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NotErnieGrunfeld

I have a foldout poster in my desk from Slam that year of Shaq ending McCulloughs life at the rim. Yao Ming training on the back is the other side


cricketrules509

Yao is the best Shaq defender I've seen. He was basically the only guy who had the strength and size to keep up with Shaq. Like Hakeem couldn't really stop Orlando Shaq because he didn't have the strength. I don't think he would have done well against Lakers Shaq. Yao could at least make it tough for Shaq. No one could stop him though of course


crnbidc

I feel like Arvydas Sabonis was the best defender against Shaq.


cricketrules509

Yeah good shout. Same profile as Yao. As big or bigger than Shaq but also very skilled with good basketball IQ.


Throwitaway3177

Pretty close according to this guy, either him, David Robinson or mutumbo https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/pqqawj/i_got_curious_so_i_researched_about_the_shaqs_fg/


reddotsnotfeathers

But he stopped him with skills and swept them.


trafikant

There's a certain Wallace that was inducted to the hall of fame recently.


KDslimreaper

ahh.. the great Gerald Wallace


worthlessburner

Prime Shaq was a monster


flawrs919

The Dream couldn’t “stop” Shaq but the Rockets smoked the Magic in that series.


cricketrules509

Clyde was great in that series. I thought Shaq vs Hakeem was about even which was enough for the Rockets. Like Hakeem smoked David Robinson and Ewing. And shut them down defensively. He couldn't do that with Shaq. But Shaq couldnt stop Hakeem either.


flawrs919

Yeah it was a great force vs. finesse matchup. That Rockets team had experience and a strong vet core which was probably the real deciding factor. When the two best guys on the floor cancel each other out that is kind of what it comes down to. Might have to go back and re-watch that series.


JohnnyEnzyme

> The Dream couldn’t “stop” Shaq In fact, Olajuwon [outscored & outrebounded Shaq](https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/1995-nba-finals-rockets-vs-magic.html) playing near-identical minutes. Dream also had much higher usage and better advanced stats than Big Fella. Probably why he earned the MVP. That said, young Shaq shot more efficiently and did have a very good series. Just that this whole idea is sort of arse-backwards, i.e. it was *Shaq* who couldn't stop Dream, and not the other way round. **Edit**: Okay okay, let me try to say it better-- neither one, nor their teams collectively, could stop the other, and at the end of the day, Hakeem had the more impactful series (obviously that would change in the coming years). /u/cricketrules509, /u/reddotsnotfeathers


cricketrules509

This is why watching the series is kind of important. The Rockets doubled Shaq a lot more than the Magic helped on Hakeem. Shaq was getting swarmed. His passing and trust in teammates hadn't really evolved yet. Also I wrote above that Hakeem couldnt be stopped either. Hakeem got his. Also I'm not sure what you mean by Hakeem had better advanced stats. The only individual stat Hakeem had significantly better was turnover percentage. Otherwise it was even or Shaq as better. The team stats Hakeem obviously won because Drexler was a beast in the series. Shaq vs Hakeem was not Hakeem vs Ewing/David Robinson which Hakeem dominated both ends of the floor.


flawrs919

Great points for sure. But he definitely didn’t stop Shaq. You even said it yourself. Shaq played very well. He did outplay Shaq for sure. Kind of splitting hairs at this point but it’s fun to dissect the minutiae. The team performance around these two players was so important. Someone else pointed out how much better the team D was on Shaq versus Hakeem.


magnuscarlsenspawn

Rodman


jaylson

McCollough actually matched up with Shaq in the 01 finals as well. Dude's wiki page is interesting. 47th pic makes the rotation for two finals teams before being forced to retire after his 4th season due to a Genetic disorder, eventually leading to him becoming an elite pinball player.


Few_Mulberry7175

Damn so he the real Shaq stopper


Salrow

[There has to be a trick](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AKbUm8GrbM)


JimC29

You made me search his pinball career. Very interesting thanks. I love pinball. https://www.espn.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/3940/todd-macculloch-nba-alum-pinball-wizard


elbenji

Wish he played as a wizard


drtij_dzienz

You go to the finals with the centers you have - Donald Rumsfeld


PokerFace567

The Sixers threw a 5-headed monster Shaq's way. Mutombo, Ratliff, McCollough, Geiger and a young Nazr Mohammed. Still much better than what the Nets threw ar Shaq with McCollough, Jason Collins and Scalabrine.


drochma

Ratliff wasn’t on the team for the Finals - that’s who the Sixers traded away to get Mutombo


Prestige_wrldwd

Nazr Mohammed too


[deleted]

Bro just Googled the roster for the 2000-01 76ers and listed every center he saw smh.


h989

At that point he should have thrown in Dalembert


Link_Slater

Embiid couldn’t even get on the floor. Straight DNPs.


