Shaquille O’Neal is one of the game’s greatest big men ever. The 7-foot-1 beast would dominate the floor on any given night but would complain about practice the very next day. Complaining about practice, O’Neal revealed that Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen would end up beating him during these scrimmages. Tough.
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The Big Aristotle is one of the biggest players in the league. It wasn’t a common occurrence to see him get thwarted by any player. However, Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen was one of the very few players who were able to do so.
Even today, years after the two went at it against each other, Diesel still remembers all the beating Mad Dog gave him.
“Mad Dog used to kill me”: Shaquille O’Neal
On the recent episode of NBA on TNT, Horry made an appearance during “EJ’s Meat-O Stat of the Night” segment. During the segment, Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley took turns in asking Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Robert questions about their respective teammates.
During one point, Johnson asked the two former Lakers stars to name the player who would complain the most about practice.
Without any hesitation, the answer on both their slates was Shaq. After having a good laugh about it, Big Shot Bob explained how Madsen was beating him up during their practice sessions.
“He talking about Mad Dog beating him up in practice.”
Even the Hall-Of-Famer spoke about Mark “killing” him in practice.
“Mad Dog used to kill me. He used to beat me up bad.”
Why has Shaq never practiced?
Unlike Kobe Bryant, O’Neal liked to live life to the fullest. While his counterpart was putting in work at the gym at odd hours, the center was enjoying himself.
It seems almost impossible to believe that a player of Shaq’s caliber wasn’t practicing as often as we thought he was. The simple reason behind not putting in the extra effort – he didn’t want to get beat up in the games and the practices as well. In an interview with Graham Bensinger, the 2000 Most Valuable Player disclosed:
“In the words of Allen Iverson, ‘We talking about practice?’ Did I work hard in practice? No. Never. And let me tell you why. The guy that I’m playing against, they’re under me. So to try and show that they’re worthy of being an NBA player, they would touch me up. So it was my philosophy. … I’m not gonna get touched up twice. I’m not gonna get beat up at practice and in the game. So I will chill in practice and I’ll give you my all in the game.”
Shaq retired after spending nearly 2 decades in the league with 1 MVP, 4 championships, 3 Finals MVPs, and 2 scoring titles. One can only imagine how decorated O’Neal’s resume would be if practiced without grumbling.
