15 unforgettable moments from Shaq's career

Players in the past have been strong enough to shatter backboards; O’Neal was the only NBA athlete to break entire baskets. Not even reinforced glass and breakaway rims were enough to stop the big man from rip down the whole backboard down against the Nets during his rookie year. He actually forced the league to invest in more effective backboard technology so that they wouldn’t waste time and money replacing the goals themselves.

Robinson is long considered one of the best centers to ever play in the NBA, but even he fell to the greatness of O’Neal. Literally. There was no one in the league that could go toe-to-toe with the O’Neal straight up, and future hall of fame centers were not excluded. It didn’t matter Robinson had great position because one bump of the shoulder from O’Neal cleared him away. It didn’t matter that Robinson had a 39-inch vertical at 7’1” because O’Neal weighed 330 pounds to negate that. When O’Neal decides he’s going to the basket, not even the Admiral can stand in his way. Not that Robinson didn’t know that before.

If you want an example of the saturation of ridiculous 90s children’s movies, look no further than the Paul Michael Glaser directed film about a boombox-trapped genie played by the Diesel himself. Shaq’s theatrical debut as the star was far less successful than he hoped, but the film has become a nostalgia classic for 90s kids across the United States.

Sure, O’Neal’s size was enough to intimidate anyone, but add in his freakish athleticism and you have one of the most unstoppable forces in the NBA. Kelvin Cato was one of the many that found that out the hard way. But the thing about this dunk (see it here) that stands head and shoulders above the rest is that he takes off from the dotted line, goes through Cato and finishes with one hand. That’s power and grace that only comes once in a generation.

In 2008, Kobe Bryant was two games shy of securing his first championship without O’Neal – a fact that was not lost on the Big Aristotle when he rapped at a party shortly after the Finals. O’Neal starts off the beat with “last week Kobe couldn’t do without me,” and even blamed his own divorce on Bryant for comments he made to investigators about paying off women. O’Neal insisted that the freestyle rap was done in fun and that he had no issues with Bryant, but you don’t really ask your friends how your rear tastes after a tough loss do you?

Most 28-year-olds spend their birthday at a bar in the middle of quarter life crisis. Shaquille O’Neal celebrated his by hanging a career-high 61 points. Granted, it was against the Clippers, who were still an NBA punch line at the time, but 61 is still 61.

O’Neal is recognized as the most dominant player in the NBA, but he was never considered the most valuable – until 2000. That year, O’Neal won the scoring title, led the league in field goal percentage, came in second for rebounds and third in blocks. The only L that he really took that season was not being unanimously voted as MVP (thanks, Fred Hickman).

Speak of taking L’s, O’Neal and the Lakers were going to take a huge one in Game 7 against the Portland Trailblazers in the 2000 Western Conference Finals. Down 16 points late in the game, the Lakers powered the back to the take the lead late in the fourth quarter. Up by 4 with less than a minute to go, O’Neal would gather a lob from Kobe Bryant with one hand and send it and the Trailblazers down with authority. The Lakers would make it to the NBA Finals, where O’Neal only got better.

With a chance to win his first NBA title, O’Neal didn’t shrink in the moment. With Rik Smits standing between him and a championship instead of Hakeem Olajuwon, O’Neal put up 41 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots to win the Lakers’ first title since 1988. The game was crowning jewel for O’Neal, who won the Finals MVP award averaging 38 points a game – the highest average for a center in the history of the Finals.

Statistically, O’Neal had a better 2000 NBA Finals, but he was a better overall player in 2001. After losing Game 1 to a brilliant Allen Iverson performance, O’Neal asserted his dominance by nearly achieving a quadruple-double, logging 28 points, 20 rebounds, nine assists and eight blocks. His versatile play would result in back-to-back titles for Los Angeles after a 16-1 playoff record with O’Neal winning the Finals MVP averaging 33-16-5 over five games.

If there’s one thing that’s certain about O’Neal it’s that he’s going to be the life of the party. When the Lakers went back-to-back in 2001, O’Neal stretched his platinum award-winning raps at the Championship parade. Not only did he lay down a decent verse, he gave basketball fans the honor of watching Mark Madsen dance like that guy at every wedding.

After losing a step or two, the twilight of O’Neal’s career was often a sad one to watch. However, in his first full season with the Phoenix Suns, he was rejuvenated by the sorcerers in the Suns training staff and was selected to participate in the 2009 All-Star game. Ever the showman, O’Neal as he stepped onto the court with the Jabbawockeez dance crew, showing off his dance moves at the All-Star game for what would be the last time.

Talk about going out with a bang. Dwight Howard was supposed to be the heir apparent to O’Neal for most dominant center. The path that Howard took was even eerily similar to his predecessor, being drafted by the Orlando Magic, compiling All-Star appearances with his freakish athleticism, and taking up the Superman moniker. However, O’Neal wasn’t willing to give that title up just yet. He embarrassed Howard on one of the biggest stages, and was named co-MVP of the All-Star game. The man he shared that award with: Kobe Bryant.

At 36, there was not a lot that O’Neal could do equally as well as when he was 24. But he showed flashes of it while he was with the Suns, much to the delight (or dismay) of the Phoenix faithful.

For O’Neal, being an entertainer never stopped. Even during press conferences, the Big Fella was on, and there was literally no telling what he would say. My personal favorite: “Shooting 40 percent at the foul line is just God’s way of saying that nobody’s perfect. If I shot 90 percent from the line, it just wouldn’t be right.”