Shaquille O'Neal once called getting dunked on by Derrick Coleman as most embarrassing moment of his career
Shaquille O'Neal was one of the most dominating players the NBA has ever seen. It's almost impossible for opposing players to humiliate him on the court. However, O'Neal once revealed that getting dunked on was the most embarrassing moment of his career.
In one of the early episodes of Open Court in 2011, O'Neal said that he took pride in not getting on any posters. All that changed when Derrick Coleman dunked on him in a game against the New Jersey Nets in front of his parents.
"I always took pride in being a big man that never got dunked on," O'Neal said. "One time in New Jersey, I'm from Newark, in front of all the fans playing against Derrick Coleman. If you don't know Derrick Coleman, he's left-handed, and he's a beast.
Derrick has me on the block. He takes one dribble, two dribbles, drop step and give me a little elbow and dunked it. I didn't know he dunked it until it came down and the ball hit me in the face."
Shaquille O'Neal added that Derrick Coleman wagged his finger at him after the dunk. O'Neal then looked in the stands and saw his parents were disappointed with him. It happened during Shaq's rookie year, but the play made him mad.
When the Orlando Magic played against the New Jersey Nets later that season, O'Neal proceeded to break the backboard as revenge. Coleman spoke about postering the Hall of Famer in an appearance on the Knuckleheads podcast.
"We're going back and forth, laughing, talking sh*t," Coleman said. "When I drove that b*tch and banged it on his motherf***ing head, I hit him with that."
"I drove that b***h & banged it on his motherf****g head."
Derrick Coleman talks about dunking on Shaq & Shaq's revenge on The Knuckleheads Pod w/ @QRich & @21Blackking https://t.co/rccW0mwNEx
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Shaquille O'Neal says he only got dunked on by three players
Shaquille O'Neal went on the Knuckleheads podcast last year and revealed that there were only three players who dunked on him.
O'Neal said that only Derrick Coleman, Tim Perry and Michael Jordan posterized him during his 19-year NBA career.
"I take pride in playing 19 years and only being dunked on three times," O'Neal said. "The first person to dunk on me was Derrick Coleman, drop step with the left hand. The second person, Tim Perry, got me baseline. And then Michael Jordan."
O'Neal clarified that he doesn't consider dunk-bys as poster dunks. He's honest that he has been dunked by several times during his career, including put-back dunks. He explained that a poster dunk needs to be chest-to-chest and not just a fly-by.
"I got about 30 dunk-bys, and I got about seven like not paying attention tip dunks," O'Neal said. "But dunk on, chest-to-chest, balls-to-balls only got one or two of them, and I take pride in that."
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