It is not news that Shaquille O’Neal left his mark on the NBA as one of the most dominant players to ever play basketball. Undoubtedly, the stature of the New Jersey-born was a key factor behind it as Doc Rivers, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett put into perspective just how large he was. The trio from the Boston Celtics’ 2008 championship-winning side discussed it on KG Certified upon their reunion.
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Doc at first recalled the time when Diesel went to visit him in his house in Orlando, stating, “He pulls in a semi-truck which I made him park on the street. I said, ‘Man you ain’t bringing that big thing in my driveway, rip my driveway up'”. “Then he gets out and I open the door and I’m looking at him and I’m like, ‘Shaq is a big dude’. Like you forget,” the 62-year-old mentioned.
Soon after that, Pierce voiced the same as he remembered the instances when the Big Aristotle used to sit on the bench. “When we sat on the bench, Shaq sits with his legs wide open. We over here like,” he mentioned, hinting at how the rest of the roster had to make room for him by squirming to take up less space themselves. “Damn big fella,” Garnett recalled telling him to which the 7ft 1″ icon responded, “Hey, y’all slide down”.
While reminiscing about those moments from Shaq’s 2010/11 season with the Celtics, Rivers candidly expressed title chances from that time. “He just couldn’t stay healthy. But if he could’ve stayed healthy,” he highlighted, pointing out how a potential repeat of 2008 was on the cards. “Which tells you how good he was because he was at the end and he was still dominating,” the 3x All-Star revealed.
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This portrayed the picture of the iconic center’s dominance throughout his career in the NBA. More than having a large size, the 15x All-Star knew how to utilize it on the floor to terrorize his opponents in the paint. Thus, despite his injury struggles, the 2000 MVP remained a feared opponent in the league because of his skill set.
Sadly, the 4x champion failed to make the most out of his talents in Boston due to his struggles with his Achilles. It limited him to playing only 37 regular season matches and two playoff games as the team lost in the conference semi-finals. So, Coach Doc’s words held a certain value as the squad possibly needed a winner like Shaq to help them get over the line. That said, the team just couldn’t achieve the ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship.
How the size of Shaquille O’Neal used to intimidate his opponents
Since entering the league in 1992 as a 20-year-old, O’Neal caught the eyes of the NBA community with his size. The opponents struggled to counter it while the youngster quickly rose the ranks to become one of the leading scorers in the league. His gameplay thus became an area of concern for the opposition players guarding him. It only worsened whenever the 3x Finals MVP used to lose his temper.
Garnett was more than often on the receiving end of things as the 6ft 11″ often had the responsibility of marking him. Recalling such times, KG once mentioned, “Shaq could have been a lot more mean than he was. Thank god Shaq was raised right! Y’all haven’t played against a pissed-off Shaq. Shaq getting pissed – Whaaat? Thank you, Mama O’Neal, thank you!”.
This once again put forward how the upbringing of the 2x scoring champion played an immense role in the longevity of his career. At the same time, it puts into perspective how he became one of the greatest of all time in NBA history.
