“You M**erf**ers…He Acted Like He Wanted to Fight”: Years After Bullying Opponent in Viral Clip, Shaquille O’Neal Admits Feeling Disrespected

Shaquille O’Neal was a fierce competitor and arguably the most dominant player ever. A combination that helped him wreak havoc in the league throughout his playing career. The Los Angeles Lakers legend’s athleticism and size made him a nightmare matchup on both ends of the court. Furthermore, Shaq went up a level when an opponent disrespected him. And Chris Dudley learned it the hard way. O’Neal recently talked about the iconic and one of the most disrespectful dunks ever.

In 1999, the Lakers were hosting the New York Knicks, and Dudley was guarding Shaq in the low post. The 2000 NBA MVP pushed him around like it was nothing and dunked on him with all his might. When Dudley tried to grab Shaq to steady himself, The Big Aristotle shoved him to the ground and ran back as if nothing happened. Dudley was furious and hit Shaq’s back with the ball. O’Neal recently opened up about this incident during a podcast appearance.

Shaquille O’Neal on the iconic dunk

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal recently made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. Former NFL star Adam Jones was also in attendance with the crew. During the show, the four-time NBA champion opened up about a lot of things from business to personal life. In one instance, one of the crew members asked about Shaq’s iconic dunk on Chris Dudley. The host noted the dunk is the best gif ever and one of the most used in social media. O’Neal then recounted what happened before the dunk. The 15-time NBA All-Star revealed he felt disrespected before the play and so went wild.

He said, “The Chris Dudley clip, if you watch it closely, when I get the ball, I’m waiting for the double team. And I’m like, ‘Oh you m***erf***ers ain’t gonna double team me? Okay!’ So I had to take my time and dunk. And then he was all up on me playing defense. I had to hit him with the, ‘Hey man, get off me.’ Then he acted like he wanted to fight. But there’s a lot of clips and there’s a lot of moments.”

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Given Shaq’s physical prowess, he was usually double-teamed by his opponents. So much so that he felt disrespected that Dudley and the Knicks thought there was no need to double-team him.

O’Neal was unstoppable 

Shaquille O’Neal had the ability to overwhelm his opponents with his power and size. Opponents mostly had to resort to fouling him hard to stop him. Since Shaq was able to take hard fouls, usual fouls were not called at times.

Also, the three-time All-Star Game MVP’s struggles from the free throw line led many teams to use the Hack-a-Shaq strategy. While it caused some trouble for the Lakers, Shaq usually made free throws at crucial junctures to help the team.

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