Game 1: Shaq – 28 and 11. Duncan – 28 and 14 – Lakers win 104-90.
Game 2: Shaq – 19 and 14. Duncan – 40 and 15 – Lakers win 88-81.
Game 3 – Shaq – 35 and 17. Duncan – 9 and 13 – Lakers win 111-72.
Game 4 – Shaq – 26 and 10. Duncan – 15 and 9 – Lakers win 111-82.

That averages out to: Shaq – 27 and 13. Duncan – 23 and 13. It might look like a draw, but Shaq is averaging this with Tim Duncan and David Robinson guarding the paint. In that series, Robinson was a non-factor, while Duncan put up good numbers, but didn’t lead his team to a single win.

I will admit that Duncan dominated the 1999 and 2003 series. But whoever says Shaq isn’t as consistent as Duncan doesn’t know the whole story. Shaq is the ONLY player to average 20 and 10 for 13 consecutive seasons (That includes Wilt, Kareem, Akeem, Robinson, Moses Malone, Ewing and the like). Not Even Duncan will do that. He nearly did it for 14, but narrowly missed averaging 10 boards in 2005-2006. He averaged 25 and 10 for 10 consecutive years (1993-2003), while Duncan has averaged only 25 points once (2001-2002). Their stats are similar, and maybe even skewed due to Shaq’s down years (he is 4 years older than Duncan). He’s been to 6 finals in the last 12 years, while Duncan has been to four in ten. One can argue that Shaq had more competition in the finals. In addition to facing Jordan’s Bulls in 1995-1996 just to GET to the finals, He faced defending champion Houston in 1995 (they beat four 55+ win teams to win the title), a very good Indiana team in 2000 (they won 56 games), a beaten up Philly team with a younger AI (they won 56 games too) who managed to beat the Lakers one game after the Lakers destroyed Duncan’s Spurs, the Nets (in Shaq’s year they won 52 games; when Duncan faced them they won 49), the Pistons (this might set Tim Duncan apart, because he beat them while Shaq lost to them two years in a row before beating them in 2006 – even though they set a franchise record with 64 wins in 2006 as opposed to 54 in 2004 and 2005), and the Mavs, who won 60 games and beat Tim Duncan’s Spurs in the second round. You might argue that Shaq had little impact; but the Mavs game plan centered around double teaming Shaq and letting the rest of the players beat them. They let Tim Duncan get his. Duncan faced the 8th seeded Knicks without Ewing, New Jersey (who won 3 fewer games than when Shaq faced them and outplayed the Spurs for much of the series – they led for most of those games SA won), Detroit (who was the best team he faced) and Cleveland (who got ran off the court in four straight and had no business in the finals). According to my count, Shaq has beaten Duncan more in the playoffs, won as many titles as him against better competition while averaging better numbers over the course of their careers. I actually like Tim Duncan, and admire his fundamental approach to the game. If I could have both of them, I’d take both of them. But if I had to pick, both in their primes, I’d take Shaq.

basketball players & critics: TD.

’nuff said.

of course, TD is better.

while basketball is a game of skill, etc., it is also a game of size. shaq, for his benefit, was able to hone talent together with his size (not too many players were able to achieve that) and it made him ‘dominant’ in the league. duncan, for his part, does not have the size of shaq but clearly has more talent than the superdawg.

it is like a battle between a heavyweight and a lightweight in boxing……heavyweight has limited moves while the lightweight has more. too bad for the superdawg that TD can play heavyweight as well.

i give one vote though to shaq…..for the mouth. and too bad again kobe grew a bigger one it made me him leave L.A. (hwek hwek hwek, shaq ‘made rik smits and sabonis go’ but kobe did the same favor to him down in LA).

To reiterate: Shaq may be the obvious pick for most “dominant” if what we mean is “strongest” or “greatest offensive power player” or even “hardest to guard”—he may even surpass Jordan in these dimensions—but everyone already knows this. He is not, however, the obvious pick for “best post-Jordan player” or “player most likely to lead his team to the title,” given Duncan’s all-around (especially defensive) prowess. Once we clarify “dominant” so as to make it a non-trivial question, there’s a legitimate debate as to who’s more dominant.

Shaq has taken 3 different teams to the finals Orlando 1x in 94-95, Lakers 4x 2000-2002, 2004, and the Miami Heat last year. Had it not been for the Bulls, 72W10L = arguably best bball team ever, it would have been another finals appearance for the diesel. That is a total of 6 finals appearances and 1 possible with 4 rings. In fact shaq could very well have had 7 rings by now. Shaq has the highest FG% of any player in his era and he only averages 17spg for his career ref http://www.nba.com/statistics/encyc/Player.jsp. Duncan has essentially the same stats. However compare playoff stats and the true dominance comes forth. We all know that dominant player dominate in the playoffs. Shaq is in the top 3 – 6th in history in every category including free throws made in the playoffs ref http://www.nba.com/history/records/alltime_playoffs_ind_career.html. This is with shooting 56% free throws. Imagine if the guy shot 70% career like Duncan. Do you think he’d be guardable? How about this one too….Shaq had a 3 peat in the same conference as Duncan. Duncan has 4 rings but one in the lockout season. And tell me dont we compare other players (i.e. Garnett, Malone, Barkley) to Duncan when it comes to dominance? Who compares to Shaq? I can think of only one and his initials are MJ. Even he couldnt carry his team to the finals in year 3 it took him 6. If you look at the teammates they’ve both had in their careers i’d take the spurs over anyone of Shaqs teams. Imagine if he had ginobli, parker, David Robinson instead of gunner Kobe or brokedown Penny. Im also thinking of the zone being implemented in i think 02′. If they hadnt done that then shaq would have at least 2 more rings. Now you can put 3 guys on him. Before you couldnt. Has duncan ever been unstoppable? Nope, you can put KG on him and he’ll cry all day.
Shaq all day.

Later
Monkman