“Motherf**r threw it up too high”: Shaquille O'Neal discusses key mistake in most iconic play of his career
Throughout the course of his career, Shaquille O'Neal had plenty of iconic moments and highlights. Among all of them, perhaps the most popular one was when he caught a lob from Kobe Bryant in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals in 2000 against the Portland Trail Blazers.
By the fourth quarter of that game, the Lakers found themselves trailing by as much as 15 points and their hopes of making it into the finals and becoming NBA champions were fading very quickly.
Although, they were able to rally by slowly chipping away at the Blazers' lead and with just under five minutes to go, they were able to tie the game at 75 apiece behind a 3-pointer from Brian Shaw.
However, the most memorable moment of the game came at the 41-second mark when Kobe threw a lob pass, which Shaq grabbed above the rim before subsequently throwing down a monster alley-oop slam. Recently, Shaq shared an interesting tidbit about the game, after Trae Young asked him on the "From the Point Podcast" what his favorite championship year with the Lakers was.
"I'm telling Kobe [Bryant] the whole game, when you get to the rim instead of doing all that I'm right there, I'm right there," said Shaq. "And that play that everybody talks about he crossed [Scottie] Pippen up and he threw it up and he threw that motherf***** up too high, but I'm stopping time if I miss this and we lose it's going to be my fault."
Also read: "You piss him off" - Shaquille O'Neal reveals pushing Kobe Bryant past his limits with psychological games
Shaquille O'Neal tells Bear Grylls that this highlight is the proudest moment of his career
In an episode of Runnin' Wild, Shaquille O'Neal was once asked by Bear Grylls what his proudest moment was while the two were cooking meat while taking a break from their wilderness adventure.
As a response, Shaq asked Bear to close his eyes and to "dream with him." The NBA legend then proceeded to narrate the events of Game 7 between the LA Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers in 2000.
He gave Bear a play-by-play of Kobe crossing up Scottie Pippen before throwing up the ball. To add some dramatic effect, Shaq made it seem like he was unsure if it was a shot attempt before stating that it was a lob that was "too high."
Shaq proceeded to tell Grylls that he came out of nowhere to throw the ball down before mimicking the celebration he did on that exact same play and shared that he was pointing up at his son who was sitting in the suite.
He then asked Bear, who called the story "amazing," if he had ever seen it. The survival expert admitted that he had not but due to Shaquille O'Neal's tremendous storytelling, it was now in his mind.