POJO_Risin
06-04-2005, 03:39 PM
If nothing else...an interesting read...
Single page view By Scoop Jackson
Page 2
With 9:11 left in the game, Stan Van Gundy watched the future of the Miami Heat franchise walk toward the locker room. And as he looked at the bench, he knew.
Thirty feet away, Larry Brown could be heard telling his players, "We have three and a half minutes to get it to eight."
Shaq has done what he can on the court against the Pistons, but his leg injury is really limiting him.
As Shaq rose off the bench to get back in the game, he knew – just like Van Gundy – what needed to be done.
The question, even with Miami holding a 78-62 lead, was whether Shaq by himself, without Dwyane Wade for the rest of the game, would be enough. Every second half in every game of this series has been worse than the first for him. And now he had to do what he used to do, but up until now didn't need to do – or couldn't do – this year.
Shaq's wife, Shaunie, sat in the stands.
She knew.
So did Heat president Pat Riley (who could be seen). The team's principal owner/general partner, Micky Arison (who remained unseen), had to know, too.
They all knew.
It was time for the leader to lead. After 13 years in the league, Big's rep was on the line. And this time, for the first time, he didn't have a sidekick to balance the act.
Five points and two rebounds later, his job was done. In the end, he sat on the bench, towel wrapped around his neck, watching Alonzo Mourning carry the weight of maybe the biggest win in the franchise's history.
Twenty points and five rebounds were Shaq's final numbers. He had 14 and three at halftime. Another second half of nothing. Another un-dominating performance from the player everyone calls the most dominant of all time. Still, he got to speak to Craig Sager after the game.
Can it be said now? Shaquille O'Neal is overrated.
Or are we all missing something?
*****
There's a story about Shaquille O'Neal that cannot be written. It's the one about the flaws in his game that have nothing to do with free throws, his lack of commitment, his insecurities as a teammate and person, or how he always plays the victim.
No one will write that story because Shaq is Shaq – the nicest guy in the world, the guy with the heart of a kid, the most unpretentious superstar in professional sports. No media person in his right (or write) mind would degrade Shaq in print. It's career suicide. It isn't worth it.
So let's start here.
In the house of Cheryl Rodgers. Laker fan for life. Residence: Inglewood, Calif.
She'll publicly say: "I hate Shaq! Make sure you print that!"
When I ask why, her answer takes us through half a quarter of the game.
Like others – journalists in Chicago, entrepreneurs in Atlanta, haters in D.C. – she has her reasons. Most stem from the flawless way the media (and most fans) portray Shaq. Outside of his free-throw shooting, nothing bad is ever said about him.
You hear it all the time. Shaq this, Shaq that, he's the MVP every year, he's the greatest of all time.
In Phoenix this year, the hate got thick. MVP? He let Shawn Marion average more rebounds than he did this season. Some thought his consideration was racial. Not Nash's. Averages of 22.9 and 10.4 aren't MVP numbers, not for "He Who Is Most Dominant," who has career averages of 26.7 and 12.0. Why deny the white guy consideration in a year when Shaquille, from a statistical perspective, had an un-Shaq-like season?
But it's in L.A. where the pendulum really swings. Where a mother of two, inside a small house down the street from the old Forum, speaks for millions.
Ms. Rodgers will tell you a story about a Steve Harvey and John Salley conversation that took place on 100.3 FM The Beat over a month ago. She'll tell you how Steve and John got into an argument on the air about the whole Shaq/Kobe deal. She'll tell you how Steve sided with Diesel while John said Shaquille needs to let the whole thing die. Saying to Steve, "You're talking about Kobe, but Shaq's the one running around here not letting it go. He's the one saying the Lakers did him wrong. Kobe isn't saying anything. He's in Europe, vacationing with his wife."
She'll tell you how on the next day, Shaq himself called in to the radio station and said, "[Salley] rode our backs to get his rings."
She'll tell you how Shaq then called Salley a sellout, an Uncle Tom.
