This was a necessary project to do for a multitude of reasons. Since I’ve been on YouTube I’ve seen a lot of people who claim to be Laker fans constantly disrespect Shaq and use revisionist history to downplay just how dominant he was. Something that I’ve also noticed is people saying “all he did was dunk” which isn’t true at all. It’s true that he didn’t have the post moves of a Kareem, Olajuwon or Kevin McHale but when you’re able to average 25-30 points on 60% shooting during your prime who cares? Some fans will point to the fact that during his peak Shaq didn’t have another great big man to play against so his accomplishments weren’t that impressive. If we’re comparing his playoff runs to other great centers then competition should be taken into account but you can’t blame Shaq for that. During the 90’s when centers dominated the low post and Shaq was a young player he more than held his own against them. I made sure to include his highlights against Hakeem to remind people that he didn’t play against Todd MacCulloch every year. When his teams were swept in 5 out of his first 6 playoff appearances (4-0 to the ’94 Pacers, 4-0 to the ’95 Rockets, 4-0 to the ’96 Bulls, 4-1 to the ’97 Jazz, 4-0 to the ’98 Jazz and 4-0 to the ’99 Spurs) Shaq was facing criticism by many media members who questioned if he could lead a team to a championship. Once the Lakers hired Phil Jackson, Kobe became a reliable 2nd option and the Lakers added some veterans to the team he finally had the supporting cast to compete in L.A.. After the heartbreaking loss to the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals Shaq made a vow to himself that if he ever got to play in June again he would dominate. Over the next 3 years he was able to silence his critics by leading his team to a 3-peat, winning a League MVP and 3 Finals MVP’s putting on some of the best performances that we’ve seen from the center position. Against the Pacers, Sixers and Nets he had 5 games of 40+ points, 4 games of 20+ rebounds, 7 games of 4+ assists, 8 games of 3+ blocks and never scored less than 29 points or shot less than 52%. That’s amazing consistency considering he was constantly double and triple teamed by the opposition. Overall from 2000-02 his Finals averages looked like this: 35.8 ppg, 15.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, .6 spg, 2.9 bpg (.595% FG, .506% FT). Shaq currently ranks #3 all-time in Finals points per game average with 28.8 trailing only Jerry West and Michael Jordan. Based on what he did for the franchise he should get a statue outside of Staples but I doubt the Lakers will do the right thing. This video was a way to show my appreciation for a Laker great and Top 10 player. Thank you Shaq for leading the Lakers to 3 championships. Notable Performances 2000 Game 1: 43 points, 19 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks Game 2: 40 points, 24 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks Game 3: 33 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks Game 4: 36 points, 21 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks Game 5: 35 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks Game 6: 41 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 blocks 2001 Game 1: 44 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal Game 2: 28 points, 20 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 8 blocks Game 3: 30 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks Game 4: 34 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists Game 5: 29 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 blocks 2002 Game 1: 36 points, 16 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 blocks Game 2: 40 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block Game 3: 35 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks Game 4: 34 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks

• published: 17 Nov 2015
• views: 1680