“Inside the NBA” on Wednesday recalled the 21st anniversary of Shaquille O’Neal’s 18-for-39 free-throw game in the 2000 NBA Finals ― and let the Hall of Famer shoot a few in the studio to redeem himself.
O’Neal sank an abysmal 52.7% of his foul shots in his career, and his weakness became more apparent when the Indiana Pacers employed the “Hack-a-Shaq” fouling strategy in Game 2.
Despite O’Neal’s 46% accuracy from the line, he scored 40 points and the Lakers still won, 111-104. They went on to take the series in six games.
But Shaq is often ribbed for his free-throw failures. Wednesday night was no different. TNT’s Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson tried to guess how many attempts it would take for Shaq to make one on a mini-hoop.
Shaq surprised them all ― and not in a good way.
A frustrated Shaq resorted to a power move on one of his tormentors. But even that was a miss.
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