The 1995 NBA Finals pitted two of the greatest big men ever against one another.
A 22-year-old Shaquille O’Neal was only three years into his NBA career but managed to steer the once lowly Orlando Magic into The Association’s promised land.
Shaq spent the first part of his career in OrlandoGettyOn the other side, Hakeem Olajuwon was the greatest player in the league in the aftermath of Michael Jordan‘s brief baseball hiatus, and was a reigning champion, Finals MVP, and regular season MVP for the Houston Rockets.
The ’95 Finals were a true clash of the titans but only one man came out on top.
And it wasn’t Shaq.
The Rockets swept O’Neal’s inexperienced Magic squad and went back-to-back as world champs.
‘The Dream’ was named Finals MVP for the second year in a row after outplaying O’Neal, averaging 32.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game.
Shaq was still Shaq, putting up 28.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game. But his numbers were not enough to avoid four straight losses and he later admitted the defeat was on him.
“That was my fault we lost,” O’Neal said on All The Smoke podcast. “Cuz as a leader, I didn’t lead. After we beat the Bulls, I let up. We beat Mike, we straight. We done played Houston before, I think it was 1-1, even series. Hakeem gonna get 30, I’mma get 27.
“And off the record, we had 8 days off. Me and Dennis Scott was doing stuff we wasn’t supposed to be doing. They had a parade and all that, we was celebrating. It taught me never to celebrate too early… My fault, I didn’t have the guys ready.”
Shaq admitted he took his foot off the gas before the 1995 NBA Finals against Hakeem OlajuwonGetty Hakeem and the Rockets beat Shaq and the Magic 4-0 in ’95Getty O’Neal later admitted his friendly off-court relationship with Hakeem threw him offGettyYears later, ‘The Big Aristotle’ suggested his struggles were due to the Rockets doubling him whenever he got the ball.
“He [Olajuwon] kind of edged me out in the Finals, but it wasn’t a really fair edge out because when I got the ball, they doubled me and we didn’t double him,” Shaq said.
“I wanted to show people that I’m unstoppable. Nobody can guard me on one-on-one.”
The Inside the NBA analyst also said that he paid too much respect to ‘Dream’ and their amicable off-court relationship threw him off.
“I think I showed him too much respect. We had the same agent at one time, and he was just a nice guy. And I didn’t want to hurt my friend,” Shaq told The John Harbinger Show.
“He kinda set me up because during the regular season, I was having my way with him. So, when we got to the finals that year in Orlando, I was real arrogant. We had 10 days off we were doing things all wrong, flying to Atlanta, partying. It was out of control. I thought we were gonna win it. Then he just turned that switch on and I couldn’t get him to turn it off.
“Usually a guy like that, on the first play of the game, I would try to commit an offensive foul. That was my thing, I take three steps to the middle and swing that elbow around. If your face there, you get hit. With him, I was real finesse, trying to be cute. But it also taught me a valuable lesson. I said to myself: if I ever make it back to the Finals again, I’m gonna throw a dominant performance so dominant it’ll guarantee a win. I think that’s why I got three Finals MVPs.”
Shaq, who has a net worth of $500m and an extensive business portfolio, learned a lot from that matchup and used it to fuel him in future series.
He won four NBA championships during his career – three straight with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers between 2000-2002 and one with Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat in 2004.
He faced many great centers during his career, including Patrick Ewing, who Shaq once cried over.
There was also Alonzo Mourning, David Robinson, and Yao Ming to name a few, but he always reserved a special kind of reverence for Olajuwon.
Shaq says he showed Hakeem too much respect in the early daysGetty Two-time champion and Finals MVP Olajuwon is one of greatest players everGetty Shaq won three Finals MVPs during his career, all with the LakersAFP‘The Big Diesel’ paid the ultimate respect to the Rockets legend by putting him on his Mount Rushmore of NBA big men alongside some true icons of the game.
“You gotta go with Mr. Russell for championships,” Shaq said. “You gotta go with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You gotta go with Hakeem Olajuwon ‘coz I couldn’t stop that motherf*****. And you gotta go with the other most dominant player, Wilt Chamberlain.”
Olajuwon was indeed a different beast in the ’90s.
He was one of the first centers to combine silky footwork and a deft touch around the basket with defensive steel and elite rim protection.
Hakeem even had his own signature move – the ‘Dream Shake’ – which tortured defenses and made him a lethal low-post threat.
The Nigerian-born Hall of Famer led the league in rebounding twice (1989, 1990) and blocks three times (1990, 1991, 1993) during his illustrious career.
He also had nine All-Defense selections and two Defensive Player of the Year awards and finished his career as the NBA’s all-time leader in blocks and top 10 in steals – a truly remarkable feat for a center.
Shaq looked up to Olajuwon before eventually taking the torch at the turn of the century.
But for a few good years, even Shaq knew he was no match for a prime ‘Dream’ at the peak of his powers.
“Hakeem busted my a**…,” Shaq said of their Finals matchup.
“We beat Houston that year. Hakeem would get his and I would get mine. So we were like ‘I got him. He’s gonna put up his numbers but he’s gonna have to guard me too.’
“In the Finals he was just a different beast. I was like damn, this is a different Hakeem right here.”
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