Watching 6ft 6″ Kobe Bryant Brawling, Shaquille O’Neal Planned to Knock Out Patrick Ewing to Divert Attention: “Lot of Resentment”

On the 2nd of April, 2000, Kobe Bryant got into a highly publicized on-court fight with Chris Childs. Tensions were high as the Lakers took on the Knicks. And, when The Black Mamba threw an elbow, things escalated. Kobe got hit pretty bad and that’s where Shaquille O’Neal stepped in. As he revealed in his book Shaq Talks Back, in order to divert attention away from Bryant he planned to knock out Patrick Ewing.

During his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, Big Diesel fancied himself as the enforcer of the team. He believed he was like the big brother of the team, responsible for protecting his little brothers. So, when Kobe got into it with Childs, Shaq put two and two together and realized this was a perfect opportunity for him to pick a fight with Ewing. Having built a lot of resentment toward him over the years.

Shaquille O’Neal took the attention away from the Kobe Bryant-Chris Childs fight by attempting to push Patrick Ewing

In the early 2000s, Shaquille O’Neal was the most dominant force in the NBA. He was the best center in the league, but he was not without competition. From David Robinson to Hakeem Olajuwon, there were a lot of talented superstars. But, the one Shaq despised the most at that point was Patrick Ewing. Ewing had caused a lot of heartbreak for Shaq.

After all, during his formative years in the NBA, The Big Aristotle experienced the crushing defeats of Ewing’s Knicks as his Orlando Magic team often fell victim to them. So, to say there was a tinge of resentment would be an understatement. Consequently, when the Knicks visited LA in the year 2000, everyone anticipated that things would escalate and become heated. It all started with Kobe Bryant and Chris Childs.

Childs aggressively marked Kobe throughout the night, causing understandable frustration for the latter. However, he made the mistake of throwing an elbow at his opponent, who as Shaq stated in his book, was no Shawn Bradley or Greg Ostertag. Childs threw punches and it was here that an opportunity presented itself. To divert attention from Kobe being hit, O’Neal chose to engage in a fight with Hoya Destroya.

“Right after the altercation, I pushed Patrick Ewing. I wanted Ewing to come back. I was gonna mess Ewing up. I promise you I was. I had a lot of resentment built up about Patrick over the years. If he stepped up, I was gonna give Ewing a two-piece. I was gonna knock Patrick out, hit him with a bip-bip-bip. For real. Just to take the attention off Kobe’s getting hit.”

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned for Shaq. While his shoving slightly annoyed his Hall of Fame compatriot, it didn’t truly seem to bother him. However, it’s worth noting that Ewing was an exception, as O’Neal has successfully managed to get under the skin of other legends.

Shaq once infamously picked a fight with Charles Barkley

Things may not have worked out with Patrick Ewing, but Shaquille O’Neal has found success with other players. Back in 1999, Shaq showed he had no care for anyone’s legendary status when he infamous fought Charles Barkley mid-game. Almost knocking The Round Mound of Rebound out with a big right hook.

It just seems as though Shaq looked for any reason to pick a fight and it didn’t matter who it was with. And, he couldn’t have done better than an equally hot-headed Sir Charles.