There have been few players in NBA history more difficult to guard than prime Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq Diesel, the Big Aristotle, Wilt Chamberneezy: you don’t get so many nicknames without being a real terror on the court. However, Dwight Howard, who has had an on-and-off feud with Shaq revealed tricks he would resort to in order to slow the big man down as much as possible.
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Howard appeared on Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s podcast Thanalysis this week, and one of the topics they discussed was how the three-time Defensive Player of the Year would have guarded some of the toughest centers of all time. Naturally, Thanasis had to ask about Shaq. Here’s what Howard had to say about what he would do to stop one of the most dominant post players the game has ever seen:
“I would use the fact that he’s a little bit taller than me. I would push him outside the paint as much as possible. Meet him early as he’s running the floor so he can’t get deep post position. And then hell, you’re talking about prime Shaq. There wasn’t a lot people was doing with that. He’s 7’2″, 335 pounds, you know what I’m saying? My highest I weighed in the NBA is 285 pounds, so that’s a lot of weight and a lot of inches in height that I’m giving up against Shaq.”
Howard’s strategy is smart because once Prime Shaq got into the paint, it was already too late. The only way to stop him was to keep him away from the basket because he could use his superlative strength to finish through contact. The only other effective strategy would be to foul him (Hack-a-Shaq), but Howard was such an important player for his teams that he couldn’t afford to get into early foul trouble.
Howard and Shaq were both drafted number one overall by the Orlando Magic 12 years apart, and they did actually face off on the court. Seeing as Shaq was in his 13th season when Howard was a rookie though, the two never met in their primes. Obviously, Howard never faced Magic Shaq, but he also never went against Lakers Shaq, either.
Howard’s strategy for Shaq was pretty effective, as he went 6-6 in 12 matchups while holding him to 15.7 points and 6.4 rebounds. Howard’s numbers were even better, as he averaged 16.5 points and 10.9 rebounds in those 12 games.
Dwight Howard versus Nikola Jokic would have been a matchup of Titans
Howard is the only player in NBA history to win Defensive Player of the Year three years in a row, so his words on how he would defend some of the greatest offensive centers in basketball history carry a lot of weight. Here’s what he had to say about what he would do against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
“I would say with somebody like him, you gotta apply pressure the whole game. You can’t allow him to be the one that’s coming at you. You gotta be up on him the whole game. And you gotta force him to take tough shots. He doesn’t jump that high, which means he’s using his body, his weight, to be his leverage. So I feel like with him you gotta outmatch his energy. If he’s playing against somebody that’s energetic on both ends of the floor, that’s gonna go for the rebound every play, that he’s gotta box out. My thing is you gotta make him use energy in other areas of the game.”
Howard did a more-than-respectable job against Jokic in the 2020 Western Conference Finals, as he helped hold the Serbian big man to 21.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in a five-game Lakers series win. Just a week later, Howard got his first and only ring as his Lakers beat the Heat in six games.
One of the best aspects of all the athlete podcasts that have cropped up in recent years is to hear these great players breaking down the game. Basketball fans have spent many hours imagining what it would be like if two legends faced off in their prime, and to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth is even better.
