We Reminisce: Young Shaquille O’Neal gives Minnesota 53 points
Make no mistake, Shaquille O’Neal is a Top-5 center all-time and has had one of the greatest sports careers anyone in this generation will ever see. But as good as Shaq has been, if you remember him back in the early-1990s, his ceiling seemed even higher than what it ended up being. Young Shaq blended an unfair size advantage with athleticism and speed, and looked every bit like the next Wilt Chamberlain.
On April 20, 1994, Shaq dumped 53 points and 18 boards on a pre-KG T’wolves squad that featured JR Rider and Christian Laettner, among others. Wrapping up his second year in the NBA and his first alongside Penny Hardaway, Shaq averaged 29.3 points, 13.2 boards and 2.9 blocks that season and led Orlando to its first-ever playoff appearance.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:40 am
fallinup says:
I remember laughing like hell during this game. Anytime Shaq gave Christian Laettner the business was good stuff cause Christian was the golden boy that had no business being on the damn Dream Team. Oh how the different careers ended up. haha
October 13th, 2008 at 9:49 am
BALLZ says:
Fuck man can anybody imagine if Shaq would’ve maintained that level of conditioning througout his career? I mean I’m not even asking the big guy to learn to shoot FTs, just stay in shape like a professional athlete…it’s tough to hate cuz on the real his career has been legit top 5 center ever, but man, what if….
October 13th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Dagomar says:
Shaq could do so much back then. Difficult to remember when you see him lugging his 360 pounds around the court now, but in the day he could run, jump through the roof, even shoot the jumper from 10 feet or more. Nice one Dime.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Gerard says:
Is that Mike Brown they keep mentioning the coach of the Cavs?
October 13th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Ian says:
dagomar
shoot the jumper really? so he forgot that
dime hes exactly number 5 on my list behind hakeem david wilt moses but id take him over russell ewing and jabbar
imo of course
October 13th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Phileus says:
I could swear I heard the announcers call Christian Laettner “Minnesota’s superstar.”
October 13th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Austin Burton says:
@Gerard — Nope, not the same Mike Brown.
My list:
1 - Russell
2 - Wilt
3 - Kareem
4 - Shaq
5 - Olajuwon
145,839 - Robert Swift
October 13th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Dagomar says:
Good list Austin. You can quibble about Wilt or Russell at #1 but I like that order.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Marcus says:
No way robert swift’s ranked that soon..
October 13th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Derik says:
wow, shaq’s FT shooting form looks legit, he was using his fingers and wrist, what’s up with the palm and forearm tossing form right now?
October 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
ian says:
ok…here goes a long winded reply
lots of people hate shaq and always say what if, what if
i’m thankful that i got to see shaq play at all, what an asset to the game, after jordan left shaq and Mr Duncan have run the league
This video shows shaq in his SECOND year, if you asked me if id take a 5th year Dwight Howard or a 1st year shaq…id take shaq every single time, hell if you had a hybrid of dwight, oden, bynum and emeka okafor all rolled up in the same player…id STILL take a 1st year shaq.
His power is unmatchable, even wilt and bill R would struggle mightily even against skinny shaq, never mind MVP shaq…in my opinion MVP shaq (3peat years) was the third best player ever after MJ and russell, completely unstoppable
Shaqs been to 6 finals (in the first he beasted hakeem…ok hakeem got good numbers as well but look at SHAQS he nearly got a quad double in his first final game against one of the greatest d players ever) in the laker finals..he was unstoppable in the 3peat and even against detroit when given the ball (his 20-20 game in detroit) he was still awesome, and in 06 yes it was wades show…but im pretty sure he wouldnt have the freedom to dominate with say…chris lattener in the paint.
Even now Amare can dominate with Shaq by his side, and i hope Shaq gets one more ring before he retires. And im pretty sure his numbers will hang in both the orlando arena and the staples centre.
fin
October 13th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
yoda says:
man i’m big fan of shaq, but i forgot how slim he used to be :O
October 13th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
jackass says:
wow penny lookes awfully good, at 6-8 Point guard with that much game, i can only think what if…
October 13th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Jay says:
If only Shaq had stayed in Orlando instead of trying to be a fat cat (literally and figuratively) by moving to LA, the man probably would be known today as the undisputed greatest center of all time, with more rings and MVPs (but less fat) under his belt. Without the need to shoulder so much of the load, Penny probably would not have gotten injured and the Magic might have even been able to challenge MJ’s 2nd coming, then continue to dominate the league for years.
October 13th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Drink the Haterade (KB24 Chip 09) says:
I’m a Shaq HATER! I’ll admit it thru and thru. When he played on the Lakers and showed to training camp always out of shape it bothered me so much… But being a Laker fan you had to choose Shaq, or Kobe…I always felt that Shaq got ALL the credit and Kobe got none. But yet it was Kobe who hit the late game jumper or make the pass to Horry or keep the Lakers in the game cause Shaq was on the bench with foul trouble.
But it was also Shaq’s dominance that allowed Kobe to do the things that he did.
Bottom line Shaq needed Kobe, Kobe needed Shaq and they both needed Phil.
October 14th, 2008 at 12:03 am
P_Dizzle says:
Post #4 not the same Mike Brown. I met this Mike Brown once after a Utah Jazz game, cat had on his big fur coat ready to go pimpin’ it up.
Man, Shaq was a beast then. Hard to imagine that Shaq when we are left with this Shaq.
Hell he looks like Reggie Miller from the stripe!
That would have been awesome to see what Penny and Shaq could have done together if they would have played it out. They were definitely a tough, tough team.
October 14th, 2008 at 12:04 am
P_Dizzle says:
Thanks for that Dime. I sometimes forget how dominant the big fella was.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
doc says:
He was a beast
October 14th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Kudabeen says:
Crazy how graceful he was. I’m of the belief that he could have put on the muscle without adding all the wieght that put his body off balance. He was a freak of nature at 7′1. Dwight is “only” 6′10 265. Shaq at his athletic prime 20-26 was THE most athletic Big with Power (I’d have to say including Wilt, because Wilt tempered his power to appease those who didn’t find his playing the game fair period.)
I not a fan, but when he entered the league my question was who can handle him (physically) and no really did, outside Stanley Roberts, but I just think in retrospect Shaq took it easier on him, because they were familiar with one another…And Stanley was BBall OOObese…