One of the most common sayings in the league is that defense wins championships. This has always held, teams that are excellent on defense can stay in the game much longer than ones that give up a lot of points, no matter how good their offense might be. And some of the best defensive players in history have been elite shot blockers, names like Bill Russell, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Dikembe Mutombo.
Shaquille O’Neal was no slouch on that end either, he blocked MJ in their first meeting after all, and he finds himself in 8th place on the NBA’s all-time blocks list. However, Shaq estimates himself to have been higher, something that came to light on Inside The NBA. When Charles Barkley spoke about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s blocking ability and compared him to Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning, Shaq took exception to not being included, saying that he had more blocks than Mutombo.
He was checked immediately, with a fan’s tweet being broadcast during the show, in what turned out to be quite a hilarious exchange.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwybJ3FNeGk
Charles Barkley: “When I played against Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, I had to be looking for those dudes, cuz I knew they were coming.”
Shaquille O’Neal: *clears his throat pointedly*
Barkley: “No, you weren’t a shot-blocker, stop it.”
Shaq: “I passed Mutombo on the shot blocks, so how am I not a shot-blocker?”
Barkley: “You wasn’t the same shot-blocker as Mutombo.”
Shaq: “I passed Mutombo in shot blocks, so how am I not a shot-blocker?”
Barkley: “It’s not the same, it’s not the same.”
Shaq: “You sound stupid right now, I passed Mutombo.”
Barkley: “No, it’s not, nobody look at you as a shot-blocker.”
Shaq: “Your a** is looking foolish.”
Barkley: “How many times you won Defensive Player of The Year?”
Shaq: “Defense don’t win championships. Tell him, scorers win championships.”
The conversation moved on a bit to Hakeem Olajuwon and his prowess as a shot-blocker before a tweet was shown on the show that showed Shaq is behind Mutombo on the list, with Dikembe claiming the 2nd spot behind none other than Hakeem Olajuwon. Shaquille O’Neal responded by saying he meant Alonzo Mourning, who is below him on the list after he got flamed a bit by his crewmates.
Shaq's just lying on national television. #NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/HNZ9YNMUFM
— 𝙅𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙮 🦅💨 (@JellyMayne) May 3, 2022
Ernie Johnson: “We were gonna pull that up.”
Shaquille O’Neal: “I meant Alonzo Mourning…”
Ernie: “Dikembe No. 2, Shaq No. 8.”
Shaq: “I meant Alonzo Mourning, my bad, my bad.”
O’Neal was known for his offensive skills more than his defense, but Shaq was still a monster on the court on both sides. The fact that he had 2,732 blocks speaks for itself, although he was nowhere near Mutombo at 3,289, as was rightly pointed out. As always though, Shaq’s confidence in himself is extremely entertaining.
