1st season in Miami he was better..
Though i wouldnt be surprised if he has a better playoffs than he ever did in Miami..guy was always a let down for someone that claimed to be crusing and waiting for the playoffs.
Is Shaq playing his best basketball since LA?
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Blame Rasho
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The Diesel
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^,
Did you forget about the thigh bruise he suffered right before the 2005 Playoffs started?
The same injury that forced him to miss two games in the Second Round?
That injury really limited him throughout the playoffs.
As far as 2006 goes:
- Did you forget his monster performances against Chicago in Games 1,2, and 6 in the First Round?
Remember how he single-handedly beat them in Game 6? 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 5 assists.
What about his performance in Game 6 against Detroit which clinched the Eastern Conference Championship?
He put up 28 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks that night when Wade was playing with the flu.
If they lost, they would have had to have played Game 7 in Detroit.
Then, in 2007, if I remember correctly, Wade was a turnover machine and shot a low FG % by trying to play through his shoulder injury.
Also, not too many people stepped up in that First Round loss.
Let's not put all the blame on Shaq and take away from some of his contributions.
And let's not forget how well he played during the second half of the 2007 regular season when Wade was out injured.
Shaq played some great basketball during that time.
It really annoys me when the critics bring up his struggles in the 2005 playoffs without remembering he was severely limited by his thigh injury.
It really annoys me when people keep bringing up his poor performances in the 2006 Finals when they might have even been knocked out in the First Round by Chicago without Shaq.
Without Shaq, they WOULDN'T have even made the Finals that year!
Then, some people put all the blame on him for the First Round exit last year.
Then, before the trade to Phoenix, everybody blamed him for their struggles (forgetting he was playing hurt and that it was ridiculous to expect him to put up big numbers at his age) and then he left and they continued to struggle, they continued to take shots at him.
They kept bringing up his big contract, forgetting that he took a $ 25,000,000 pay-cut on that extension even though he was the Runner-Up in the MVP voting that year.
Stop blaming him for everything!
I mean, this guy got blamed and criticized all the time and then when he got angry and spoke out, he became a bad guy.
Ridiculous.
How about when Kobe bad-mouthed Kwame and Smush Parker recently?
Did everyone get angry at him?
No, some defended him by saying, "He was just telling the truth."
These are the same people who got angry at Shaq for taking a shot at Quinn and Davis even though he apologized to both of them.
Did you forget about the thigh bruise he suffered right before the 2005 Playoffs started?
The same injury that forced him to miss two games in the Second Round?
That injury really limited him throughout the playoffs.
As far as 2006 goes:
- Did you forget his monster performances against Chicago in Games 1,2, and 6 in the First Round?
Remember how he single-handedly beat them in Game 6? 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 5 assists.
What about his performance in Game 6 against Detroit which clinched the Eastern Conference Championship?
He put up 28 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks that night when Wade was playing with the flu.
If they lost, they would have had to have played Game 7 in Detroit.
Then, in 2007, if I remember correctly, Wade was a turnover machine and shot a low FG % by trying to play through his shoulder injury.
Also, not too many people stepped up in that First Round loss.
Let's not put all the blame on Shaq and take away from some of his contributions.
And let's not forget how well he played during the second half of the 2007 regular season when Wade was out injured.
Shaq played some great basketball during that time.
It really annoys me when the critics bring up his struggles in the 2005 playoffs without remembering he was severely limited by his thigh injury.
It really annoys me when people keep bringing up his poor performances in the 2006 Finals when they might have even been knocked out in the First Round by Chicago without Shaq.
Without Shaq, they WOULDN'T have even made the Finals that year!
Then, some people put all the blame on him for the First Round exit last year.
Then, before the trade to Phoenix, everybody blamed him for their struggles (forgetting he was playing hurt and that it was ridiculous to expect him to put up big numbers at his age) and then he left and they continued to struggle, they continued to take shots at him.
They kept bringing up his big contract, forgetting that he took a $ 25,000,000 pay-cut on that extension even though he was the Runner-Up in the MVP voting that year.
Stop blaming him for everything!
I mean, this guy got blamed and criticized all the time and then when he got angry and spoke out, he became a bad guy.
Ridiculous.
How about when Kobe bad-mouthed Kwame and Smush Parker recently?
Did everyone get angry at him?
No, some defended him by saying, "He was just telling the truth."
These are the same people who got angry at Shaq for taking a shot at Quinn and Davis even though he apologized to both of them.
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TonyMontana
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The Diesel
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But he is more explosive now than he ever was in Miami; even though he was in great shape during his first year in Miami and finished Runner-Up in the MVP vote, it was quite obvious that he had lost some of his incredible jumping ability.
Don't get me wrong, he was still a good athlete back then, but he didn't get off the ground as quick or jump as high as he did when he was in L.A.
But now, he's definitely regained some of his explosiveness.
This is a guy who really struggled to get any lift on his shots, but now he's definitely regained that.
He's thrown down some very impressive alley-oop dunks recently; getting off the ground quick and jumping high.
Like I said before, some of those dunks remind me of him in his L.A. days.
I mean, even Grant Hill looks absolutely fantastic at the age of 35, athletically wise.
And this is a guy who couldn't stay healthy in Orlando and was bothered by ankle problems all the time.
The Phoenix medical staff are amazing.
Don't get me wrong, he was still a good athlete back then, but he didn't get off the ground as quick or jump as high as he did when he was in L.A.
But now, he's definitely regained some of his explosiveness.
This is a guy who really struggled to get any lift on his shots, but now he's definitely regained that.
He's thrown down some very impressive alley-oop dunks recently; getting off the ground quick and jumping high.
Like I said before, some of those dunks remind me of him in his L.A. days.
I mean, even Grant Hill looks absolutely fantastic at the age of 35, athletically wise.
And this is a guy who couldn't stay healthy in Orlando and was bothered by ankle problems all the time.
The Phoenix medical staff are amazing.
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Apollo64
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He has dropped from Superstar level to being probably the best enforcer-type center in the league (albeit at a hefty price). You can't compare him now with the likes of Dwight Howard or Yao, which are focal points of their teams offenses, his comparisons are players that have a similar role to him in their teams, like Andrew Bynum, Tyson Chandler etc. He is basically a defensive roleplayer, that adds some occasional scoring in the post...