Shaquille O’Neal’s dominance is something that a lot of us were unfortunate to not witness. There is no denying that he was the most dominant ever. But when you hear tales from players that played against them, you get a spine-tingling sensation that he was otherworldly.
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Richard Jefferson, who was LeBron James’ teammate had the misfortune of facing off against Shaq during the Lakers’ threepeat run. An absolute force at the time Jefferson breaks down why O’Neal was different and how he changed the game.
JJ Redick asks Richard a simple question on his podcast, “What the F**k Do you do With Shaquille O’Neal?”. RJ’s answer is nothing fun. It is fearful and ghastly. A feeling that Shaq managed to regularly instill in his opponents.
“What the F**k Do you do With Shaquille O’Neal?”: Richard Jefferson talks about the nightmare-inducing prospect it is to face Lakers legend
As JJ talks about stats, he lays down Shaq’s record in the three-peat run.
- 38 points, 16.7 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks along with shooting 61% from the field.
- 33 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3.4 blocks with 57% in the back-to-back.
- 36 points, 12 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.8 blocks in the final series vs the Nets, where RJ played.
Jefferson talks about why guarding Shaq was impossible. No way around it. “There was no f**king guarding him,” RJ says. He talks about why Shaq, and Shaq alone, was the most dominant ever.
“Not LeBron, not MJ, Shaq was the most dominant ever” Jefferson hammers his point home, “there was no guarding him”.
Richard Jefferson describes why Shaq bent the rules of the game, quite literally
Shaq’s ferocity and power were so great that they resulted in rule changes. Quite literally, they had to bend the rules, because O’Neal bent backboards!
Jefferson is in awe talking about Shaq’s influence in the game. He says, “Shaq changed the game, and they literally had to change the physical equipment because nobody had ever seen that level of strength before”.
Shaq is the most dominant ever. We don’t even doubt it at this point. The fear in Jefferson’s eyes says it all.
