaquille O’Neal was always afraid of his father’s wrath but noticed a deep change in him once his son became an NBA superstar.

Shaquille O’Neal grew up in a household with a multitude of difficulties. His family wasn’t financially well off. The oversized child was therefore molded in turbulence.

However, his stepfather, Sergeant Philip Harrison, left his mark on the young boy’s psyche. Shaquille fondly calls him sarge. A military man, sarge was hardcore. He valued discipline above all. And he raised O’Neal with an iron fist.

But once O’Neal grew up, Philip grew slightly kinder to his son. Though he still treated him like a child but there was less beating up now.

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One such incident that highlighted his change in nature happened on an NBA court. Sarge and former Lakers coach Phil Jackson got into a tussle over Shaquille O’Neal.

Phil Jackson asked Shaq’s father to leave the court

During a game against the Spurs, Philip was courtside, supporting his son with military-style gusto. Spurs’ center rotation had a player named Felton Spencer. He played only one season with them. Spencer was no good on the offense but his size allowed him to bully other players in the paint.

Spencer was doing the same thing to Shaquille O’Neal as the two faced off in that game. He was hitting the 7’1″ big man every possession. In his book Shaq Uncut, Diesel wrote about the incident in detail.

Sarge found this unacceptable. He started screaming at Phil Jackson to take Shaq out of the game. Jackson obviously paid no heed. Once the game was over, Diesel was busy giving an interview when he noticed his father rushing toward Phil. He looked furious to O’Neal even from a distance.

So once Sarge reached Phil, he started going off on the coach for not taking out his son. His emotions for his child obviously got the best of him because a player’s family should not talk to a coach that way.

Which is exactly what Phil Jackson reminded him with his response. Phil told Philip to immediately leave the court.

Phil Jackson: “Get off this court, you don’t belong here.”

Shaq’s security coordinator Jerome Crawford pulled Sarge away from Phil and the court, and the situation eventually de-escalated.

Shaquille O’Neal was often beaten up by Sarge

Shaquille O’Neal had a troubled childhood. Not that he wasn’t loved or appreciated. He was. But Sarge had a strict no-trouble policy and even the simplest of breaches would land the young kid in punishment.

The punishment was being beaten up to a pulp. Shaquille O’Neal was often trashed by his father. It probably turned Shaq into the mean kid he was when he came to the league.

However, Shaq remembers Sarge dissing out those punishments as necessary for his own good. He believes that his father Philip was only keeping an eye out for him.

Also read: “She Kicked me Out, She Changed the Locks”: When an 18 year old Dennis Rodman was Rendered Homeless by Mother Shirley