Then she'll pop in a cassette. She'll speak no longer. The next voice you hear belongs to John Salley.
"A sellout? If I see Shaq, I'm punching him in the face. I mean, I love the brotha and he's [my] frat, but … "
But even on the bench, Shaq has continued to help counsel Dwyane Wade.
For over 10 minutes, Salley, who considered Shaq a friend, who played with him, who won a ring with him, publicly severed his relationship with one of the most "untouchable" athletes in sports.
And he didn't seem to care.
What does any of this have to do with the Heat's situation? What does it have to do with Shaq's impact on the game, on his influence on whether the Heat get to the Finals?
Nothing.
But it is an extended look at his life and the complications that surround him because of what he does and who he has become.
To some people, he is Reason No. 1 the Lakers turned out the way they did this year – by "not showing the same type of commitment the last two years the way he did this year." To others, he saved basketball by going East and is showing everybody that he is the "best" basketball player in the world, bar none. After all, he's taking a team that was average last year to the promised land this year.
It's all interweaved through his life. It's all become his life.
And just when you think you have everything figured out about Shaq, just when you've drawn your conclusion that there might be some validity to calling him overrated … he does what he did last night, both during and after the game (when he publicly insisted that he pay for George Mikan's funeral because he heard the family was having financial problems due to the medical bills incurred during George's illness). And instantly, you feel ashamed of yourself. And you start to understand that this guy is bigger than basketball, and for us to judge him on that alone – good or bad – might be justified, but is simply unfair.
*****
The blood in his leg fills up after every game. Often, it has to be drained. Lots of it. It's been his routine since the last week of the regular season, when Jermaine O'Neal turned to try to score and his knee – at full speed – found the inside of Shaq's thigh. Ask any doctor and they'll tell you it takes eight weeks for an injury like that to heal, four weeks before you should even walk on it. And that's if it's a regular bruise. Jermaine is 7 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds. Shaq is bigger than that. The bigger the bang, the bigger the bruise.
Single page view By Scoop Jackson
Page 2
With 9:11 left in the game, Stan Van Gundy watched the future of the Miami Heat franchise walk toward the locker room. And as he looked at the bench, he knew.
Thirty feet away, Larry Brown could be heard telling his players, "We have three and a half minutes to get it to eight."
Shaq has done what he can on the court against the Pistons, but his leg injury is really limiting him.
As Shaq rose off the bench to get back in the game, he knew – just like Van Gundy – what needed to be done.
The question, even with Miami holding a 78-62 lead, was whether Shaq by himself, without Dwyane Wade for the rest of the game, would be enough. Every second half in every game of this series has been worse than the first for him. And now he had to do what he used to do, but up until now didn't need to do – or couldn't do – this year.
Shaq's wife, Shaunie, sat in the stands.
She knew.
So did Heat president Pat Riley (who could be seen). The team's principal owner/general partner, Micky Arison (who remained unseen), had to know, too.
They all knew.
It was time for the leader to lead. After 13 years in the league, Big's rep was on the line. And this time, for the first time, he didn't have a sidekick to balance the act.
Five points and two rebounds later, his job was done. In the end, he sat on the bench, towel wrapped around his neck, watching Alonzo Mourning carry the weight of maybe the biggest win in the franchise's history.
Twenty points and five rebounds were Shaq's final numbers. He had 14 and three at halftime. Another second half of nothing. Another un-dominating performance from the player everyone calls the most dominant of all time. Still, he got to speak to Craig Sager after the game.
Can it be said now? Shaquille O'Neal is overrated.
Or are we all missing something?
*****
There's a story about Shaquille O'Neal that cannot be written. It's the one about the flaws in his game that have nothing to do with free throws, his lack of commitment, his insecurities as a teammate and person, or how he always plays the victim.
