Steph Curry, Unlike Draymond Green, Is Wary Of Warriors’ Ability To Hinder Shaquille O’Neal

Guarding Shaquille O’Neal is something many dream of but when face-to-face with the big man, you can’t help but take an involuntary step back. Of course, there are those special ones who took the challenge head-on and gained the respect of the Lakers legend. As for the rest, they are left to their own devices and imagination to play out the different scenarios where they are taking on the 7’1, 325-pound New Jersey native. And it seems like Stephen Curry is one of them.

The lithe, nimble-footed Steph has praised Shaq’s dominance in the paint and the overall impact he’s had on the game on several occasions. A Curry critic in the initial days of his arrival in the NBA, the ‘baby-faced assassin’ soon had the ‘Big Aristotle’ eating his words.

Yet in the father-son duo podcast, Heat Check, by Audible, the Warriors superstar was heard wondering what it would have been actually to go against “prime Shaq”. Dell Curry had just asked his son to “name players not from Steph’s era that he would love to watch”. Thinking for a second, Steph replied, “Shaq, for me. I would just love to know what it was like to see prime Shaq in his dominance on a nightly basis.”

He wasn’t done though. ‘Chef Curry’ took it a step further as he continued, “Like, ‘Could we do anything to stop him?’ He’s just a freak of nature I would like to see.” And by “we,” he meant his squad of the Warriors. Could the group that led the Dubs to four championships, six Conference, and five Division titles take care of a prime Shaq? Draymond Green seemed to think so.

Stephen Curry might be doubtful, but his floor general isn’t; not even in the slightest!

During an episode of The Big Podcast, O’Neal wanted to know Green’s opinion on who would win between the Shaq-Kobe-led Lakers vs. the Golden State. More importantly, the ‘Big Diesel’ wanted to know who would be guarding him. Any sane person would consider carefully before answering that question.

But Dray has been in the game long enough to give the appropriate response. The man might be unfiltered and outspoken, but not a fool. Most definitely not. Green knew that there was no way putting one body on the behemoth center would in any way get the job done. Not even close to getting the job done. But he wasn’t the franchise’s floor general for nothing.

“I do think there were defensive schemes that we could have thrown at you to affect you.” By this time Shaqfu had a you-gotta-be-kidding-me look on his face as Green continued his master plan. “One is not letting you get the ball. So we’re going to guard you with a guy in front of you and a guy behind you.” 

‘Diesel’ then stated pointedly, “They did that.” Not one to back away from Shaq’s intimidation tactics, the veteran forward immediately countered, “I wasn’t on the court, though.” Accepting the challenge, the pair got into it, and boy, was it entertaining! At one point, Green pointed out that O’Neal couldn’t, for the life of him, shoot. And the Warriors, for their part, had two of the greatest shooters right there on the court.

Then again, Dray might have forgotten this teeny-tiny mighty problem by the name of Kobe Bryant. When Shaq asked who was guarding Kobe, he said, “Klay.” The confidence was great and Thompson would have been terrific back then. But the ‘Black Mamba’? That’s a whole another ball game.

So, we suppose Stephen Curry’s cautious approach to guarding Shaq and the Lakers does deserve some merit. Because the kind of player protection measures weren’t in place back then either. Bryant with his Mamba mentality and O’Neal with his dominance could very well scatter the Dubs like ninepins. Then again, the Warriors at that time would be different to the ones we see now. If anything, Draymond Green would have a field day, everyday!

But before you go, be sure to check this video of Leonardo Armato’s take on Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese.

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