The NBA star who missed 21 free throws in the Finals and still scored 40 points

Shaquille O’Neal scored 40 points despite missing 21 free throws in Game 2 of the 2000 NBA Finals

When Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal was in the prime of his career, there was hardly anything teams could do to stop him.

After all, Shaq was a 7’1 monster and the 1999-2000 season was undeniably the peak of his career. Despite being a tremendous scorer, O’Neal had one weakness in his game – free throws.

For instance, O’Neal shot just 52.7% from the free throw line over 1,207 games in his career. Keeping that in mind, opponents devised a strategy called ‘Hack-a-Shaq.’

The defensive strategy was to send O’Neal to the free-throw line as much as possible during a game. Well, that’s what the Indiana Pacers did during Game 2 of the 2000 NBA Finals.

O’Neal attempted a game-high 39 free throws and missed 21 of them. But did it slow the Diesel? Certainly not.

Shaq finished the game with 40 points and helped the Lakers register a 111-104 win as they took a 2-0 lead over the Pacers. The only thing it did for the Pacers was have two players fouling out while others stacked up a high number of fouls.

Shaquille O’Neal’s tremendous 2000 NBA Finals

While former Pacers star Mark Jackson credited Kobe for carrying the LA Lakers to the 2000 NBA Championship, O’Neal’s contributions cannot be overlooked.

In the six-game series, Shaq averaged an unreal 38.0 points, 16.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. He also scored the most points (707) and rebounds (355) in the 2000 playoffs.

Evidently, O’Neal won the NBA Finals MVP as he capped off a near-perfect season with the Lakers.

In case you were wondering, O’Neal won the NBA Championship, NBA Finals MVP, league MVP, Scoring Championship, and All-Star Game MVP in 2000.

He did so while averaging 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while leading the Lakers to a 67-win season.