Hypothetical match ups are popular in the NBA is popular and Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal happily engages with it. He already gave Nikola Jokic his props for being the best center in the league for a long-time now saying he does not criticize him because the Denver Nuggets star is already on another level.
The two centers play differently. Shaq, tagged as the Most Dominant Ever, plays down low. Jokic is more of an outside player who scans through his surrounding to make the best possible play – either for himself or for his teammates.
This difference is how Shaq thinks he can hold his own against the three-time MVP. He believes he can make the Nuggets star foul out if ever they play against each other.
“[In the] playoffs, I would probably be 40 [points], 14 rebounds, three blocks. You know, he’s a different player,” O’Neal said.
“However, if he’s going to guard me one-on-one, hopefully he’s not going to be in the game a lot because the first 10 possessions I’m going at him.”
Defense is one criticism being thrown at Jokic. He’s had problems in the playoffs against big men, including guard the likes of Karl Anthony Towns and even the Oklahoma City Thunder twin tower.
Dwight Howard stopped Nikola Jokic in 2020
O’Neal is not just pulling this take out of thin air. He has Dwight Howard as a reference.
Nuggets and Lakers meet in the Bubble playoffs in 2020 with Jokic among the best players in the postseason. The Serbian star tore down defenses offered by Utah Jazz who had Rudy Gobert back then and then went past the physical Los Angeles Clippers.
It was a different story when they met Lakers in the Western Conference finals. O’Neal thinks Howard exposed Jokic in that series.
“If he was a post player and I would just have to focus on them, he wouldn’t get that much cuz I saw when he was playing in the post against Dwight Howard, he had problems,” O’Neal continued.
“But because they run a lot of pick and rolls, you have to help on the guard; they throw it back, he shoots. But him guarding me, I’m averaging 40.”
Howard was no longer in his prime when they met so that says a lot. Even Howard himself thinks he is better than Jokic if they are to compare their peaks. Jokic and Howard met 13 times and he averaged 16.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists against him.
Shaq the dominant vs Joker the trickster? Who will come out on top?
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