Shaquille O’Neal took pride in his dominant style of play during his career days, thanks to his gigantic body size. Shaq had some milestone achievements in his 19-year NBA career. But his fine career was not without some moments of pain and regret that no one knew about.
However, the big man who hated being dunked on as a player in his career days, shared an intriguing story of a huge moment of embarrassment about himself which even made him shed a little tear.
Shaquille O’Neal revealed his embarrassing moment
Shaquille O’Neal always boasted about being dunked on only three times in his NBA career. However, there was a moment in New Jersey when Derrick Coleman embarrassed him so intensely that O’Neal shed a little tear. In an early episode of “Open Court” on NBA TV in 2011, the crew shared their most embarrassing moments.
The Lakers legend recounted the incident of being dunked on by Coleman, who played for the New Jersey Nets at that time. He said, “One time in New Jersey, I’m from Newark, in front of all the fans playing against Derrick Coleman,” O’Neal went on to share some attributes of Coleman.
“If you don’t know Derrick Coleman, he’s left-handed, and he’s a beast. Derrick has me on the block. He took one dribble, two dribbles, drop step hit me with a little elbow, and dunked it. I didn’t know he dunked it until I came down and the ball hit me in the face.”
To make matters worse, Coleman wagged his fingers in Shaq’s face. Shaq said, “And when I turned around to him, he did me like that (finger wag). I looked up and my mom and dad, there were like (facepalm). I went to the bench with a little tear in my eye.”
Shaquille O’Neal was so infuriated by the posterizing dunk that when the Orlando Magic faced the New Jersey Nets again later that season on April 23, 1993, he shattered the backboard. The game had to be delayed as arena personnel set up a new backboard and cleaned up the broken glass.
Shaq named the players who dunked on him
Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal wrapped up his professional career in 2011, and now, he’s finally revealing the players who managed to dunk on him during his 19-year journey. In a recent interview, the 7’1” NBA legend confessed that only three players ever pulled off this feat, and he vividly recalls each incident.
“In 20 years, I only got dunked on three times,” O’Neal said. “Derrick Coleman, Michael Jordan, and Tim Perry.” The interviewer interrupted, “Tim Perry? Was it a breakaway? It must have been a breakaway dunk.”
O’Neal responded, “No, baseline dunk. I went up lazily, and he threw it down on me. … I always wanted to take pride in not getting dunked on.”
These memorable moments occurred early in O’Neal’s career when he played for the Magic. Coleman, the No. 1 pick in the 1990 NBA draft, dunked on O’Neal during his time with the Nets. The six-time NBA champion, Jordan, added his name to the list during his illustrious Bulls career.
O’Neal went on to narrate how Perry, playing for the 76ers at the time, threw down on the Magic star. O’Neal attributes the “lazy” way he defended as the reason why the 6’9” Perry successfully dunked on him. Being dunked on only three times in nearly two decades in the NBA is undoubtedly an accomplishment. However, it seems those three dunks still bother O’Neal to some extent.
