SHAQ WAS UNGUARDABLE! (6 Most Dominant Finals Performances)

The dominance that Giannis Antetokounmpo displayed in the finals was unreal, and it was a great reminder of the most unstoppable NBA player in the modern era. Shaquille O’Neal.
However to truly appreciate Shaq’s greatness, for all of you that didn’t get a chance to watch him in his prime, or for the ones that may have forgotten, let’s go back and take a look at Shaq’s best game from each of the 6 finals that he was a part of.
The numbers are straight up insane. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it.
Starting off in 1995 against the Rockets: In just his third season and at the tender age of 23, Shaq would win the scoring title in the regular season. After beating MJ and the Bulls, Orlando would square off in the Finals against the defending champions, the Houston Rockets.
Though the Magic themselves and many pundits believed the title would be coming to Florida, the Rockets had different plans. After a heart-breaking Game 1 loss in Orlando, Houston smelled blood and pulled off a sweep. Yet, that didn’t stop Shaq from putting up a crazy performance. A statline of 33 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists tells just part of the story.
The Diesel was efficient from the field, 12 makes on 22 tries, and had a solid, by his standards, production at the charity stripe, going 9/14. Also, the Magic’s shooters benefited greatly from the double teams, as evidenced by Shaq’s high assist number.
This statline becomes even more impressive when you consider that he was guarded by one of the greatest defenders in the history of the game, Hakeem Olajuwon, who’d won the Defensive Player of the Year award in both 1993 and 1994.
Even Hakeem himself said, albeit during Game 1, that guarding a 23-year-old Shaq was a tough task.
For the Finals, Shaq averaged 28 points, 12.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 2.5 blocks, on 59.5% shooting from the field.
Remember tho, this is just his third season in the league, so let’s move on to prime Shaq.
And that was in 2000 against the Indiana Pacers.
This is O'neal's greatest season. Not only did he win the scoring title, but also he was voted the MVP of the season. It should be mentioned here that he was one vote short of becoming the first unanimous MVP in NBA history. The Diesel also won the All-Star Game MVP award sharing it with Tim Duncan.
In his second Finals appearance, Shaq wasn’t going to be denied. Though all six games against the Pacers are something to behold, especially Game 1 – 43 points, 19 boards, and four assists, or the title-clinching Game 6 – a cool 41 and 12, we’ll have to go with Game 2, mainly because the first game was a blowout, while this was a more competitive seven-point win for the Lakers. Now for the statline: 40 points, 24 rebounds, four assists, and three blocks.
You know what's also scary? This had the potential to be perhaps one of the greatest Finals performances ever if Shaq had been more accurate from the charity stripe. Battling with Rik Smits, the Davis brothers, and even Austin Croshere, Shaq went to the free throw line 39 times which is still a record, but connected on just 18 attempts.
For the series, in this hard to believe 6 game explosion Shaq averaged 38 points, 16.7 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per contest while shooting 61.1% from the field.
O’Neal had his first title and more than deservedly got the Finals MVP award.
The very next season Superman was back in the finals, and gave us a similar performance.
This is a tough one. Though many would be tempted to choose Game 1 with 44 points, 20 rebounds and five assists, albeit in a loss – and they wouldn’t be wrong - Game 2 just may get the edge. Several reasons for that. First, the Lakers bounced back from the Game 1 loss. Second, Shaq showed that, when engaged on defence, he could be a devastating menace on that end of the court, as well. Third, he continued to dominate that year’s Defensive Player of the Year, Dikembe Mutombo.
Now for the final statline: 28 points, 20 rebounds, nine assists, and eight blocks, on 12/19 shooting from the field. If that’s not dominance, I don’t know what is.
We all know what happened next. The Lakers won the next three games as well to finish off the Sixers in Five.
For the series, Shaq, now a two-time and back-to-back champion, had averages of 33 points, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 3.4 blocks on 57.3% shooting from the field. Oh, and of course he was the Finals MVP again.
The following season in 2002 against the New Jersey Nets saw a similar tune in the Finals. After a gruelling 7 Game series with the Kings, the Lakers made it back to the matchup for the Larry O’Brien trophy. They were the overwhelming favourites, mostly because the Nets’ collection of big bodies, Kenyon Martin, Todd MacCulloch, Jason Collins, Aaron Williams, stood no chance against the Diesel, whether from a team defence standpoint or, let alone, one on one.

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