Shaquille O’Neal is one of the largest men to have ever played in the NBA. Weighing in at 325lbs on average and standing at a whopping 7’1, Shaq made sure to take up an egregious amount of space while on the hardwood.
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Moreover, it should be noted that 325 wasn’t close to being his heaviest as he was close to 400lbs towards the end of the 2002 Lakers championship run. With all that size and heft to throw around, it’s understandable as to why he dominated the paint on both the offensive end and defensive end of the floor.
Players were quite wary of a looming Shaq and what he could do if they went up for a shot near him. So, the best way to attack him in the paint was to go hard and take flight. According to him, only 3 men every succeeded in doing this against him.
Shaquille O’Neal on the 3 men that dunked on him
Shaquille O’Neal isn’t one to boast about his accomplishments and not talk about his failures at the same time (except when it comes to letting Charles Barkley know how many rings he has). So, when talking about all that he’s achieved, he would take a tangent into how he got put onto a poster 3 times in his illustrious 19-year career.
“I always take pride in saying that in 20 years, I only got dunked on 3 times. Derrick Coleman, Michael Jordan, and Tim Perry. I went up lazily and he [Perry] threw it down on me,” said the 3x Finals MVP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_VrrWDyq_k
It should be noted all three of these instances that ‘The Big Aristotle’ laid out were ones that took place while he was still on the Orlando Magic. Essentially, the only time he was ever humiliated in the paint was in the first 4 years of his career and then never again.
Was Shaquille O’Neal right?
No, as much as we want to believe that Shaq was right about having only 3 people dunk on him, it simply isn’t true. He’s had multiple people put him on a poster and while it isn’t much more than 3, it certainly isn’t 3.
After having gotten dunked on by Derrick Coleman, Shaq found himself actively avoiding getting put on a poster and would shy away from any player who looked like he would go up for a dunk. Below is a compilation of times that O’Neal saw his defense be ineffective in the paint.
