Even on a busy night, this was an easy call, and it’s got a forced tie-in to something else. My favorite!
It comes down to two people, Yao and Dwight Howard. Both of them first overall picks in the draft, both of them seen as the next great NBA Center after Shaq. If I’m going to be consistent here, I have to give it to Yao, because his 31 and 13 came against Phoenix, a much better team than Seattle obviously, who lost to Dwight and the Magic. Yao has struggled against up and down teams in the past, but Houston was able to keep the number of possession in the game closer to something Phoenix wouldn’t like, and Yao dominated, earning the Player of the D.A.Y. Dwight’s numbers against the Sonics were 39 and 16 with 5 blocks. He got to the free throw line 20 times, and Holly said he had 9 dunks. I saw the highlight and at the end there was a graphic that said the last Orlando Magic player to have 35 and 15 with 5 blocks or more was as you would expect Shaq.
When Shaq was a rookie, he had a 46-21 and 5 block game. Can you imagine a rookie having 46 and 21? I coincidentally happen to be working on a thing about Shaq for the magazine, and I needed to find some funny Shaq quotes. I googled Shaq quotes, and look at what I have found. If you have non-Shaq related stuff going on right now that you need to get done, do not click on that link.