No one will write that story because Shaq is Shaq – the nicest guy in the world, the guy with the heart of a kid, the most unpretentious superstar in professional sports. No media person in his right (or write) mind would degrade Shaq in print. It's career suicide. It isn't worth it.
So let's start here.
In the house of Cheryl Rodgers. Laker fan for life. Residence: Inglewood, Calif.
She'll publicly say: "I hate Shaq! Make sure you print that!"
When I ask why, her answer takes us through half a quarter of the game.
Like others – journalists in Chicago, entrepreneurs in Atlanta, haters in D.C. – she has her reasons. Most stem from the flawless way the media (and most fans) portray Shaq. Outside of his free-throw shooting, nothing bad is ever said about him.
You hear it all the time. Shaq this, Shaq that, he's the MVP every year, he's the greatest of all time.
In Phoenix this year, the hate got thick. MVP? He let Shawn Marion average more rebounds than he did this season. Some thought his consideration was racial. Not Nash's. Averages of 22.9 and 10.4 aren't MVP numbers, not for "He Who Is Most Dominant," who has career averages of 26.7 and 12.0. Why deny the white guy consideration in a year when Shaquille, from a statistical perspective, had an un-Shaq-like season?
But it's in L.A. where the pendulum really swings. Where a mother of two, inside a small house down the street from the old Forum, speaks for millions.
Ms. Rodgers will tell you a story about a Steve Harvey and John Salley conversation that took place on 100.3 FM The Beat over a month ago. She'll tell you how Steve and John got into an argument on the air about the whole Shaq/Kobe deal. She'll tell you how Steve sided with Diesel while John said Shaquille needs to let the whole thing die. Saying to Steve, "You're talking about Kobe, but Shaq's the one running around here not letting it go. He's the one saying the Lakers did him wrong. Kobe isn't saying anything. He's in Europe, vacationing with his wife."
She'll tell you how on the next day, Shaq himself called in to the radio station and said, "[Salley] rode our backs to get his rings."
She'll tell you how Shaq then called Salley a sellout, an Uncle Tom.
Then she'll pop in a cassette. She'll speak no longer. The next voice you hear belongs to John Salley.
"A sellout? If I see Shaq, I'm punching him in the face. I mean, I love the brotha and he's [my] frat, but … "
But even on the bench, Shaq has continued to help counsel Dwyane Wade.
For over 10 minutes, Salley, who considered Shaq a friend, who played with him, who won a ring with him, publicly severed his relationship with one of the most "untouchable" athletes in sports.
And he didn't seem to care.
What does any of this have to do with the Heat's situation? What does it have to do with Shaq's impact on the game, on his influence on whether the Heat get to the Finals?
Nothing.
But it is an extended look at his life and the complications that surround him because of what he does and who he has become.
To some people, he is Reason No. 1 the Lakers turned out the way they did this year – by "not showing the same type of commitment the last two years the way he did this year." To others, he saved basketball by going East and is showing everybody that he is the "best" basketball player in the world, bar none. After all, he's taking a team that was average last year to the promised land this year.
It's all interweaved through his life. It's all become his life.
And just when you think you have everything figured out about Shaq, just when you've drawn your conclusion that there might be some validity to calling him overrated … he does what he did last night, both during and after the game (when he publicly insisted that he pay for George Mikan's funeral because he heard the family was having financial problems due to the medical bills incurred during George's illness). And instantly, you feel ashamed of yourself. And you start to understand that this guy is bigger than basketball, and for us to judge him on that alone – good or bad – might be justified, but is simply unfair.
*****
The blood in his leg fills up after every game. Often, it has to be drained. Lots of it. It's been his routine since the last week of the regular season, when Jermaine O'Neal turned to try to score and his knee – at full speed – found the inside of Shaq's thigh. Ask any doctor and they'll tell you it takes eight weeks for an injury like that to heal, four weeks before you should even walk on it. And that's if it's a regular bruise. Jermaine is 7 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds. Shaq is bigger than that. The bigger the bang, the bigger the bruise.