More than a decade after his retirement, Shaquille O’Neal keeps reminding NBA fans, of who he was, on his Instagram. Once again, he took to his Insta and shared a fan reel showcasing his dominance. In this clip, David Robinson was on the receiving end of his power-packed jams. The Center seems to be suggesting that he had complete control over the Admiral.
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The reel is titled, “#Shaq Showed Yall Time After Time After Mf’in Time Who Was The Man Between Him And #DavidRobinson”.
By sharing the story, Shaq seems to co-sign the belief that Robinson stood no chance against him. In the reel, he gives Robinson a ton of business inside. Despite both being 7 feet 1 inch, O’Neal makes D-Rob look like a tweener. The Center repeatedly hits the floor and gets pushed away. This reel sums up the power that O’Neal could produce even against the Admiral, who was Army-built and one of the strongest players.
In the 17 playoffs between them, O’Neal won nine times and Robinson eight times, implying a neck-and-neck affair. However, Shaq had a distinct individual statistical advantage over Robinson. He registered 24.7 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game against the Spurs legend. Meanwhile, the Admiral has 9.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game in those battles.
These playoff battles took place when O’Neal shifted from East to West via his Lakers trade in 1996. When the playoff battles started in 1999, the Spurs Center was at the tail-end of his career while Diesel was in his prime. During the Lakers-Spurs clashes in the 2000s, it was Tim Duncan who drew the assignment of O’Neal for most parts.
However, Shaq liked to go extra hard at D-Rob, so much so that he started a rumor.
Shaquille O’Neal lied to draw motivation against David Robinson
When O’Neal entered the league, Robinson had the upper hand on the youngster during his rookie and sophomore seasons. Therefore, to fuel himself, he started a rumor that Robinson refused to sign his autograph when he was 13 years old. He attributed this refusal as a reason to get back on Robinson once his NBA journey began.
The whole reason for the fabrication was to instill a self-belief that he had been wronged and had to get his revenge. In 2020, during a “90s Reunion” on a video call, Shaq apologized to Robinson for starting the rumor. Inducing laughter from many NBA greats, he narrated the story of his fabrication.
“First couple of years, he used to kill me. I had to make up a rumor to get mad. Sprinting up and down the court, I was like,”man slow down”. I just made up a scenario. “Oh yeah, when I was 13, you ain’t sign my autograph, I am mad now””, Shaq confessed hilariously.
This story sums up that O’Neal could go above and beyond to get a one-up against his opponents. He didn’t shy away from engaging in strange mind games. He could cook up stories to motivate himself. The more one knows about Shaq, the more they figure out how multi-faceted his personality is.
