Five shots in one game? Ridiculous. Shaq’s a dominant player. He should demand the ball, and shoot all the time. But he didn’t. He just quit on his team, because he’s selfish, and he has ulterior motives on the court, and he doesn’t care anything about winning. He took five shots in an NBA Finals game, and he’s a quitter and a loser.
Of course, that’s all absurd, and I don’t believe it. But I don’t think it’s any less fair to say those things about Shaq than it was to say them about Kobe Bryant after Game 7 of the Lakers/Suns series. I know that Kobe has a certain reputation that Shaq doesn’t, but… I feel like that’s why those things were said about Kobe’s performance at that time–his reputation, as opposed to, you know, anything that took place on the court. Maybe you feel like Kobe made some poor basketball decisions, and that’s fine. But as far as quitting, or anything else… if it’s fair for Kobe, I think it’s fair for Shaq, too.
Anyway, Game Three is tonight, and is, quite obviously, huge. I don’t think all the white-clad fans in the world can help the Heat. The only way they’re winning is if Dwyane Wade or Shaq (more likely Wade) goes off for about 40, and they pull out a close game. But I think the Mavs defense against Wade has been an overlooked factor in the series, too. They often have a lot of quickness out there on the floor, they help really well, and Dampier or Diop are usually around to help protect the rim. I dunno. Maybe it’s my own lack of imagination, but… I’m not seeing a lot of ways for the Heat to fight out of this hole.
Here’s Pat Riley and his attempt to motivate his team…
“Everybody’s written our team off,” Riley said of a playoff run that has gone stale more than once over the course of 19 games. “We lost two games to Chicago and then we got buried by New Jersey in the first game of that series. We were history then and we were history against Detroit. Even when were ahead 3-1, we were history.”
Most of that… is imaginary. I don’t recall anyone saying, “Hey, I don’t know if Miami can dig themselves out of this hole,” when they were up 3-1 against Detroit. I think it was pretty clear to everyone who watched even a game of that series that Miami was the better team, and couldn’t lose. And I don’t recall anyone thinking that the Vince Carter mountain was a little bit too much for the Heat to climb. Just reaching for any little thing…
mc
Great point mjd as usual.
June 13, 2006 at 2:28 am
kowannabe
might as well say SHAQ IS A BALL-HOGGING RAPIST
June 13, 2006 at 6:00 am
sox9
Crappy comparison.
Kobe handles the ball all the time. If he wanted to shoot, he could have. Kobe brings the ball up… He shoots. That’s how he scored 80 points.
Shaq has to depend on his teamates to get him the ball in position do shoot. They didn’t get him the ball even when he was working to post up.
June 13, 2006 at 10:52 am
the mighty mjd
I’m not going to push too hard to stick with my comparison, because, as I said, I don’t believe it, either, but… Shaq had plenty of touches. Plenty. Actually getting the ball to him isn’t the problem. The quick doubles are forcing the ball out of his hands.
June 13, 2006 at 11:00 am
Bouj
Mildy off-topic, but still Shaq-related: on Sporting News Radio on Sunday night, the host was leading a discussion on Shaq and his dominance. Someone called in to say that Shaq was not the most dominant player of his era because he was never first-team all-NBA or lad the league in rebounding. He said that Shaq was the most dominant offensive player with the ball in his hands 3 ft. from the basket (nice qualifier there).
In the end, while trying to rank the best centers, the host decided on Wilt and Russell ahead of everyone, Kareem behind them, and Shaw as 4th or 5th best (he didn’t say, but I would assume Hakeem or Moses Malone as possibly being ahead).
June 13, 2006 at 11:39 am
JT
For the people questioning Shaq’s touches, i’ll refer to the once-Shaq’s-bitch Erick Dampier:
“We went back and watched the game,” Dampier said. “I think he got 30 touches and 12 times he passed it out. How many more times does he want to touch the ball? “Regardless of what they do, we are going to make the adjustments.”
June 13, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Mick
As has been pointed out already, Shaq doesn’t have nearly the control over the ball the Kobe can have.
I watched the second half of the Phoenix/Lakers Game 7 and my conclusion was that he tanked it. It’s not JUST that he didn’t shoot. He was also totally uninterested in the offense. His “passes” out of the pick-and-roll trap were virtually hand-offs to the screener standing at the three point line.
June 13, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Chris R
Okay, I’ll bite:
for such a dominant player, how many times has a team in which Shaq has played been swept?
Three times in Orlando, at least once in LA (I’m forgetting whether San Antonio swept them along with Utah). Four times he’s been shut out.
I’m not saying that’s going to happen in this series, but given the collapse of LA to Detroit and the above, can you really say that Shaq is “unstoppable” or “dominant” when his teams have been swept aside that often?
June 13, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Tom
I don’t believe either of them quit but if you want to be cynical about things, you could say Kobe quit because he’s selfish and was more concerned with proving a point than winning whereas Shaq quit because he was just resigned to losing.
June 13, 2006 at 7:50 pm
karsten
shaq has always and forever will be overhyped. big guy and hardly can shoot a free throw., his attitude sucks. his rap sucks. give me a break. superstarshmupaerstter. long live JORDAN.
June 20, 2006 at 2:09 pm