Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal had a fierce rivalry in the 1990s, and the legendary former Magic center looked back at one of their encounters.
On January 16, 1993, the Orlando Magic visited the Chicago Bulls and while Shaq was just a rookie, he had a monster game, helping the Magic beat then-defending NBA champions Bulls 128-124 in overtime.
O’Neal had 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting with 24 rebounds and five blocks. Jordan was also dominant, as he scored a game-high 64 points on 27-of-49 shooting with six rebounds and five steals.
Shaq wrote earlier this year that Jordan was lucky that he wasn’t the one guarding him in that game. The four-time NBA champion implied that if he did so, the MJ wouldn’t have scored 64 points that day.
“This was thirty years ago today, Michael was lucky I wasn’t guarding him. lol,” O’Neal posted on his Instagram on January 16.
O’Neal’s Thoughts About Playing Against Jordan
Shaq was an extremely dominant player, but he experienced fear when playing against MJ. O’Neal discussed it during an appearance on IMPAULSIVE with Logan Paul.
“He’s the only man that had me terrified on the court. Because I went from high school, admiring him, in college, admiring him, admiring him and then he’s right there in front you and all the s*** you see on your poster like he’s doing it in real life like he came by me so fast sometimes I was like oh s***,” O’Neal said.
Jordan was away from the NBA for 21 months before returning from retirement in 1995 when the regular season had just few weeks left. The Bulls made the playoffs that year and advanced to the second round against the Magic but lost the series in six games.
Chicago then got payback against Orlando the following year, sweeping them in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals. O’Neal recalled that series in an appearance on FAIR GAME with Kristine Leahy.
“Before I came to LA, Orlando Magic versus Chicago Bulls, we had beaten them the year before, went to the Finals and got swept… Michael Jordan came back stronger than ever, swept again. Michael was my fraternity brother, puts his hand on my shoulder and says, ‘Before you succeed, you must first learn how to fail.’ And I had no idea what that meant.”O’Neal explained.
Jordan’s advice stuck with O’Neal and helped him deal with adversity for the rest of his career, particularly when he joined the Lakers and they had growing pains in the first years with him and Kobe Bryant as their stars.
