Duncan and Shaq: FINAL-ly?

[Kori Ellis]

Duncan and Shaq: FINAL-ly?
By Rasheeb Shrestha
FullSportPress.com

http://www.fullsportpress.com/artman...icle_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 le 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 le 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.

[Rummpd]

Great Great Post

I also imagine their "head to head" playoff statistics are pretty close = anyone got them???

MadDoc

[travis2]

Nice article.

[SpursWoman]

His coach will bear more of a resemblance to Ron Jeremy than to Colonel Sanders

Nice.


Great article.

[samikeyp]

Well done! The Ron Jeremy line was classic.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

i liked it, i would like to see these two teams meet in the finals.

[Solid D]

Good article. San Antonio fans have been booing Shaq well before he ever joined the Lakers. Remember when the Harrison family got up and left when Shaq was ejected in a game against David?

[BigVee]

Great article. Should be interesting tonight.

[Solid D]

I liked the comparison of head-to-head playoff records and MVPs versus matchups against all others. I hadn't looked at it before with that slant on it.

Shaq is now in his 12th season and Duncan is in his 8th. Shaq's greatest and most complete season (29.7 ppg, 13.6 rpg, 3.03 bpg, 3.8 apg) was his 8th season and it led the Lakers to an NBA Championship in 1999-2000. Perhaps we look back on Timmy's 8th season as one of his greatest.

[Notorious H.O.P.]

Well written and great supporting stats. And, as samikeyp and SpursWoman point out, any article with a Ron Jeremy reference has got to at least be decent. The rest just really puts it over the top.

But I think this still lacks a certain element that keeps this from being a true rivalry between players. I see Spurs/Lakers as a team rivalry, not a rivalry between individual players. Shaq has always attempted to create drama and motivation (Remember when he claimed that Robinson blew him off when he was a youngster and then later Shaq claimed that San Antonio wasn't big enough for the both of them?) but he seems to not make that much of an effort when it comes to Duncan. After the Spurs interrupted the Lakers championship run, Shaq never said that Duncan had taken something from him or that he had something to prove against Duncan. He claimed the Spurs had what was his. Also, while everyone in the media universally knows what a great player Duncan is, he is never really a source of debate or controversy. Duncan is a stand up type of guy but not the type of guy you stand up for. The reason? You don't need to. He's not flashy, he's not very emotional (outwardly appearing) and he doesn't run his mouth. He goes out, plays his game and racks up the Ws. This takes away from the potential drama of a matchup between them. To meet the standard of a true classic player rivalry, I believe both teams involved need to be the Best of the Best with epic clashes in the playoffs, both players need to be in their prime and, to qualify as an all-time classic rivalry, they need to play the same position. Finally, smack talk and grandstanding is an added bonus that would really put it over the top. Best of the Best worked with Spurs/Lakers although I wouldn't classify most of their playoff battles as classic. Most of the time, one team dominated the other whether it was them sweeping us or us sweeping them or an overall lack of drama at the end of the series. Duncan is just entering his prime as he has gotten more aggressive, more emotional and has taken charge of the team. Shaq, while still a dominating player, has been on the downside of his prime because of lack of conditioning, injuries and all the extra weight he carries. Shaq and David met in their primes, David and Hakeem did as well, but Duncan and Shaq are borderline. Finally, as the article pointed out, Shaq and Duncan don't play the same position. They may end up matched up at the end of games but throughout the early part of the games, they won't guard each other as the coaches try to keep them out of early foul trouble. Shaq can talk but you rarely see him trashing Duncan and I'll run naked around the SBC Center if Duncan ever takes the podium and calls Shaq his little . In my opinion, they have failed most of the tests of a true player rivalry.

The article makes excellent points and I would love to see the Spurs and Heat meet in the Finals. The only reason I would want to see Spurs/Pistons is to prove that we could've taken them in finals last year but the defensive battle between the teams wouldn't be very easy on the eyes and excitement level. Spurs/Heat make for better overall basketball watching experience and we wouldn't hear the media complaining about lack of viewship. It would be a great battle but Spurs vs Heat probably will never inspire the same level of hatred as Spurs vs Lakers despite the presence of Shaq and a Kobe-Without-The-Baggage Dwayne Wade.

[Hook Dem]

I don't care anymore!

[Kori Ellis]

Rasheeb did a great job on this article.

He posts here (though rarely) as Gooshie.

You can find the rest of his articles, Here.

[samikeyp]

Good article. San Antonio fans have been booing Shaq well before he ever joined the Lakers. Remember when the Harrison family got up and left when Shaq was ejected in a game against David?

I do..that was funny...they were booed as they were leaving.

I had a friend who used to work at the Ripleys House of Wax downtown and Shaq's dad tried to get in using expired coupons. When he was told he could not...he said "Don't you know who I am?" and pointed to the back of his leather jacket with had spelled out in rhinestones, yes..rhinestones, "SHAQ'S DAD".

[adidas11]

Good article.

And actually, Shaq's third season was his best season statistically (or at least comparable to his 8th season)