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During his prime with the Los Angeles Lakers, superstar center Shaquille O’Neal was an unstoppable force in the paint, as it took literally many defenders to try to contain him on a nightly basis, which usually ended with the same result of big numbers for the Hall of Famer and another win for the Purple and Gold.
Throughout his time with the Lakers, O’Neal had plenty of battles with other talented centers and big men around the league like David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing.
Although O’Neal has quite a few highlights against the other elite players in his position, especially Robinson, one dunk seems to have stood the test of time in terms of how ruthlessly O’Neal attacked the basket.
Unfortunately, this dunk wasn’t against one of the big-name players mentioned, as it came against Chris Dudley of the New York Knicks, who was helpless in his attempt to stop O’Neal, leading to an all-time highlight.
O’Neal explained why he dunked on Dudley so disrespectfully on JJ Redick’s The Old Man and The Three podcast recently.
“When you don’t double me, I take it as a sign of disrespect,” O’Neal said.
“When you don’t double me, I take it as a sign of disrespect.” @SHAQ shares his reasoning behind posterizing Chris Dudley.
Full episode with @jj_redick: https://t.co/mCILRsqISV pic.twitter.com/yxCHUoAe92
— TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) May 5, 2024
With Dudley feeling disrespected, he jumped up after getting pushed to the ground by O’Neal and threw the basketball at the Lakers superstar, which was a typical reaction for something like that but made people think he was crazy for challenging the perennial All-Star.
This was one of many iconic dunks and highlights by O’Neal, who went on to win four NBA titles and go down as one of the most unguardable players in league history.
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