Word: neal
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...military kid, young Shaq moved around. In the spring of 1987, O'Neal, then a 6 ft., 8 in., 15-year-old sophomore, transferred into Robert G. Cole High School in San Antonio, Texas. Herb More, O'Neal's geometry teacher at Cole, remembers him as a humorous kid who "made class fun." More was also the assistant basketball coach. O'Neal was already too big for the other players to handle in practice, so More had to be his practice partner. "I used to foul him an awful lot--he used to complain about it," says More. "I would...
...Neal posted amazing stats in his first year in the league--with the Orlando Magic, in 1992--and was named rookie of the year. In 1995, with teammate Penny Hardaway, he led the Magic to the finals. But they were swept by the Houston Rockets, and O'Neal & Co. were pegged as overhyped underachievers. "When we got there we let down," O'Neal says. "We just kept talking about 'Let's get to the finals, let's get to the finals.' Nobody ever talked about winning. That's what our mistake was. We were hungry, but not enough...
Until this year, O'Neal's tenure with the Lakers mimicked his movie career: the Lakers were swept out of the playoffs two years running. But this year they have a new coach: Phil Jackson, the man who helped guide Jordan and his Chicago Bulls to six titles...
What connects Jordan and O'Neal--and makes O'Neal into a similarly iconic presence--is an almost ineffable quality to their play. Both are able to impose their will on games in ways that go beyond stats, beyond predictions and projections. There was a virus-ravaged Jordan in Game 5 of the 1997 finals, scoring 38 points to give his team the win. Or O'Neal, in Game 4 of this year's Western Conference final against Portland, fouled repeatedly by the Trail Blazers (a strategy called Hack-a-Shaq), hitting nine foul shots in a row despite...
...thing you won't find anywhere in Shaq's 15,000-sq.-ft. mansion high above Hollywood, nor in the secret apartment he sometimes escapes to along a sugary swath of beach just south of Los Angeles: a trophy. "My dad never [displayed] any trophies," says O'Neal. "Neither do I. I don't want to look like I'm satisfied." It's all about the team for him now. It's all about winning. Someday soon, though, if the Big Aristotle successfully completes his playoff drive, he just may want to clear away a little room in a display...