"Who the f**k is this" - Shaquille O'Neal once shared his hilarious first impression of Yao Ming in front of him and Allen Iverson
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the funniest NBA legends and is good at hilarious stories. Back in 2016, during the ceremonies surrounding his Hall of Fame induction, O’Neal shared a funny story of his first impression of fellow 7-footer Yao Ming. The two were doing an interview with ESPN as fellow classmates in the Hall of Fame. Allen Iverson was a part of the interview and 2016 class as well.
O’Neal recounted the first time he laid eyes on the Chinese center. It was a memorable experience even for the Big Diesel.
“My first impression of Yao was ‘who the f**k is this?’” O’Neal said.
The Laker legend then said that he was taken aback at Yao’s skills on the court. He recounted the first move he tried on the fellow giant of the court.
“I tried to hit him with a smooth finger roll, and block,” O’Neal said.
The trend continued during the two’s first battle. O’Neal pulled out all the tricks from his bag. However, Yao seemed to possess never-ending answers.
“Then the next play I tried to hit him with a fade away and block. Next time I tried to dunk, block. He was the first guy to block my shot three times in a row. He was the first guy I had to change my game to play against,” O’Neal said.
It was an unusual experience for the big man who is used to towering over defenders. He finally had an opponent who could see eye-to-eye.
“He was also the first guy to turn around and look me right in my face and shoot right over me. That was my first impression of Yao,” O’Neal said.
It was a similar experience for Yao. He was also astonished by going up against the brute force of O’Neal.
“It’s almost like a rhino on the court to play against. A couple years ago I went to see a real rhino and there is not that much of a difference,” Yao said.
Shaquille O’Neal vs Yao Ming
The two giant centers Shaquille O’Neal and Yao Ming had plenty of battles during their NBA careers. The two were perennial All-Stars when healthy at the same time. They dominated down low during a time when big men still ruled the league.
During their careers, they played against each other 18 times, 5 of which were in the playoffs. Shaq had an upper hand over the Chinese giant with a 10-8 overall record. Yao of course had his NBA career shortened by various injuries. Otherwise, the two may have had even more battles.
Yao had plenty of success as a rival to O’Neal. He averaged 18.6 points and 10.5 rebounds in games against the Big Diesel. He put up more than 30 points twice against O’Neal. He dropped 33 in a March 2003 game against the LA Lakers. He also put up 34 on O’Neal and the Miami Heat in November 2006.
Shaq had plenty of his own success going at the big man. He averaged 22.9 points and 9.6 rebounds in the 13 matchups. Shaq's best performance came in March of 2003. The Laker big man dropped 39 points against Yao’s Houston Rockets.