Kori Ellis
11-12-2004, 05:04 AM
Duncan and Shaq: FINAL-ly?
By Rasheeb Shrestha
FullSportPress.com
http://www.fullsportpress.com/artman/publish/article_191.shtml
Shaquille O’Neal will take the SBC Center floor Friday night donning black and red instead of the familiar purple and gold. His coach will bear more of a resemblance to Ron Jeremy than to Colonel Sanders. And his do-it-all guard will actually look happy to be by his side.
Yet for all the things that have changed this summer, one thing is sure to remain the same. As Derek Fisher found out Wednesday, once you played for the Lakers, you can change cities, teammates and even jersey numbers but you cannot escape the wrath of the San Antonio fans.
Expect O’Neal to get booed as loud and as hard as ever. Such is the residue of a bitter rivalry. But while Los Angeles Lakers versus San Antonio Spurs has lost some of its luster, another match up may be entering a whole new chapter.
Which is why I’m going to ask the good people of San Antonio to do the unthinkable: Root for O’Neal to win the Eastern Conference title this year.
Granted it’s not going to be easy to do, but wouldn’t you want to see O’Neal against Tim Duncan in the NBA Finals for the first time?
Not only would it provide great theater, but also it would finally expose the O’Neal-Duncan match up for what it really is -- the best hidden rivalry in NBA history.
It’s a shame we have to classify it as “hidden” in the first place. They have met in the playoffs five of the last six years, with the winner going on to win the Western Conference title each time. Between the two, they have three NBA MVPs and five Finals MVPs. The duo is widely regarded as the two best bigmen of this generation.
So why isn’t anyone mentioning them alongside Russell-Chamberlain and Bird-Magic in the pantheon of rivalries?
San Antonio’s small market and Duncan’s humble personality certainly don’t help, nor does the fact they technically play two different positions.
But technicalities don’t matter as much as teammates do. Both of these guys seemed to have a couple of the best ever by their side, even though perception was not exactly reality.
The fact that Duncan had David Robinson next to him all those years gave the impression that the two were ganging up on O’Neal.
When Robinson retired in the summer of 2003, the Lakers promptly added Karl Malone to help out Shaq and it seemed like two against one the other way.
The truth is that since 2001 both Robinson and Malone were well past their primes. In many critical fourth quarter possessions between the Lakers and Spurs since then, you’ll find O’Neal and Duncan guarding each other.
The one guy who actually did put a kink in their rivalry was Kobe Bryant. After all, how can you pay too much attention to O’Neal versus Duncan when there’s another guy on the court gunning for his own legacy?
With Bryant by his side O’Neal clearly had an advantage over Duncan, no matter who the other seven players on the court were. Although Bryant commanded his share of the limelight, it still wasn’t the biggest factor that contributed to the bigman rivalry being slighted.
The true culprit was the fact that the two teams shared the same conference. The NBA Finals generate a certain romanticism that just cannot be duplicated in any other playoff round. If it doesn’t happen in the Finals, don’t expect too many people to remember it 20 years from now.
Just look at the Boston Celtics duels versus the Philadelphia 76ers of early 1980’s. Despite being arguably a more heated match up than Magic Johnson’s Lakers versus Larry Bird’s Celtics, it is hardly even mentioned anymore simply because they could never meet in the Finals.
Today, that obstacle no longer exists. All that’s left is for Duncan and O’Neal to lead their respective teams back to the championship round.
While the Spurs are the favorites out West, the Heat are considered a notch below the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers in the East. Because of the NBA’s new divisional realignment, there’s a good chance Miami would only have to face one of those two Eastern Conference powerhouses in the playoffs.
And then there’s this statistic: From 1999 through 2004, O’Neal’s playoff series record is 3-2 versus Duncan and a whopping 14-1 against everyone else.
Meanwhile, Duncan is 2-3 versus O’Neal and a perfect 10-0 against all others in that time span.
Now just imagine come June if they go head-to-head once again. Yet this time the winner wouldn’t get the Minnesota Timberwolves, they’d get to raise the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Picture Duncan trying to go through O’Neal to match him with 3 rings and 3 Finals MVPs. Imagine O’Neal trying to make it 4-2 in both categories, thereby staking his claim as the undisputed best of his era. Envision no Admiral to help out Duncan and no Mailman to help out Shaq. And of course, no Kobe Bryant.
The spotlight would finally be only on the big two downlow. Head-to-head, mano-a-mano, may the best man win.
Imagine that.
So go ahead, San Antonio -- bark, howl and curse at the Big Floridian on Friday, but make sure you wish him well the rest of the season. If all goes as planned, you’ll have plenty of more chances to greet him in June.