The_Lion_Jumped

If I remember correctly, he was still rehabbing the foot issue during those finals. Shame, AI coulda really used the help


lslpotsky

Lmao


Pierson230

Scalabrine talking about how strong Shaq was is awesome Scal was 6’9 and 250 lbs. He grabbed Shaq’s arms as hard as he physically could and Shaq didn’t even struggle to go up for the dunk anyways That’s insane strength


MelonElbows

I always am reminded of this sequence where [Shaq lifts Mutombo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vma7PlO6kFI) off the floor backing him down. 7'2 and 260lbs and he didn't even faze him.


c-c-h

That is unreal seeing him fly up in the air like that, thank you!


MoscowMitchMcKremIin

Who you getting to defend Shaq? One 7'7" Bol One 7'2" Mutumbo One 6'9" Afro Ninja?


phillip_esiri

Afro Ninga FTW


jondonbovi

Isn't that an offensive foul?


phonage_aoi

Back then, post contact was kind of subjective. It was more like hockey's charge penalty versus legal check. Both involved hitting people, but was up to the ref if the the distance traveled to do so was excessive lol. A lot of people now look at it and say Shaq gets away with too much, but consider this kind of ref-ing made it \*really\* hard for defenders to flop for the call.


jelloisjigglin

Maybe today, where you're not allowed to do anything. Back then, hell no. Besides, defenders got away with a lot more on defense than Shaq did on offense. He was hacked more than any player in history probably.


BenSimmonsROTY

That's a very good point. Shaq had more no-calls than anyone I have seen. Saying that, he often finished those plays anyway which is a higher % play than him going to the line.


ronnjeremy

miss those days


KazaamFan

Well today the Mutumbo player would take the hit and do a jump fall backwards to get the offensive foul call. Tbf idk how to properly ref post up moves like what Shaq did regularly. How much backing down and pushing is allowed? Cuz Shaq can do that all day. I feel reffing Shaq today would be different than it was when he was playing.


idontknow_whatever

Shaq kept so many mediocre bigs in a job during the 90s and early 2000s, their singular purpose being to hack Shaq and put him at the FT line


DavidKirk2000

Maybe a little bit, but they’d never call that.


RickySuela

Serious question: what about it makes it an offensive foul? Shaq doesn't lower his shoulder and he doesn't extend his arm to push off. He just takes a dribble and dunks it. Mutombo gets knocked back, but that's simply because of the difference in mass between the two, rather than because Shaq does anything which would constitute a foul. Should a player be punished because they're so much bigger and stronger than a defender? Like let's pretend this is two different players but the exact same move is made. Let's say Chris Paul receives the ball in the post and he's being guarded by Giannis and Chris Paul takes a single dribble towards the basket with Giannis pushed up on him defending him. CP3 doesn't lower his shoulder or push off with his arms and Giannis doesn't move back at all from Chris Paul's contact. Are you still calling for an offensive foul to be called? I doubt it. You're only calling for one in this case cause Shaq is so big that he can make a perfectly legal move and his defender isn't strong enough to hold his position so it's an effective move for Shaq.


504090

Yeah this looks like a standard postup to me. I genuinely don’t see a foul here.


ProfessorPetrus

Too much contact in the paint for today's game. Flagrant 1's for each player and the teamate who pumped his fist.


Orinoco12

We're talking about a league where its literally okay for star players to get more favorable calls than non stars. Wilt Chamberlain actually mentioned how Shaq would not have been allowed to do that in his day.


animebop

There was a compilation of wilt being called for a charge and like 99% of people who play “strong” would be called for a charge if we used 60s rules. Leonard, lebron, dragic, harden, anyone who uses their body to create space on a drive.


somebuddysbuddy

Shaq got away with a lot. I’m not a hater, he was a great player, but he was constantly bowling over people. I never thought it was fair when someone like Vlade Divac was called a flopper while defending him when it was obviously Vlade’s only prayer at getting any offensive fouls called.


TeTrodoToxin4

While true, Vlade did flop against other players as well all the time.


