“Nets fans were wild for taunting Shaquille O’Neal with fake bricks”: When the Lakers legend was extensively trolled in the 2002 NBA Finals for his poor shooting

New Jersey Nets fans brought out giant bricks into the stands when facing off against Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers in the 2002 NBA Finals. 

Shaquille O’Neal is undoubtedly one of the greatest centers in the history of the league and the most dominant force the NBA had seen since Wilt Chamberlain over 40 years prior. His 4 championships and countless All-NBA and All-Star selections further prove just how great he was on the basketball court. 

One thing Shaq did struggle with however, throughout his 19 year career, was shooting the basketball. Surprisingly enough, the Lakers legend has made the most field goals of anybody in the past 25 years, 6-7 feet away from the basket. This however, doesn’t translate to him being a great shooter as he had mastered the push shot/ floater from that range.

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When it comes to taking shots from beyond the aforementioned range, it’s safe to say that Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t close to being at league average. Perhaps the biggest flaw in his game was what ensued after he got fouled in the acting of shooting. 

Shaquille O’Neal got trolled by Nets fans for his poor shooting during the Finals. 

It’s no secret that Shaquille O’Neal was a poor free throw shooter. So much so that ‘Hack-a-Shaq’ was developed in order to keep him from dropping 40 points every other night and carrying his teams to victory. It was almost guaranteed ‘The Big Aristotle’ would miss one of two free throws when at the charity stripe. 

During the 2002 NBA Finals when the Lakers went up against the New Jersey Nets, Shaquille O’Neal would be subjected to some intense trolling from Nets fans. Upon returning to Jersey for Game 3 and 4, fans took to the stands with several styrofoam bricks that hinted towards Shaq’s abysmal free throw shooting numbers.

 

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Well, it didn’t matter in the end as the Lakers swept the Nets in that series, en route to a a third straight championship. Funnily enough, the 2002 postseason saw the 4x champ shoot the second best FT% of his career at 64.9%.