Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant (L), Rick Fox (2nd L), Linsey Hunter (2nd R) and Shaquille O’Neal (R) stand with the championship and MVP trophies after game four of the NBA Finals against the New Jersey Nets at Continental Airlines Arena 12 June 2002,in East Rutherford, NJ. The Lakers, led by O’Neal, swept to their third straight National Basketball Association championship with a 113-107 victory over the Nets. AFP
The Golden State Warriors’ style of play may have revolutionized the modern era of NBA basketball, but retired Los Angeles Laker-great Shaquille O’Neal predicted that the defending champs would fall against his old ensemble.
According to Bleacher Report, the once polarizing center-turned-TNT broadcaster said that his 2001 Lakers team would have no problem beating the current Warriors squad—whether they are playing under the rules of that era or the rules of the present.
“If you’re using those rules, we’d win,” the 19-year veteran said. “Now we use these rules, we’d still win, because you wouldn’t be allowed to touch me, you wouldn’t be allowed to touch Kobe. So yeah, that’s how I always look at it.“
O’Neal added that he could have been an even bigger physical force before changed rules loosened the game for free-flowing offenses, much like where Golden State thrives.
The Warriors, who are two wins away from winning back-to-back titles, broke the Chicago Bulls’ 1996 NBA record for most wins in the regular season.
The Lakers, on the other hand, won the second of three straight championships under Phil Jackson that year, while boasting an impressive starting line-up that featured O’Neal, Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher and fellow superstar Kobe Bryant.
The team amassed a 15-1 playoff record run in 2001 with its lone loss coming from the Allen Iverson-led Philadelphia 76ers in the game 1 of the finals. Khristian Ibarrola