Shaquille O’Neal: Top 5 Games With The Los Angeles Lakers
By Jacob Rude
On the day of his 43rd birthday, we look at the legacy of Shaquille O’Neal on the court. And let’s not beat around the bush: in his prime, Shaq was one of the most dominant players in league history. His mix of size, strength, and agility were unguardable.
The result was the big man leading the Los Angeles Lakers to three straight NBA titles, capturing Finals MVP awards in all three appearances. Add in his 2000 regular season MVP award and you already get a quick glimpse of how great he was.
All that makes picking his best performances all the harder to do. Luckily for him, he always showed up in big games, meaning all but one of these five games came in the playoffs. It also means some memorable games were left off the list, including his second greatest scoring output Golden State with 49 points. It means his game against Washington where he finished with a line of 40/17/8/5/3 doesn’t make the cut.
It also means that the games that are featured are going to be truly great ones.
Next: 2001 Western Conference Semi-Finals