The Utah Jazz season ended with a whimper after the Dallas Mavericks took care of them in the first round of the playoffs and eliminated them 4-2. The Mavs were without Luka Doncic for the first three games and the Jazz went down 2-1 in those games.
The Jazz losing opened up three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert to a lot of slander, especially from Shaquille O’Neal. Gobert was not happy when Shaq got into a fight with his ‘Inside the NBA’ co-hosts implying Gobert couldn’t lock him down and that he would have 12 points in the first three minutes.
Rudy responded to Shaq on Instagram reaffirming that he could lock Shaq up, which started a war of words between the two centers. Shaq responded to Gobert by wondering aloud how French barbeque chicken tastes like, but gave Gobert some respect for clapping back at the disrespectful comments.
NBA 2k’s official page decided to let everyone make their own decision by sharing a graphic with both players’ 2K stats. It’s fair to say that Gobert is heavily outmatched.
The numbers are heavily skewed in favor of Shaq here, as he is better in every statistical category (including defense) according to 2K. This is weird because 2K are dissing themselves by saying the 3x DPOY is not as good a defender as Shaq, who was never renowned for his defensive abilities.
Either way, Shaq is a force that Gobert just wouldn’t be able to stop. Shaq in his prime was one of the most devastating offensive players to ever live. Gobert could try to limit Shaq, but he would not lock him down.
Gobert is a wonderful player for the era he is in, despite all the hate he has received. He might have been better in the 90s when teams would highlight his talent, but sadly, that is not possible. Shaq is better all-time than Gobert and NBA 2K22 just reinforces that.
