I started Thursday’s column as a joke.
Shaquille O’Neal, the man who used to play for both the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers and has had problems with both team’s coaches, is a big catalyst in the 2009 NBA Finals.
It all started as a joke about how the Magic will have the revenge factor on their side in their quest to dethrone the Lakers en route to their first NBA Championship in franchise history.
Shaq played for the Lakers from 1992-96 and the Magic let him go to the Lakers via free agency in ‘96. So, the Magic could play the revenge card on the Lakers for stealing their big man, who went on to win three NBA titles in a row with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
But as I continued thinking about it, Shaq really does have more to do with this year’s finals than I originally thought and that’s the reason as to why I wrote about the Shaq-esque scenarios in the 2009 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic.
Here is Thursday’s column:
Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James would have been much more entertaining than
Kobe vs. Dwight Howard in this year’s NBA Finals.
Oh well.
We didn’t get it.
But that doesn’t mean the 2009 NBA Finals won’t be enjoyable.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more excited I am about the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic capping off what has been an amazing NBA season when the finals tip off at 9 p.m.on ABC.
And it’s all thanks to one person.
Shaquille O’Neal.
That’s right, Shaq.
The Big Aristotle. The Big Fella. Kazaam. Steel.
He alone is making these NBA Finals enjoyable, for me at least, and he’s not even playing in the series.
Let’s look at the scenarios that Shaq has set up with the Magic and Lakers, which could make these finals something to remember.
Kobe can’t win without him First off, we have the whole, “Kobe can’t win a title without Shaquille O’Neal, so how good of a player is Kobe?” talk going on. If there is ever a time for Bryant to win his fourth NBA title, it’s now. The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to get better because they will get LeBron the help he needs and deserves (don’t be alarmed if they go after Shaq, either), the Boston Celtics will have a completely healthy unit returning that will be looking to win its second NBA championship in three years, the San Antonio Spurs will be back with a healthy Manu Ginobili, the Dallas Mavericks will be better, the Denver Nuggets will be better and will have a full season with Chauncey Billups and the New Orleans Hornets should be improved as well.
Yeah, so maybe Shaq wouldn’t have won the NBA Championship without Bryant as well like Kobe mentioned in an interview earlier this week. But Shaq has won a title without Kobe and has been to the finals without Kobe as well (while he was with the Magic), so Kobe must win it this year to solidify his status as an all-time top-5 NBA player.
Phil Jackson vs. Stan Van Gundy
Phil Jackson coached Shaq while he was with the Lakers. Shaq and Phil didn’t quite get along. Phil made some comments about Shaquille’s work ethic months after Shaq won his fourth title with the Miami Heat. Jackson said that Shaq was the only player he has ever had that wasn’t a worker. Shaq responded later on with, “How can Benedict Arnold be reliable in what he says?”
Stan Van Gundy, coach of the Magic, also has had a war of words with his former player when Van Gundy was coach of the Heat. Van Gundy criticized the big man for flopping when the Magic played the Phoenix Suns earlier this season and Shaq responded by calling Van Gundy the “Master of Panic.”
Now these two former Shaq coaches are going up against each other in the NBA Finals, with the Magic looking to win their first championship in the history of the franchise and with Jackson looking to win a 10th NBA championship and move past Red Auerbach for the most all time.
It’ll be interesting to see if Shaq was right about Van Gundy panicking in the Finals.
Superman vs. Superman
Dwight Howard has stolen Shaquille’s Superman gimmick and has used it to make a name for himself in the NBA. Shaq played for the Magic from 1992-96 and then they let him become a Laker via free agency from 96-04. He developed the Superman gimmick when his career started in 1992.
Howard pretty much adopted it two years ago when he won the NBA’s SlamDunk Contest and then it became even wilder when Nate Robinson adopted the Krypto-Nate persona to dethrone Howard in this year’s dunk contest.
Shaq has called Howard out on it, too, by saying that he’s not impressed with someone using something he invented it two decades ago.
Let’s just hope that the Superman of this era doesn’t break the hearts of the Orlando Magic fans by leaving the team the first chance he gets when he becomes a free agent in 2012.
If he does leave Orlando for a better team, that, too, would be a Shaq-like move that Howard would “borrow.”
But if there’s one thing the Magic have shown in the postseason, it’s that they don’t need Shaq anymore to get to the big one.
The jury is still out on whether or not Kobe needs him to win it, though.
After these Finals are over, I think it will be fair to say that Kobe can finally put that question to rest.
My Prediction: Lakers in 7
I wonder if Shaq agrees.
Funny stuff–it should be an interesting series.
By: slamdunk on June 4, 2009
at 7:45 pm
I’m asking myself the same thing as well. But then again as he’d played for both participants. There’s the belief that he’s got something to say about it all.
This Was The House That Shaq Built , Or Did He …. ?
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By: abritishman on June 4, 2009
at 8:48 pm