4x NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal had a terrific NBA career. The big man collected plenty of honors, set new records, and dominated the league as nobody else did it before.
Shaq has many reasons to be proud of his career. Still, he recently revealed he feels really good about one playoff series that marked him and the Orlando Magic in the middle of the 90s. O’Neal was always competitive, and he wanted to beat the best.
Therefore, it’s not a surprise that he feels proud of being the last person to defeat Michael Jordan in the postseason. Talking on the FULL SEND Podcast, Shaq said:
“I take pride in being the last guy to beat Michael Jordan in a playoff situation. Everybody is going to say that he came back from baseball, but my thing is that if you step on that court and I know he has the same mentality if you are on that court, that means you are ready to go. The next year they came back, demolished us, and made sure we didn’t win a game. I’m sure he was rusty when he came back, but he didn’t suck.”
Back in 1995, His Airness returned to the court after a year-and-a-half hiatus. He had retired from the game in 1993 to pursue a baseball career. Jordan didn’t play the entire 1994/95 season and had to rush to get in shape to play basketball again.
Same time next week 😏#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/YUoyyfdy3Q
— ESPN (@espn) May 4, 2020
The Chicago Bulls reached the Eastern Conference semifinals that season, facing an up-and-coming Orlando Magic team that featured the likes of Shaq and Penny Hardaway. The young Magic team was ready to shock the world, which they did, eliminating the Bulls and eventually going to the Finals, where the Houston Rockets took them out in four games.
That squad looked poised to fight in the Eastern Conference, even with MJ’s return. Unfortunately, the front office let that opportunity go away, resulting in Shaq leaving the team and joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
“We definitely could have got one. The thing in Orlando was that when you are young and silly, you chase useless titles. When I got there, I was the man, but when Penny got there, he thought he was the man. We were fighting over bullshit and useless titles that didn’t make sense. The year before I left, Penny sat out because he wanted to get more money which is fine with me. I know if you get 100 million, and no disrespect to you, but I have to get 150 million. They gave it to him, but when it was time for me to get my money, they disappeared.”
He would then go to Los Angeles, teaming up with another talented guard in Kobe Bryant. He won three championships with the Black Mamba, creating one of the deadliest duos in NBA history and leading one of the most dominant squads in league history.
After that elimination, Michael Jordan never lost a playoff series again. He won three straight titles again before retiring from the game for the second time. MJ would return with the Washington Wizards in the early 2000s. Still, he couldn’t take the capital team to the big party before retiring for good.
