“He’d look at me like he was bored” Shaquille O’Neal reveals how he could never get past Spurs legend Tim Duncan
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Shaquille O'Neal vs Tim Duncan
Shaquille O’Neal’s era in the NBA was full of big men dominance. In his entire career, he won four championships and made his appearance in 15 all-star games. Shaq ended his 19 years of basketball career in 2011 while playing with the Celtics due to major injury issues.
In NBA he played against many opponents and made them realize who is the boss of the court until he faced Tim Duncan. Duncan played with the Spurs for his entire NBA career and helped them to win five NBA championships. It was his leadership skills and positive approach towards the game that made things possible for him which even Shaq praises.
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Shaquille O’Neal was the most dominant NBA forward of this century, he never let any of his opponents get into his head instead of through his trash-talking he always tried to provoke them so that once they make mistake and he will make them pay. But Tim Duncan was different and he never fell into the traps which Shaq used on other players.
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Shaquille O’Neal dedicates an entire segment to Tim Duncan in his autobiography
Recently, when Shaq published his autobiography “Shaq Uncut: My Story” he admitted that he was never able to get into Tim Duncan’s head and it was his contribution that led the Spurs to win the NBA championship. In his book, he staunched an entire segment on his basketball friendship with Tim.
“The Spurs won because of Tim Duncan, a guy I could never break,” O’Neal wrote in his autobiography. “I could talk trash to Patrick Ewing, get in David Robinson’s face, get a rise out of Alonzo Mourning, but when I went at Tim he’d look at me like he was bored. Whenever I run into a Tim Duncan fan who will claim Tim Duncan is the GOAT, I won’t disagree with him.”
“You gotta love that. I used to say Duncan and I were like two mafia bosses. I was the loud East Coast boss, taking names, knocking heads. Tim was the laid-back, one-hundred-acre farm don. Nobody knows what he does, he’s the chill mafia guy, but we both know how to carry out a hit. I was jealous of guys like Duncan and Kevin Garnett, who got to do stuff like face up and shimmy.”
It is true that making Tim Duncan off-balance was extremely difficult, he was the person who made noise in NBA through his gameplay and not by his mouth. His humbleness and respect towards the game were even appreciated by his opponents which Shaq clearly elaborated in his book.
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Shailesh Singh
(345 Articles Published)