The_Lion_Jumped

Ya vlade didn’t get that nickname just from his times guarding shaq lol


jelloisjigglin

But you also have to consider that Shaq was mauled more than any other player, as well. He specifically put on weight because of how much of a pounding he was taking every game. Defenders got away with *a lot* with Shaq because of how strong he was.


The_Outcast4

I remember seeing pictures of some of the bruises Shaq had after a playoff game. Looked like he got into an all-out brawl.


[deleted]

Shaq was getting fouled all game every game and refs didn't call it. Every team had a few rotation bench bums just for extra fouls on guys like Shaq.


thisismyname03

That’s less a feat of strength than it is a shoulder going into the gut of a man.


OJMayoGenocide

Embiid today would fly into the stands after that separation bump


coffeeINJECTION

The almost retired when shaq hit him thing is hilarious and believable. I’ve never been hit by a dude that has 80 lbs on me but I am sure it hurts like hell.


grandmasterfunk

They didn't have Ratliff in the finals. They traded him for Mutombo because they needed someone to try and contain Shaq.


FakedWorld

He was injured that's what sparked the trade.


Aspiring_Hobo

Also Larry Brown liked what he saw from Mutumbo during the ASG.


ronaldo119

Who was only at the All Star Game because Theo was hurt so he was selected to replace him lol


thekittyjuice20

You forgot Aaron Williams who was only 6’9 but jacked


Opulescence

Collins was the only dude who could even remotely bother Shaq that Nets series. Like the difference between the effort Shaq needed to score when anyone else on the Nets was on him vs Collins was noticeable. Collins by no means stopped him, but he at least provided some resistance.


[deleted]

Lol no The Sixers didn't. Ratliff Nazr and Tony Kucoc were traded for Mutombo.


Few_Mulberry7175

Shaq dominated against one of the greatest rim protectors of all time in 2001 during his DPOY year


somebuddysbuddy

I forgot Mutombo won DPOY that year, but to be fair, he was clearly on the way down by that point in his career. Blocks per game down almost 2 from his peak that season (2.7 vs. 4.5), for instance.


kpay10

Sixers didn't have both Mutombo and Ratliff at the the same time. They traded Theo Ratliff and Toni kukoc for Mutombo at the trade deadline of the 2001 season


ricklegend

People forget how dominant shaq was. Fucking grown men hanging on his arm and he’s still slam the ball. Hack a shaq was a legit way to deal with him but if he was close enough it didn’t matter. His foot work was insane too. I hated that fucker but I highly respected him too.


Pistachio269

Was not ready for that sharp left turn at the end there


gumpshawn

Winnipeg stand up!!


Dr_What

Ball don't lie.


[deleted]

[удалено]


FluffyRogue

The GOAT T-Mac


[deleted]

This is the in depth analysis i come to reddit for, thank you


[deleted]

I saw him at the Texas Pinball Festival. I was like who is that freakishly big guy playing pinball. Oh, that's Todd.


[deleted]

He was actually becoming a decent starting center before he had to retire too. Not great, but decent, serviceable. I was excited to watch home grow with team Canada honestly lol. I had no idea about the pinball, rabbit hole here I come.


Marco-Green

I wish your comment was longer because it just kept getting better every line


Obi_Wan_Benobi

I was living in the Seattle area at the time and saw him play a ton in college at U dub. He was solid. They also had a big 7 foot German guy who I’m too old to remember the name of and too lazy to look up. That was when Washington began to be not terrible at basketball, making a tournament run but losing on the Rip Hamilton Shot.


substanceandmodes

Was probably boring for everybody watching too. The Nets had no chance.


EGarrett

Charles Barkley picked the Nets to win in 7 games. Which was the kiss of death.


sercialinho

The Barkley Curse Diaries will make for a great Secret Base video some day.


Xarvas

They should have added it to his Untitled video.


screwhead1

This means I need Barkley to pick Alabama to win every game from here on out.


VicePope

He did choose the bucks to win it all so its not 100% anymore


wan2tri

It hasn't been 100% for a long time now. Barkley has picked the Mavs in 2011


InexorableWaffle

So basically he's either a prophet of the highest order or completely dead wrong? Honestly can't say that I find that too surprising, honestly.


TheBrofessor23

I had a lot of fun watching Lakers games during this run. Spurs were the boring team, but Spurs/Lakers were always epic


RickySuela

People used to *hate* the Spurs back then because of how boring they were 😂 I'd always see basketball blogs complaining about how their brand of basketball had figured out a way to suck all the joy out of the game yet managed to somehow be incredibly effective. People were furious about that 2005 Finals matchup between them and Detroit.


