“Shaquille O’Neal Manhandling AC Green!”: Lakers Legend Looks Back at 1998 Duel With ‘Iron Man’

LA Lakers legend and TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal never shies away from talking about his dominant time in the NBA, back during his playing days. One of the most fearsome forces of nature to have ever been seen in the league, Shaq has posterized and physically dominated innumerable quality players during his heyday. Recently, he shared a clip on his Instagram story, showing off one such instance of him dominating his opponent.

This time around, the high-profile victim at hand was 3-time NBA Champions A.C. Green, who joined forces with Shaq at the Lakers for a solitary season in 1999. However, back in 1998, Iron Man played for the Dallas Mavericks against the Lakers with both Shaq and Kobe, the former already in his prime. 

The short clip saw Shaq receive the ball inside the paint, as he proceeded to dunk it despite resistance from two players. One of them was A.C. Green, who initially made an attempt to get in his way. However, O’Neal casually thumped Green and powered his way to an impressive dunk.

In response, A.C. Green simply stuttered and stumbled out of the court. The video was initially shared by canaldubasket on Instagram. “Shaquille O’Neal manhandling AC Green!,” the caption read. 

The video then found its way to Shaq’s own Instagram story, where he used as yet another evidence of the kind of dominance that he showed casually, during his playing days, according to What Are NBA Celebs Upto.

Shaquille O’Neal regularly uses Instagram to remind fans of his NBA domination

Shaq, being a force of nature, as well as the uniqueness of his stature and skills means that his clips still appear to be utterly impressive, all these years later. O’Neal recently shared another video, showing some of his highlights from what was only his 3rd year in the NBA, for the Orlando Magic.

The clip talked about his unique combination of skill, size, and game sense, as Shaq was seen running the floor and finishing moves that he was himself starting. The video also claimed that Shaq’s impressive numbers would only have improved in modern times, considering the increased focus on distance shooting.

Shaq was not only a scorer, but a playmaker as well, and regularly represented an unstoppable train as he rammed his way to the paint with the ball. Equally capable of getting on the end of lobs and offensive rebounds, the video claimed that modern defenders would simply not be able to handle the force and speed with which he regularly attacked the rim.

Regardless, while Shaq produced exemplary numbers during his prime as well, he certainly seemed convinced that he would have dominated even harder, had he been playing today.