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Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan are two of the greatest players to ever play the game. O'Neal and Duncan had many battles during their careers, most of which happened in the NBA playoffs. Both are now retired and enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Athletic are doing their own 75 greatest NBA players ranking, with Duncan coming in at number nine. In the final paragraph of the article written by Mike Vorkunov, an excerpt from O'Neal's autobiography describing his experience facing Duncan was added.
"The Spurs won because of Tim Duncan, a guy I could never break. I could talk trash to Patrick Ewing, get in David Robinson’s face, get a rise out of Alonzo Mourning, but when I went at Tim he’d look at me like he was bored. Whenever I run into a Tim Duncan fan who will claim Tim Duncan is the GOAT, I won’t disagree with him," O’Neal wrote.
Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan had several memorable battles at the height of the San Antonio Spurs-LA Lakers rivalry. En route to the 1999 NBA Finals, Duncan and the Spurs swept the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
O'Neal and the Lakers returned the favor by sweeping San Antonio in the 2001 Western Conference Finals. In 2002, the Lakers got the better of the Spurs once again with a 4-1 second-round series win.
Duncan got one back in 2003 by ending the Lakers' quest for their fourth straight NBA championship. The Spurs dealt Los Angeles a 4-2 defeat in the Western Conference semifinals. But in O'Neal's final season in LA in 2004, the Lakers once again triumphed over Duncan's Spurs, 4-2 in the second round.
Shaquille O'Neal gave Tim Duncan his nickname 'The Big Fundamental'
Tim Duncan is one of the greatest players in NBA history and quite possibly the greatest power forward ever. Duncan was mostly cool, calm and collected during his playing career, letting his game do the talking. He finished his career with five rings, three NBA Finals MVPs, two NBA MVPs and 15 All-Star selections.
Unlike Shaquille O'Neal, Duncan only had one nickname throughout his career: "The Big Fundamental." And it was O'Neal who gave him that nickname. In an interview with The Undefeated, O'Neal explained why he gave Duncan that moniker.
"I called him The Big Fundamental because his fundamental skills were perfect. I put him in the same category as Larry Bird. Larry Bird didn’t run fast or jump high, but he’d eat you alive with his fundamentals. That’s what Tim did," O'Neal said.
O'Neal added that he's still bothered by the fact that Duncan got more rings than him. He believes he's more talented than the Spurs legend, but his fundamentals were much better.
"I was probably 80 percent talent, 20 percent fundamental. Tim Duncan was 80 percent fundamental and 20 percent talent. And he got five rings and I got four. That still bugs the s**t out of me," O'Neal said.
