OT : The return of the Diesel

paul · Post #1 » by **paul** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 4:32 pm

Shaq continued his season long renaissance last night, dropping 45 on the Raptors on a ridiculous 20-25 shooting.
His numbers this season are now 17.8/8.8 on 60% FG shooting and a career high 63% from the line. So the question is - where the hell did this come from?

Many who watched him closely last year, including myself, thought he was completely done. Washed up, over the hill, what have you. Then he started doing the 'I don't play both games of back to backs' thing, burned the hell out of Bogut the first time he did it, and (compared to recent seasons) is having a stellar season ever since. There have been a dozen or so games this season where he has resembled the monster who owned the league for the majority of the 90's and was almost unstoppable when he caught the ball on the block, he hasn't done that in years. Some under the age of 25 or so might not remember or have seen much of the force he was early in his career (like putting up 30/13/2 with 3 blocks a game in his second season for example) but the league got a big reminder last night of exactly what he's capable of - he could be a major x-factor the remainder of this season.

The off-court stuff has gotten old for me the past few seasons and honestly if I never hear him speak again it won't bother me too much, but Shaq is an out and out monster on the court when he wants to be and while his game isn't always pretty it's always pretty damn powerful.

75totheMACCfund · Post #2 » by **75totheMACCfund** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 4:34 pm

shaq on twitter is hilarious.

Post #3 » by **MickeyDavis** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:09 pm

Bosh is crying that they didn't call 3 seconds on Shaq last night.

EastSideBucksFan · Post #4 » by **EastSideBucksFan** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:38 pm

Shaq has credited Phoenix's training staff and their program due to his health. One of the reasons he was unhappy and not healthy in Miami is they didn't get it right with how to treat him when injuries came up.

I think having Stoudemire out of the frontcourt has helped him as well.

One ball is not enough for a Shaq/Amare frontcourt.

lawrybeard · Post #5 » by **lawrybeard** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:42 pm

I like this comment:

Afterward, O'Neal insisted he could do this every night if only he got the ball often enough.

"I think I'm the only player who looks at each and every center," he said, "and says to myself, 'That's barbecued chicken down there."

kebzach · Post #6 » by **kebzach** » Sun Mar 1, 2009 12:09 am

Agree with what was posted above, Shaq on twitter is very entertaining.

http://twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ

Mags FTW · Post #7 » by **Mags FTW** » Mon Mar 2, 2009 8:10 am

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/ar ... al-CR.html

After Shaquille O'Neal scored 45 against Toronto on Friday, Raptors star Chris Bosh said O'Neal had benefited from officials ignoring his three-second lane violations.

"I heard what Chris Bosh said, and that's strong words coming from the RuPaul of big men," O'Neal said. "I'm going to do the same thing (in their next meeting) I did before - make him quit. Make 'em quit and complain. It's what I do."

O'Neal is the only NBA player other than Stephon Marbury and Bernard King to record 40-point games with four teams.

"I warned these guys he can do that," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

paul · Post #8 » by **paul** » Mon Mar 2, 2009 8:12 am

Yeah I saw that Mags - seems his game isn't the only thing that has returned.

GrandAdmiralDan · Post #9 » by **GrandAdmiralDan** » Mon Mar 2, 2009 12:19 pm

the RuPaul of big men

check out this image they have on the Raptors board:

jerrod · Post #10 » by **jerrod** » Mon Mar 2, 2009 2:48 pm

paul wrote:Yeah I saw that Mags - seems his game isn't the only thing that has returned.

i mean this in the nicest possible way, but you're such a hater

paul · Post #11 » by **paul** » Mon Mar 2, 2009 3:00 pm

jerrod wrote:
paul wrote:Yeah I saw that Mags - seems his game isn't the only thing that has returned.

i mean this in the nicest possible way, but you're such a hater

Hey as long as it's in a nice way

Nah I just don't really think Shaq needs to do that after dropping 45 on them - Bosh said he was camping out in the lane so Shaq got personal, seems kinda petty. He's good enough to back it up just don't really think he needs to do it. But anyway....

cutthroat · Post #12 » by **cutthroat** » Tue Mar 3, 2009 3:51 am

paul wrote:Shaq continued his season long renaissance last night, dropping 45 on the Raptors on a ridiculous 20-25 shooting.
His numbers this season are now 17.8/8.8 on 60% FG shooting and a career high 63% from the line. So the question is - where the hell did this come from?

