Allen Iverson: I think I would have a championship ring on if Shaq wasn’t who he was in that series

[Killer Instinct]

I don't righteously find this outrageous.


Kobe was nice and was consistently having prolonged stretches showing what he was about to become, but he wasn't there yet and he damn sure wasn't ready to lead. Frobe is my favorite version of Bean, but he was the "8th Wonder" at that point, not "The Black Mamba." A.I. was still considered the better player by most at that point. He & Shaq were considered the best players in the league. As a huge Kobe stan, it wasn't until mid '02 - early '03 that I thought Kobe began objectively pulling away from his peers and becoming Mamba.


As lethargic as the Laker role players were early in that series, I don't discount AI winning out. Lakers won that series essentially because of the Sixers inability to do anything with Shaq inside. Dude literally beat the fight out of Mutumbo & Matt Gieger down low. The Lakers best player got his points a lot easier than the Sixers' best player. Shaq was just a force of nature. Iverson and Philly possibly couldn't overcome that.

 

[Long Live The Kane]

I mean, the Lakers were the lakers cause they were top heavy as shyt...like legendarily so...I’d say he’s probably still wrong though...no Shaq and the lakers probably aren’t in the finals in the first place...Just as or more likely than this, Timmy has six chips... who knows

 

[Bledswole]

No

Yes. You must don’t remember the series and each game

 

[Bledswole]

Folks forget AI not only took Game 1, but Game 2 Sixers were down three with 2:30 to go... that was anybody's game. Imagine if they took both games in LA coming back to Philly Game 3 was a 1 point game until intentional fouling
Sixers easily could've taken any of those first 3 games in the series. Folks better put some respect on he's right that if Shaq wasn't arguably the most dominant force the league had ever seen he might've won that series

THIS

 

[Conscious Pilot]

Shaq got all 3 of those FMVPs because the East Centers were BBQ Chicken

 

[Jplaya2023]

Take Shaq off of that 2001 Lakers team and Iverson absolutely has a reason to believe he would have won.

Well it would've been sixers vs spurs and iverson would've avg 50 against them with old man terry porter 1 kidney shawn elliot, injured derek anderson trying 2 guard him

 

[Ozymandeas]

If Shaq isn't on that squad then the Spurs beat the Sixers in 6

Nah. Mutumbo matches up better with Duncan. The size difference was too much to handle with Shaq but not with Duncan. And nobody on the Spurs is defending Iverson. AI is right. If the Lakers didn’t have Shaq or if he had a big man to match up with him, he would’ve got a ring. Giannis isn’t a center and wouldn’t stop Shaq but he and AI would’ve been nasty together. AI just needed another 20ppg scorer and somebody who could be a lockdown defender.

 

[Take It In Blood]

It’s true shaq dominated the white boy and mutumbo, that was killing them

Plus like Embid said, u was allowed to elbow nikkas back then

 

[Trav]

 

[10bandz]

series definitely would've been more competitive. Just a Kobe vs AI duel would've been 7 games of some amazing basketball. No East team really had anyone who could fukk with Shaq

 

[seemorecizzy]

nobody in the world was sayin kobe was the second best basketball alive in 2001.
need to make that known lol

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Wait a minute, we saw Kobe score 48 and grab 16 rebounds to close out the Kings that playoff run.

We saw Kobe, not Shaq, destroy the 2001 Spurs where he averaged 33, 7, 7 on 51% shooting. And it would have been higher if he didn’t sit out most of the fourth quarters of games 3 and 4.

Nah. Kobe was elite on both ends that year. He dominated a far better team in the spurs in the WCF. If shaq went down, kobe wouldve just matched whatever Iverson did on the offensive end.

Spurs were not that good in 2001. People forget they lost Mario Elie, lost Sean Elliot, picked up Derek Anderson to replace them, then lost Anderson before the Lakers series. And little Avery Johnson had gotten too old to be useful. Backcourt was straight WOAT.

That left them with freaking Antonio Daniels (who had averaged 6ppg the year before) as their #2 scorer and 38yo Terry Porter, 35yo David Robinson, and 34yo Danny Ferry as their other starters. Outside of Duncan it was a completely lineup.

Pop's strategy in that series was to swarm Shaq with Duncan and Robinson and then cover Kobe with single coverage from Daniels (who was even worse at defense than he was at offense). He wanted to goad Kobe into shooting 40 times a game and keep the ball out of Shaq's hands. It wasn't likely to work, but when outside of Duncan the Lakers were better at literally every position and the bench, what did you expect Pop to do?

Same strategy worked for the Spurs in 2003 tho - Kobe took 27 shots a game shooting only 43% while Shaq got just 17 shots/game shooting 56%, and the Spurs won in 6. But that was really only possible because they had someone who could play passable defense on Kobe (Bowen) and actual #2/#3 scorers (20yo TP and 2nd-year Ginobli). In 2001 they didn't have any of that.

 

[Stick Up Kid]

He'd have a championship ring if he didn't have an ego

Use Sports Radio CAC rhetoric brehs

 

[LezJepzin]

He would've lost in six games instead of five

 

[Kairi Irving]

Use Sports Radio CAC rhetoric brehs

He's not a number one option if you want a ring