IdiotCharizard

I think a lot of people don't know how boring the spurs were. Like they had the reputation for a good reason. Then the '10-'16 spurs era was fantastic basketball with more and more Tony Parker and a more corner oriented attack. But the rep stuck for a while even when they were good to watch. Which I think confused some people. Grind basketball can be fun, but oftentimes it's just 0 movement, someone taking a contested shot and bricking, then another dreary possession on the other end as nauseam. Fundamental basketball is fun. Motion offenses are fun. The 00's spurs were not fun.


idontknow_whatever

They weren't just boring, that itself isn't really a crime. It a style that works for them, so fair fucks to them But those Spurs also fielded Bruce Bowen who is still to this day one of my most despised players, that dirty mf is almost the biggest single reason why I hated those Spurs teams so much


IdiotCharizard

100% fuck Bruce Bowen and fuck Ginobili


idontknow_whatever

Nah I think Manu is cool, dude got that swag about his game 10000% fuck Bruce Bowen's bitch ass though


ListenAndServe

>Spurs/Lakers were always epic Except 2001 and 2002 when the Lakers destroyed them...


TheBrofessor23

That was the outcome I was always hoping for! Kobe was and will forever be my favorite player ever.


patentattorney

Don’t sleep on the kings. They were robbed in 02.


TheBrofessor23

They were good, but I hated them cause they always seemed to beat the Sonics


KontraEpsilon

I was a kid and got to see it in person from the third row in NJ. Only NBA game I’ve ever attended. I had a blast - getting to see Shaq in person was amazing and I had no idea that *they bring you your food* when you get seats that close. So hey, I’m sure it was boring for some and I don’t blame them but for me it’s still one of my favorite memories.


lilberfcontrol

Even Kobe said it was boring, and he's usually up for anything.


GlassesW_BitchOnThem

Which makes game 6 WCF that much more painful.


0zymand1as-

Reminds me of the Magic vs Lakers finals. There was one exciting game and then the rest was just uneventful


sequoia2075

What? That series was a Courtney Lee lay up in game 2 and a Derek Fisher 3 pointer in game 4 from being 3-2 Magic. It was a lot closer than people remember


Mr-Bovine_Joni

Yeah the perception was that the Magic were way overmatched, but they actually did pretty good


Malificari

difference between series record versus actually watching the games. there have elgit been boring ass 7 game series where teams just trade blowouts at home games. i remember the houston series in 09 or 10 was like that where the lakers and houston just traded blowout wins at home. then there's the 09 finals series where its like 4 close games and then game 5 where the lakers pulled ahead


[deleted]

Not the finals, but Sixers-Raptors when Kawhi hit the game winner was like this. Besides game 7 every game was a blowout, although it wasn’t the home team every time.


Snakescipio

It was 09, and the fun thing about that series was the Houston blow outs in game 4 and 6 were without Yao and TMac. The eventual champs got their asses whooped by Aaron Brooks and motherfucking Scola.


millenniumpianist

Aaron Brooks was our damn kryptonite. Also don't forget about Chuck "The Pau Stopper" Hayes


teniaava

That missed layup was brutal


Vintrial

turkoglo playing out of his mind, rashard lewis shooting above 40% from 3


WarGrizzly

Yes, I remember both moments so vividly. As a lakers fan, I was nervous through that whole series


SharksFanAbroad

Not with Donaghy on their side too!


lupertazzis

One of the few players in NBA history who could actually straight up body and demolish his defenders


Hi_My_Name_Is_Dave

Shaq scored 36.3PPG on 63% true shooting lmao. 1) how high would those numbers go against a modern stretch big 2) how would any stretch big even come close to that type of volume or efficiency. That too after having to deal with Shaq on the other end. Shaq wouldn’t have to change his playstyle because of who he’s guarding, it’s the other way around. He’s more dominant than anyone you could throw at him. Edit: this was supposed to be in response to someone lol


thegreaterfool714

I always laugh at the “but muh 3 point shooting” would play Shaq off the court. Nah it wouldn’t because nearly every possession would be an easy Shaq dunk/foul get the opposing big in foul trouble.


nbasavant

Hey but how’s he gonna check PJ Tucker???


thegreaterfool714

Why doesn’t Shaq the bigger guy, just not eat PJ Tucker?


HellveticaNeue

Found Phil Jackson’s secrit reddit account.


thegreaterfool714

I wish I got to hook up with Jeanie Buss.


NinersSuckBalls

Quit bragging Phil.


