It's been a while since I saw the Lakers play another team, this time Phily. Shaq didn't look that good to me. Beyond the stat line, 7-14 FG, 3-15FT, 8 rebs, 17 pts where he was out-rebounded by Kenny Thomas (12 reb) & Dalembert (10) & outscored by AI (39) & Glenn Robinson (26), it was how Shaq played that was least impressive to me. 1) On offense, Phily played him 1-1 a good part of the time. Rarely did they double team him before he got the ball like people did Yao. Sometimes they didn't even double him after he got the ball. He passed out of single coverage at times, sometimes he scored, sometimes he missed. 2) I don't recall seeing him set picks for his teammates the way Yao was asked to do. Shaq either posted up, or he stood and watched. 3) Once Shaq posted, his teammates never failed to feed him the ball. They never waived Shaq off the way our guys did Yao. 4) On defense, Shaq barely played it. He hardly moved 2 steps from where he stood. He did not come out to his own man if the guy is more than 10 ft away from the basket. He never challenged jumped shot. 5) He didn't have to defend the PnR, he didn't have to chase any guard. He didn't have to shadow the cutters thru the lane. He didn't have to help defense then still got back to his own man. At the end, Shaq played 31 mins and looked exhausted. I know he played the night before (when he was outrebounded by Carlos Boozer) but Yao has to do much more, even on the second game of a back to back, I don't know if we expected too much out of Yao as far as stamina concerned. I wonder if it's natural for 300lb men to drag going up and down the court for 35+ mins/ a game. I wonder if we'd get more out of Yao if we preserve his energy somehow.
shaq isn't as fit as he used to be. shaq has some stamina problems. he is fatter then he used to be. he isn't in his prime any more.but he still is the most dominant big man. Yao is very inconsistant. and nobody else comes close.
Yeah, I agree Shaq is now starting his downhil journey. He is bigger than he used to be and is injured more often than ever. Yao, as said is almost the definition of inconsitant but hopefully that will improve with time.
Shaq was 37 / 12 the night before versus the Cavs. The Lakers were extremely lucky to beat the Cavs in overtime. Ilguaskas and Diop both fouled out in regulation. The Cavs couldn't get a decent shot with about 15 seconds left in the game as the Lakers shut down LeBron. Boozer was just not big enough to handle Shaq in the OT. Looks like Shaq is going to struggle in back to backs.
I was going to say that he did pretty good against the Cavs. I didn't see the Philly game. Being in LA, I watch the Lakers more than the Rockets. Some of your observations are true. He doesn't set picks. He doesn't run the break any more like he used to when he was younger. He seldom comes out to the perimeter. But that's probably because more of their defensive strategy than Shaq's stamina. But Shaq is usually quite active in help defense. He's an underrated shot blocker. And yes, he is definitely going down hill.
Apparently, it was worse than a back-to-back. It was something like 4 games in 5 nights and they arrived in Philly at 4 am the morning of the game. I think that game was a casualty of the schedule (of course, a younger, more fit O'Neal would likely have been able to dominate regardless).
He's actually lost weight but he did play 48 minutes the night before so a guy that big most likely wouldn't have the energy but the man played mighty intense in that cavs game which is more than i can say for Yao on most nights. Intensity is Yao's weakpoint and even he admits it but hopefully that will change.
Shaq has more stamina than Yao at this point. He expends more energy on the offensive end, and plays a few more mins a game than Yao.
geez guys, dont you know that Shaq has been injured for like 3 weeks? i kind of doubt that he was running around and staying in shapw with a LEG injury. at this point, the only thing Yao does in the same league with Shaq is shoot the rock.
