[Sun Sentinel] Shaq: only Yao can give me troubles

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...e1nov02,0,5344487.story?coll=sfla-sports-heat

Defenders face a pair of risky strategies against Shaq

By Michael Cunningham
Staff Writer
Posted November 2 2004

Shaquille O'Neal said there are only two options for teams playing against the Heat: double-team him or foul him.

That is why the Heat has built its team around O'Neal. There are only so many fouls to give and only so many ways to defend O'Neal without giving up open jumpers to his teammates.

O'Neal said just one player makes him think twice about going strong to the goal.

"Probably the only guy [who] gives me problems around the basket is Yao Ming," O'Neal said, adding that Yao is "7-15, he is supposed to give me problems."

Yao, the third-year Houston Rockets center, has had some success against O'Neal, but also has had the same problems everyone else does with him. Most of them involve difficulty dealing with O'Neal's bulk, strength and aggressiveness.

Yao has had trouble keeping O'Neal off the offensive boards, hasn't always been able to keep him from dunking and has even had his shot blocked by O'Neal a few times. The Rockets went so far as to keep Yao away from O'Neal at times during the first round of the playoffs last spring so Yao wouldn't foul out.

"You know why? My pops taught me that," O'Neal said. "I learned [against] a shot blocker you have got to go right there [at their face]. You can't block shots right there. So I am going right through him.

"I am going for the dunk, going up strong. Because if I come with that finger roll he is going to catch it. You have got to dunk on him. I am strong enough to do that. If I wasn't strong enough, he probably would overpower me."

So if a defender is not 7-6 or bulky enough to tangle with O'Neal, how does he guard him?

Veteran center Kevin Willis has been trying to do it since O'Neal entered the league in 1992-93. Willis, now with the division rival Hawks, said O'Neal was easier to deal with back then because he didn't have the deft footwork and soft touch that now allow him to use a jump hook, a turnaround jumper from either baseline and a step-back jumper from the lane.

Now that O'Neal has all those moves, Willis said the key is to not let O'Neal catch the ball as deep as he wants. Considering O'Neal's power, that is not easy to do on a single possession, not to mention the cumulative effect of trying to keep him off the block over the course of a game.

That is why O'Neal said there is no effective way to play him one-on-one.

"Of course not, and let me tell you why," O'Neal said. "Basketball is all abut geometry and angles. Guys know my main move."

At this point, O'Neal holds up an arm bar, the familiar tactic defenders use to try and keep O'Neal from bulling his way to the basket.

"And you have got to use 100 percent of your strength to take away my main move. So you are using so much strength, and I spin off you, and I am there [at the basket]. You have got to foul me or you have got to double me. You have got to."

When O'Neal catches it -- he likes to get it on the right block but can operate from the other side, too -- Willis said the priority is to keep him away from dropping down and dunking and deny him the jump hook in the lane.

"Try to make him turn away from his hook shot when he comes to the middle off the right block and try to make him go to the baseline side and shoot the turnaround jumper," he said. "Because if he drop step on you, you can forget it. If he drop step you and get you with that shoulder, all you are going to get is all that mass coming at you.

"You can't really stop him, you can try to contain and hope that he misses."

Copyright ?2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

 

So he is dissing Duncan.

 

Shaq is actually surprisingly good with math.