By Rasheeb Shrestha
FullSportPress.com
http://www.fullsportpress.com/artman/publish/article_191.shtml
Shaquille O’Neal will take the SBC Center floor Friday night donning black and red instead of the familiar purple and gold. His coach will bear more of a resemblance to Ron Jeremy than to Colonel Sanders. And his do-it-all guard will actually look happy to be by his side.
Yet for all the things that have changed this summer, one thing is sure to remain the same. As Derek Fisher found out Wednesday, once you played for the Lakers, you can change cities, teammates and even jersey numbers but you cannot escape the wrath of the San Antonio fans.
Expect O’Neal to get booed as loud and as hard as ever. Such is the residue of a bitter rivalry. But while Los Angeles Lakers versus San Antonio Spurs has lost some of its luster, another match up may be entering a whole new chapter.
Which is why I’m going to ask the good people of San Antonio to do the unthinkable: Root for O’Neal to win the Eastern Conference title this year.
Granted it’s not going to be easy to do, but wouldn’t you want to see O’Neal against Tim Duncan in the NBA Finals for the first time?
Not only would it provide great theater, but also it would finally expose the O’Neal-Duncan match up for what it really is -- the best hidden rivalry in NBA history.
It’s a shame we have to classify it as “hidden” in the first place. They have met in the playoffs five of the last six years, with the winner going on to win the Western Conference title each time. Between the two, they have three NBA MVPs and five Finals MVPs. The duo is widely regarded as the two best bigmen of this generation.
So why isn’t anyone mentioning them alongside Russell-Chamberlain and Bird-Magic in the pantheon of rivalries?
San Antonio’s small market and Duncan’s humble personality certainly don’t help, nor does the fact they technically play two different positions.
But technicalities don’t matter as much as teammates do. Both of these guys seemed to have a couple of the best ever by their side, even though perception was not exactly reality.
The fact that Duncan had David Robinson next to him all those years gave the impression that the two were ganging up on O’Neal.
When Robinson retired in the summer of 2003, the Lakers promptly added Karl Malone to help out Shaq and it seemed like two against one the other way.
The truth is that since 2001 both Robinson and Malone were well past their primes. In many critical fourth quarter possessions between the Lakers and Spurs since then, you’ll find O’Neal and Duncan guarding each other.
The one guy who actually did put a kink in their rivalry was Kobe Bryant. After all, how can you pay too much attention to O’Neal versus Duncan when there’s another guy on the court gunning for his own legacy?
With Bryant by his side O’Neal clearly had an advantage over Duncan, no matter who the other seven players on the court were. Although Bryant commanded his share of the limelight, it still wasn’t the biggest factor that contributed to the bigman rivalry being slighted.
The true culprit was the fact that the two teams shared the same conference. The NBA Finals generate a certain romanticism that just cannot be duplicated in any other playoff round. If it doesn’t happen in the Finals, don’t expect too many people to remember it 20 years from now.
Just look at the Boston Celtics duels versus the Philadelphia 76ers of early 1980’s. Despite being arguably a more heated match up than Magic Johnson’s Lakers versus Larry Bird’s Celtics, it is hardly even mentioned anymore simply because they could never meet in the Finals.
Today, that obstacle no longer exists. All that’s left is for Duncan and O’Neal to lead their respective teams back to the championship round.
While the Spurs are the favorites out West, the Heat are considered a notch below the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers in the East. Because of the NBA’s new divisional realignment, there’s a good chance Miami would only have to face one of those two Eastern Conference powerhouses in the playoffs.
And then there’s this statistic: From 1999 through 2004, O’Neal’s playoff series record is 3-2 versus Duncan and a whopping 14-1 against everyone else.
Meanwhile, Duncan is 2-3 versus O’Neal and a perfect 10-0 against all others in that time span.
Now just imagine come June if they go head-to-head once again. Yet this time the winner wouldn’t get the Minnesota Timberwolves, they’d get to raise the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Picture Duncan trying to go through O’Neal to match him with 3 rings and 3 Finals MVPs. Imagine O’Neal trying to make it 4-2 in both categories, thereby staking his claim as the undisputed best of his era. Envision no Admiral to help out Duncan and no Mailman to help out Shaq. And of course, no Kobe Bryant.
The spotlight would finally be only on the big two downlow. Head-to-head, mano-a-mano, may the best man win.
Imagine that.
So go ahead, San Antonio -- bark, howl and curse at the Big Floridian on Friday, but make sure you wish him well the rest of the season. If all goes as planned, you’ll have plenty of more chances to greet him in June.