Basketball has been a big man’s game for large parts of its history, most of the dominant players over the years have been centers. No two players reflect this as well as Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In their ways, both were imperious and unstoppable, there was simply nothing opposing defenses could offer when faced with either of the two in their prime.
But while things may be amicable between the two now, and Shaq has always given Kareem his due respect, there was a time when the legendary Abdul-Jabbar managed to make the Big Diesel angry. He has spoken about what he would do if he had to face O’Neal, but in the early years, Abdul-Jabbar often dismissed O’Neal for his lack of championships, something which got to Shaq (via Sportskeeda).
“You know Kareem said one time…if you said Shaq’s putting up Kareem-type numbers. Kareem said ‘How? He’s not winning championships’…Now I’m like okay. Now I’m fucking pissed.”
When O’Neal moved from Orlando to the Lakers, he figured things would improve between him and the Laker legend, but that reportedly wasn’t the case. So to prove himself to one of the players he looked up to the most, Shaq dropped 61 points on the Clippers when they came visiting, right in front of Kareem.
19 years ago today, @SHAQ put up 61 points – on his birthday 🎉
(via @NBAonTNT)https://t.co/snBeqbCix5
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 6, 2019
Shaq explained how showing Kareem up was one of the main motivators for him behind that performance, naming the exact incident on the NBA’s Open Court series.
“I look over to the bench, and I see one of my idols telling Keith Closs how to stop me. I see Kareem saying ‘You gotta do this, you gotta do that.’ Now I’m pissed.”
“So I see him, and I wanna start showing off, so I shoot a skyhook and then I realised when we come down, he f*****g got his head down everytime I touch the ball.”
There is no doubting that Shaquille O’Neal went on to become one of the best players to ever play in the NBA, and his stories of being motivated by criticism line up with things other great players have said. However Shaq may have felt about it, Kareem’s criticism only helped out his Lakers, with Shaquille O’Neal’s domination alongside Kobe Bryant leading the franchise to a threepeat.