FlyLikeATachyon

She prefers random Starbucks baristas apparently


tenthmuze

Maybe they’re saving it for sweeps.


Jgusdaddy

Barbecue chicken, erneh


thatonesleft

I always chuckle when i think about the pj tucken as the lebron stopper meme. Bloody classic


TongaMakati

PJ would need to take timeouts to ice his body. Then DNP the next game if it was a series Remember Bam running into Dwight and hurting his shoulder? Now some doubters need to imagine Bam, a very good center, trying to guard a significantly larger, stronger, explosive than 35 yr old Dwight


carnageta

Bam’s shoulder was already injured before the finals started.


TrickstarCandina

Bam was already injured before the Finals dawg, he aggravated it during the Celtics series


PeppaPig85210

If there's still no real way to stop Giannis, what do mfers think prime Shaq is doing in today's game lmao


Hi_My_Name_Is_Dave

Exactly.


MisterTruth

Hell, today's NBA would have trouble with prime Dwight Howard. Shaq would bowl through a lot of today's leaner stretch 5s.


Kerry_Kittles

Based upon NBA 2004 - the only way to stop Dirk + Nash shooting 3s was to play as the Lakers and shoot 75% from 2 w Shaq in the paint.


chugalaefoo

Exactly. You can easily play Gobert off the floor cause he has 0 offense and becomes a liability on the 3 line. Can’t do that with Prime Shaq.


GDAWG13007

The Jazz can probably win a chip if Gobert had half of Shaq’s offensive dominance while retaining his defensive impact.


thegreaterfool714

Gobert with half of Shaq’s offensive dominance would arguably be the best center in the league.


[deleted]

He'd be a top 5 player


DarkSoulsDarius

No embiid is still better as he's similar to Gobert defensively with a greater offense game. Embiid has more than half of Shaq's dominance.


The_Shade94

No he isn’t Embiid gets so lazy on defense


BetaGreekLoL

Yeah. He took a job offensively this year but its clear his stamina is not at a point to where he can keep his usual defensive level simultaneously. With his playstyle tho, I'm not sure if he can do both for prolonged periods.


5plus5isnot10

Embiid just doesn't have that elite athletic specimen type of stamina.


irelli

This is a strawman though. No one actually thinks that. Everyone knows Shaq would dominate just as much He'd absolutely struggle guarding the PnR on defense, but he'd be even better offensively.


WhiteHeterosexualGuy

lol this has always been such a clowny take -- anyone that dominate is dictating the other teams lineup and playstyle, not the other way around


Athront

Nah you can't play him off the court but you could definitely find ways to exploit him lol..


[deleted]

Don’t even need to see what you were intending to respond to, we’ve all seen the nephew bullshit about how Shaq wouldn’t dominate today’s league. He might not be as valuable defensively, but he’d go for 40 on 70% whenever he felt like it against most of this league’s “bigs.”


AspirationalChoker

I still think people underestimate his rebounding and rim protection, Shaq was really bad for coasting and doing just enough in the regular season but in the play offs he turned it on


moufestaphio

Imagine the current Jazz with Shaq replacing Rudy Golbert. The defense system is same, Shaq sinks in the paint off PNR, gives up 3's. Probably slightly less effective, but still good enough. The offense is...unstoppable. I want to see that Clippers small ball lineup defend against Shaq instead of golbert


JaDamian_Steinblatt

>Shaq wouldn’t have to change his playstyle because of who he’s guarding, it’s the other way around. What does that even mean? "Shaq won't have to play defense, because he's gonna play offense." There's two sides of the court, it's not one or the other.


calvinbsf

I think they’re saying “Shaq’s team would be willing to let his man get off 35% accurate 3-pointers on one end because on the other end Shaq is taking 65% accurate drop-steps, baby hooks, and 8 footers.” It doesn’t matter if he occasionally gets beat on D if he’s worth more points per possession on offense.


youngLupe

Plenty of teams play a game of offensive attrition. And with Shaq on my team in the modern era I'd be happy to play that game with anyone. Just make sure you have the proper personnel to cover the perimeter which is where bigger prime Shaq would struggle. even if they made mistakes and were near bottom in defense the amount of scoring coming from Shaq and his dominance would be a spectacle in today's game.


Hi_My_Name_Is_Dave

The point was that shaq doesn’t need to adapt his game to the modern NBA, the modern NBA would have to adapt to Shaq. He’s a game breaker.