Many who watched him closely last year, including myself, thought he was completely done. Washed up, over the hill, what have you. Then he started doing the 'I don't play both games of back to backs' thing, burned the hell out of Bogut the first time he did it, and (compared to recent seasons) is having a stellar season ever since. There have been a dozen or so games this season where he has resembled the monster who owned the league for the majority of the 90's and was almost unstoppable when he caught the ball on the block, he hasn't done that in years. Some under the age of 25 or so might not remember or have seen much of the force he was early in his career (like putting up 30/13/2 with 3 blocks a game in his second season for example) but the league got a big reminder last night of exactly what he's capable of - he could be a major x-factor the remainder of this season.

The off-court stuff has gotten old for me the past few seasons and honestly if I never hear him speak again it won't bother me too much, but Shaq is an out and out monster on the court when he wants to be and while his game isn't always pretty it's always pretty damn powerful.

he never left,he wasn't the first option on the suns,he is not so the numbers went up,he is in great shape and the most consistent sun all year

jeremyd236 · Post #13 » by **jeremyd236** » Thu Mar 5, 2009 3:25 am

Shaq is unquestionably back.

His RuPaul Bosh comment.

His "18 year old" Dwight Howard comment.

Now the "Van Gundy will let the Magic down in the playoffs" comment.

This guy is the biggest **** in the NBA. Glad to see he's returned!

Post #14 » by **ReasonablySober** » Thu Mar 5, 2009 3:28 am

Has anyone else read what he said about Van Gundy and to a lesser extent JVG and Ewing and Howard?

Wow.

jeremyd236 · Post #15 » by **jeremyd236** » Thu Mar 5, 2009 3:35 am

DrugBust wrote:Has anyone else read what he said about Van Gundy and to a lesser extent JVG and Ewing and Howard?

Wow.

Yeah, the guy has no class at all.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3953133

jokeboy86 · Post #16 » by **jokeboy86** » Thu Mar 5, 2009 3:38 am

The thing with Shaq is he says this stuff because as of yet on the court or off nobody has really stepped to him or talked about him. The only guy to step to him that I recall is Barkley and that's because nobody from Barkley's era was scared of Shaq at all. Ever since everybody of that Jordan, Malone, Ewing, Barkley era left, Shaq has felt that he is the boss of the NBA.

Now he does have 4 rings to back it up but still. I was kind of hoping last night that Dwight would've dunked on Shaq because I want somebody to dunk on Shaq(I do like Shaq) cause I've yet to see it. But it looks like that simply isn't going to happen.

And I'm a Knicks fan and he acts like Ewing had anywhere near the help that he had in MIA or LAL. And if I recall Shaq didn't win anything either till Jordan left. Unlike the other guys he was just younger.

jeremyd236 · Post #17 » by **jeremyd236** » Thu Mar 5, 2009 3:43 am

jokeboy86 wrote:The thing with Shaq is he says this stuff because as of yet on the court or off nobody has really stepped to him or talked about him. The only guy to step to him that I recall is Barkley and that's because nobody from Barkley's era was scared of Shaq at all. Ever since everybody of that Jordan, Malone, Ewing, Barkley era left, Shaq has felt that he is the boss of the NBA.

Now he does have 4 rings to back it up but still. I was kind of hoping last night that Dwight would've dunked on Shaq because I want somebody to dunk on Shaq(I do like Shaq) cause I've yet to see it. But it looks like that simply isn't going to happen.

And I'm a Knicks fan and he acts like Ewing had anywhere near the help that he had in MIA or LAL. And if I recall Shaq didn't win anything either till Jordan left. Unlike the other guys he was just younger.

The thing is...Shaq's return is half bull. Have you seen any of the games?

Bosh might've been "crying" that Shaq didn't get 3 seconds called on him but its absolutely the truth. This guy is invincible to 3 second calls and offensive fouls.

All last weekend's game Van Gundy was saying "that is an offensive foul!". And it's the truth. Shaq has no rules. He can just run into guys, travel, stand in the paint all day, nothing matters. So he acts like he's the **** again because the refs are afraid to step up to him.

REDDzone · Post #18 » by **REDDzone** » Thu Mar 5, 2009 4:28 am

I kind of feel bad for the guy. It seems as if he always takes subtle shots at Dwight since from well before the all-star game, seems like he's just craving the attention the media would give him if Dwight got into a little spat with him.

Shaq is a funny dude.

jerrod · Post #19 » by **jerrod** » Thu Mar 5, 2009 4:34 am

i can't imagine what being the center of multiple 10+ million dollar ad campaigns would do to your ego, and then on top of that hype, actually winning 4 titles

wow