Not many can claim they came out looking good in a challenge against Shaquille O’Neal. But then Alonzo Mourning was a different breed. His athletic prowess, as evident in his defensive capabilities, was no secret to anyone. Now, Shaquille O’Neal was no less than a juggernaut given his size and the movements he could manage with such a build. Furthermore, being drafted as the second pick after Shaq in the 1992 draft, there were speculations that there existed a silent rivalry. But fate put them on the same team in Miami and gave the two stars a chance to settle some debates. Recalling one such instance on The OGs podcast was Mourning himself.

Now, the outcome of the challenge remains unclear despite Mourning’s claim of winning it. “I won that race… Me and big fella… We had just finished practice… We just went over to lift weights… So he challenged me to a race,” Mourning said. And despite Zo’s warning that Shaq won’t beat him, the two stars proceeded to map the location and distance off.

“We had Bill Ferran standing there… I dusted his a**… He was in shape, too… Big fella had trimmed down and everything… He kept up with me, though,” Mourning recalled, revealing the race ended with a close outcome. But then why is that the outcome remains unclear? Well, first, Udonis Haslem stated on the podcast that he cannot remember who won.

And it’s only reasonable to doubt the one-sided claim from Zo, given their previously speculated silent rivalry. The fact that Shaquille O’Neal admitted it years later only makes the claim more questionable. “I had beef with Alonzo Mourning,” he said in an interview.

However, the former Miami Heat star admits that he was fond of the competitive spirit that existed between him and Shaq. “I liked the thing between me and the big fella that you know we complemented each other because we pushed each other,” he said on The OGs podcast. And it worked both ways. In fact, some reports suggest the best shape Big Diesel ever witnessed after Orlando Magic was in the Heat because of Mourning.

The time when Pat Riley used Alonzo Mourning to trigger Shaquille O’Neal for better

When Big Diesel landed in Miami in 2004, the Heat had a problem most teams would envy—figuring out how to integrate one of the most dominant forces in NBA history into their system. He had done things his way and won. So why should he change now? Enter Pat Riley, the master motivator. He knew exactly how to get under Shaq’s skin in the best way possible.

Instead of lecturing him about the Heat culture, Riley let a living example do the talking—Alonzo Mourning. As mentioned earlier, the two stars had entered the league together in 1992 as the first and second overall picks, fueling a quiet rivalry over the years. “That’s exactly what it was,” Shaq recalled on an episode of The Big Podcast. “He said, ‘Zo, come here. Take your shirt off.’ Zo looked like a He-Man, though, and I said, ‘He looks good.'”

It was all the motivation Shaq needed. Seeing Mourning’s incredible shape made him buy into the Heat’s demanding regimen. “To his credit, he came, he made a commitment, he got himself in amazing shape with us,” Mourning said. “(Best shape of his career), other than when you were in Orlando…” So, the outcome of one race hardly matters. The bigger takeaway is that the two stars pushed each other for the better and it showed when they claimed the 2006 NBA championship together.