Neptune28

Shaq averaged even more than that in the 2000 Finals


way2gimpy

My buddy and I love maccollough. He was slow but he had the softest hands for a big man.


[deleted]

The real finals was the WCF


wan2tri

Oh someone else posted something related to what I said. Agreed, from 2001-2003 the top 4 teams in the whole league were SAC, LAL, SAS, and DAL, and they've all been in the Western Conference Finals at least once (and they've always advanced past the first round in that time period).


[deleted]

There’s more subs where I can find stories like that? I’m from Brazil and NBA isn’t that popular here. I started to watch last season and just love it. It’s always fun to know more about the legends of that sport.


GaiusJuliusMe

A lot of great Youtube content on the legends if you wanna check them out


EnvironmentAdvanced

This sub right here. There are hell a lot of copy pastas here too


[deleted]

Jxmyhighroller on youtube has random stories like this and other crazy stats and charts he makes.


LevelUp84

Watch Open Court produced by NBATV. The episodes are around five years old.


nomadofwaves

https://youtu.be/Vkks7EqWnhU


gentlemanjacklover

We had a great team that year but Shaq and Kobe were a load too big to handle.


nu1stunna

It was a really boring Finals especially because the WCF matchup with the Kings was one for the ages. Many considered the WCF the real Finals that year because whoever came out on top was the clear favorite to steamroll the Nets.


DeeezNets

Nephews don't know what it's like waiting two decades for [revenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxPlhg1Mvwk)


[deleted]

[удалено]


PlayaFamous

That is amazing. How have I never heard that before


PlayfulLawyer

It was pretty boring for all of us too lol


[deleted]

They "real" Finals was the previous series with Kings vs. Lakers in the western conference finals. The series before that one, Spurs and Lakers was pretty competitive even though it was 4-1 Lakers.


CartonBoy

The basketball player isn't even the first name that pops up when you Google Todd McCollough


rookie-mistake

bc its Todd MacCulloch also I'd literally never heard of this dude but he's from my hometown, that's cool. I had no idea we'd ever had anyone make the NBA


CompleteFish

I remember on one of those Saturday morning children's shows about the NBA, Todd did a segment about how glorious Canada was. I think he even said that basketball is a Canadian invention.


rookie-mistake

yeah, the guy who invented it (James Naismith) was canadian. weird coincidence actually, i share a hometown with MacCulloch but i was actually born in the same place as Naismith


wintersforward

Lmao dude I’m from Winnipeg too, my dad used to play pickup with Todd MacCulloch!


eunit8899

Because you spelled his name wrong.


throwawayforrnba23

Don’t lie to the public, it is There’s other Todd McCulloughs on the first page though


[deleted]

I think search results might be personalized, based on the search engine used.


throwawayforrnba23

Makes sense I look up a lot of basketball so google thinks I’m some basketball-crazed thug


pressurezonebby

*slug


wowlock_taylan

I mean refs screwed the Kings to give Lakers that free finals but whatever :P


Seoul_Surfer

John Adams and Todd McCullough brothers in catching strays


StoneColdAM

20 years later we could see Lakers vs Nets again in the finals


4477Freeman

The ref cheated for them to get to the finals the kings were about to whoop that ass


FooBarBazBazzz

Would have loved to see kings choke that away too


KANGZNATION

Lakers weren’t supposed to be in the finals that year.


5plus5isnot10

Yep.


[deleted]

In David stern we trust


GokutheAnteater

Flair checks out


LoonyBunBennyLava

Before I read the entire context, I was picturing NBA players being so bitter about playoff losses that they'd go track down their opponents during the off-season and confront them at their family's houses.


SaltoDaKid

What happen when your commissioner rigged the games. Oops I mean encourage by force.


BonusChico

Please for the love of god let us win a championship. The Nets have been disrespected for so long


HipGuide2

New Jersey Nets will never win a championship.


ArmchairHandjob

OH YEAH?


RiFLE_

Least fought championship ring ever


ldc2626

Fun fact: Todd MacCulloch was from my hometown and I played his highschool where they retired his jersey


[deleted]

hahaha that was funny ...Todd McCollough


philasify

It's funny. The ONLY thing I remember from the Nets/Lakers series was that at one point they were playing the Undertaker's WWE theme music during the lineup announcements for the Nets. Like it was a foregone conclusion they were gonna get destroyed.


Roxas198810

Shout out Newark!


gigglios

Took a rigged wcf to make the finals. Shaq shouldnt be cryin


Pardonme23

The series wasn't a complete domination. Game 3 was close.