Shaq Hating on a Younger Player For the 100th Time

[hazardous]

In the 2002 WCF Shaq averaged 30ppg on 53% shooting while being guarded by Divac and Pollard. And the numbers would have been even worse (not to mention the Lakers would have lost in 6) if Divac and Pollard weren't hit with a huge string of mystery fouls that famously kept LA alive in the series. That is nothing like the narrative here that he would score 40-45ppg if you put anyone on him who weighed less than 280 lbs. He was barely making half his shots even with the phantom foul calls that erased his misses.

In the 2000 WCF Shaq only averaged 26ppg on 53% shooting. He played 320 minutes in that series, while 35yo Sabonis played just 220 minutes and the rest of the time Shaq was mostly guarded by Brian Grant (the only other people who defended Shaq in that series were 225lb Sheed, who hated defending bigs, and little-used 21yo 225lb Jermaine O'Neal, who only averaged 3 minutes/game). And again, if it wasn't for a famously suspect string of phantom fouls against Sabonis and Grant, Shaq's numbers would have been even worse.

Shaq only scored 18 in the critical game 7, which the Lakers were getting blown out in until the 4th quarter (with the help of the refs fouling Pippen and Sabonis out of the game on mystery calls and a big run of other bullshyt). He made just 5 field goals in the game, 3 on Sabonis and 2 on Grant.

The idea that Shaq dominated whenever he wanted is a myth. Even in his absolute prime, he had a lot of very human series.

How much minutes did you expect Sabonis to play? 40? Even in those earlier series he averaged around 30mpg. And Grant played 17mpg because he was too small to defend Shaq (which again was stated by Collins on the broadcast)

And you're discrediting Divac/Pollard, but not mentioning that the Kings were ranked 6th in defense that season, and even though they weren't great individual defenders (aside from Christie) they played excellent team defense

I'm not denying he didn't have a few "human" series, but you can say this about any all time great if you pull it up

 

[Professor Emeritus]

And you're discrediting Divac/Pollard, but not mentioning that the Kings were ranked 6th in defense that season, and even though they weren't great individual defenders (aside from Christie) they played excellent team defense

So if the Kings can play great defense with Divac or Pollard on Shaq, then why can't the Jazz do it with Gobert?

Especially considering that Favors is a much better defender than Webber ever was and today's zones make life far tougher for back-to-the-basket players like Shaq than the pre-zone iso era of Shaq's prime.

In every way, today's Jazz team would be better defensively against Shaq than those 2002 Kings were.

How much minutes did you expect Sabonis to play? 40? Even in those earlier series he averaged around 30mpg. And Grant played 17mpg because he was too small to defend Shaq (which again was stated by Collins on the broadcast)

Not sure what you're trying to argue.....my point is that Sabonis played 32 minutes/game and Grant played 17 minutes/game yet Shaq only scored 26 points/game on 53% shooting. Proving that Shaq wasn't just running over Grant while he was in there.

If Shaq is scoring 40-45ppg on prime Gobert, why could he barely managed 25ppg on 53% shooting against 30 minutes of ready-to-retire Sabonis and 15 minutes of Grant?

I'm not denying he didn't have a few "human" series, but you can say this about any all time great if you pull it up

My point is that you can't point to that one series against 35yo Mutombo (where the Sixers left Mutombo on an island and the refs let Shaq do anything he wanted) and pretend that that shows what Shaq would do every single series. That 2001 Finals doesn't define Shaq any more than the WCF on either side of it do.

If Shaq couldn't get over 30ppg against Divac in the illegal defense era, why are we so sure he would against Gobert when teams can cheat towards bigs as much as they want?

 

[Rell Lauren]

 

[CHERUB]

These days telling the TRUTH is hating

 

[ReturnOfJudah]

 

[Belize King]

In the 2002 WCF Shaq averaged 30ppg on 53% shooting while being guarded by Divac and Pollard. And the numbers would have been even worse (not to mention the Lakers would have lost in 6) if Divac and Pollard weren't hit with a huge string of mystery fouls that famously kept LA alive in the series. That is nothing like the narrative here that he would score 40-45ppg if you put anyone on him who weighed less than 280 lbs. He was barely making half his shots even with the phantom foul calls that erased his misses.

In the 2000 WCF Shaq only averaged 26ppg on 53% shooting. He played 320 minutes in that series, while 35yo Sabonis played just 220 minutes and the rest of the time Shaq was mostly guarded by Brian Grant (the only other people who defended Shaq in that series were 225lb Sheed, who hated defending bigs, and little-used 21yo 225lb Jermaine O'Neal, who only averaged 3 minutes/game). And again, if it wasn't for a famously suspect string of phantom fouls against Sabonis and Grant, Shaq's numbers would have been even worse.

Shaq only scored 18 in the critical game 7, which the Lakers were getting blown out in until the 4th quarter (with the help of the refs fouling Pippen and Sabonis out of the game on mystery calls and a big run of other bullshyt). He made just 5 field goals in the game, 3 on Sabonis and 2 on Grant.

The idea that Shaq dominated whenever he wanted is a myth. Even in his absolute prime, he had a lot of very human series.

If somebody pointed that out to his sensitive behind….