Many have felt the wrath of hoops legend Shaquille O’Neal , but none more so than journeyman center Chris Dudley. If you haven’t seen it before, you need not look too far for footage of this ferocious two-handed slam, as it’s been played on YouTube millions of times.
While some believe Shaq had an axe to grind against the 6-foot-11 center from Stamford, Connecticut, 'The Diesel' clarified that the disrespectful slam had nothing to do with Dudley and everything to do with the New York Knicks’ defensive coverage of him in that game.
Single coverage was disrespectful
Shaq was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers at the time, which meant he was at the peak of his powers. He was consistently in the MVP conversation every season and was, hands down, the most dominant center of that era. Despite all that, the Knicks, who were coached by former Lakers legend Pat Riley, elected to have Dudley defend Shaq one-on-one, a tactic that the latter found egregious.
So, the big man from New Jersey responded the best way he knew: with a dunk so hard that Dudley had no response other than to throw the ball at Shaq as he trotted his way back down on defense.
“You know why I did that? Because I found it disrespectful that they didn't double me. It's like if you look, I look back first, and I'm like, ‘Oh really?’” Shaquille told JJ Redick on “The Old Man and The Three.”
O'Neal narrated that as he was backing Dudley down, he anticipated the Knicks throwing a double-team, which never came.
“One dribble, oh sh**, two dribbles, three dribbles, drop step, and then he's still trying to play strong,” The 'Big Aristotle' continued. “And then I think he was playing for Pat Riley at the time. I just hated that, that whole ‘oh, we're going to intimidate you’ vibe.”
Intimidation tactics weren’t going to work
With Shaq being so unstoppable back then, opposing teams often tried various tactics to get him off this game, the most popular of which was trying to get under his skin. The Knicks were the master of this, thanks to the presence of rugged players like the great Patrick Ewing, Kurt Thomas, and Charlie Ward.
However, Shaquille explained that these methods rarely ever worked with him, considering he grew up getting bullied and beaten up by people bigger and older than him.
“Bro, I used to get beat up every day. My fuc***g cousin Kendog, Brian, Googy used to play against old men in the gym, and my father, I used to get fuc**d up as hell. That little sh** he was doing is not even 1% of the ass whoopings that I was taking growing up and being disciplined,” Shaq furthered.
Like any of the NBA greats who thrived in the pros, O'Neal took any slight and used it to motivate him on the court. Whether it was media criticism or opponents' trash talk, Shaquille used it as fuel to dominate his opponents and prove them wrong.
Related: "If I say something and you respond sensitively, that shows me you don't have it" - Shaq explains why he critiqued Dwight so much
Most Popular
Comments / 0