Shaquille O’Neal, who turns 50 on Sunday, won four NBA championships in his career and became an icon.
That evening, February 16, 1993, opened the eyes of the NBA people.
Orlando Magicin Shaquille O’Neal was ferocious against the Detroit Pistons. He scored 46 points and 21 rebounds.
O’Neal was Magic’s number one booking from the previous summer, a 215-cent and nearly 150-pound leave that was expected to do great deeds. However, a 40/20 balance in one match was not an everyday treat, especially for a newcomer.
O’Neal began to dominate the baseboards at both ends of the parquet. With his physical superiority, he smashed the discs into his grip and punched the balls in the bag with no regard for the defenders ’obstruction attempts.
In his coming season, O’Neal donk twice as badly that the steel structures of the basket plate broke. The NBA reacted and demanded stiffer body structures for its halls the following season.
– He was simply bigger, stronger and faster than anyone else, sums up Steve Kerrincoming season playmate.
– However, he was still young and inexperienced, and others were more skilled than he was. He had to work with that part during the first few seasons.
Hack-a-Shaq
After four NBA seasons, in the summer of 1996, Orlando Magic switched to Los Angeles Lakers. O’Nealista was a refined coaching legend Phil Jackson in the doctrine so excellent basketball player that Athletic-Sportheilulehti places him eighth in the fresh In its list of the 75 best NBA players.
Shaquille O’Neal was not at his best. AOP
– O’Neal changed the species with its size and dominance. He discouraged so many opponents that the NBA allowed a place defense for the 2001-02 season, Athletic’s NBA reporter Jason Jones write.
– The best way to defend O’Neal was to put him on the line.
The tactic was called Hack-a-Shaq. With timely and, if necessary, gross violations, O’Neal was sent to a free throw line that wasn’t his favorite spot.
O’Neal’s NBA career freedom percentage is really modest at 52.7. With the best free throwers, for example With Stephen Curry and Steve Nashillathe success rate on the line is over 90.
Study credits
During his Lakers years, O’Neal completed a Louisiana State University degree that interrupted his NBA career. He even skipped Jackson with the permission of the match due to graduation strikes and announced that he could get “just the right job” now.
– I had promised my mother I would finish school, O’Neal said.
– At first it felt a little strange, because I had money. During the first week, I was asked for autographs, but it ended when people noticed how serious I was.
O’Neal took education seriously from the start.
– My life (university) outside of basketball was really just studying. I wanted to have the best average on my team, he says.
– After the exercises, I went to eat and take a nap – and then I attacked my homework.
Four championships
At the turn of the millennium, O’Neal played the most effective period of his career. He led the Lakers to three consecutive championships and kicked the MVP of the finals each time. The corresponding pipe has only been able to Michael Jordan.
In the spring of 2006, O’Neal took the Miami Heat to the first championship in club history and proved capable of big deeds outside of the Lakers.
O’Neal played a total of 19 seasons in the NBA. After the Heat, he would still visit the Phoenix Suns, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics.
– If he had only been big, he wouldn’t have won that number of championships, you see Luke Waltonplaymate from the Lakers.
– Size, skills and understanding of the game make him one of the best centers ever.
“I left zero”
Since his career, O’Neal has been seen in the music world, in movies, TV series, commercials and show wrestling nights. He is also a successful businessman, the so-called net worth weighed in the hundreds of millions.
However, O’Neal wouldn’t want to be a celebrity, as he said in an interview with NY Post this fall.
– The celebrities are quite upset. Don’t call me that anymore, O’Neal commented.
– How they treat people. What are they doing. What do they say. I’ve never been like that – and I don’t want to ever be considered that way.
O’Neal comes from humble circumstances, in the city of Newark.
– I started from scratch, but even if I succeeded, that doesn’t mean I’m a bigger and smarter person than anyone else, he says.
– It doesn’t make me better to have money either. This is what I have always thought – and this is how I will always think.
Sources: Athletic, Esquire and NY Post.
Shaquille O’Neal played in the LA Lakers with the late Kobe Bryant. AOP