There's a lot of talk about Shaquille O'Neal right now, due to a change of verbal blows with Chris Bosh and a few games with his best stats in quite a while. A lot of people are talking about how the "Shaq of old" is back and how he's becoming the most dominant big man in the NBA again. A couple of things about that.
Shaq is a great player, who will be remembered as one of the best centers in the history of the league. However, there is little doubt that what we're seeing right now is not the Shaq of 2000 or even 2006. What we're talking about is two games: 45 points and 11 rebounds against the Raptors, and then 33 points to go with 7 rebounds against the Lakers. Clearly, those are great numbers for any player. And clearly, those two games isn't even a streak, and definately not proof that "Shaq is back". He put up those numbers against the Raptors, a team that has 111.8 points allowed/100 possesions and a frontcourt made up of Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani, hardly the strongest low-post defense in the league, and the Lakers, that even though they of course have a great defence, are missing big man Andrew Bynum and had to play Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol against O'Neal, none of which really has the physique to handle the big fella. It should also be noted that Gasol still had 11 rebounds, in comparison to O'Neals 7, and managed to score 30 against Shaq on the other end. When cactus was matched up against a great inside defender in Dwight Howard tuesday in Orlando, he was held to 19 points and 11 rebounds, not bad, but something Andris Biedrins, Emeka Okafor or Marc Gasol can put up any night and go unnoticed for.
What am I trying to say? There is a love for the big cactus that spreads among most people following the NBA. A lot of not-that-spectacular plays by him has made the game recaps on nba.com during this season, sometimes leaving a feeling that someone is trying to neglect the fact that Shaq has gotten older and his athleticism as well as his overall game has been reduced over time. When he puts up some big numbers for a couple of games, it is only natural that people who have gotten used to him dominating down low for over a decade are going to get nostalgic. However, what is going on right now is not fair to other big men in the league, and definately not fair to Shaq himself. He is going on 37 and shouldn't have to deal with these expectations at this point in his career. I don't think he's over with, and I appreciate that he can be a solid contributor to any team in the association, but no, Shaq is not back to his old ways. Deal with it.
