O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive championships in the 1999-2000, 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 seasons, when he was the heaviest player in the league, but he could run and jump, and being in place with him was every player's nightmare, so who defended O'Neal best during the triple championship period? It is not Uncle Mu, who has won the best defensive player 4 times, nor Yao Ming's idol Asdas Sabonis.
1999-2000 season
Playoffs first round, Lakers vs Kings, O'Neal vs Vilati Divac
O'Neal averaged 29.4 points, 17.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals, 2.6 blocks per game, shooting 54.3 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 3-2 win over the Kings.
Playoff second round, Lakers vs Suns, O'Neal vs Luca Langley
O'Neal averaged 30.2 points, 16.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.4 steals, 2.6 blocks per game, shooting 55.9 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 4-1 win over the Suns.
Western Conference Finals: Lakers vs Trail Blazers, O'Neal vs Asdas Sabonis
O'Neal averaged 25.9 points, 12.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 0.1 steals, 1.9 blocks per game, shooting 53.7 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 4-3 win over the Trail Blazers.
Finals: Lakers vs Pacers, O'Neill vs Rick Schmitz
O'Neal averaged 38 points, 16.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1 steal, 2.7 blocks, shooting 61.1 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 4-2 win over the Pacers, and O'Neal won his first Finals MVP.
2000-2001 season
Playoffs first round: Lakers vs Trail Blazers, O'Neal vs Arvidas Sabonis
O'Neal averaged 27 points, 15.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1 steal per game, shooting 48.4 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 3-0 sweep of the Trail Blazers.
Playoffs Second Round: Lakers vs Kings, O'Neill vs Vilati Divac
O'Neal averaged 33.3 points, 17.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.5 steals, 3.3 blocks per game, shooting 59.8 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 4-0 sweep of the Kings.
Western Conference Finals: Lakers vs Spurs, O'Neal vs David Robinson
O'Neal averaged 27 points, 13 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, shooting 54.1 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 4-0 sweep over the Spurs.
Finals: Lakers vs 76ers, O'Neal vs Uncle Mu
O'Neal averaged 33 points, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.4 steals, 3.4 blocks, and shot 57.3 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 4-1 win over the 76ers, and O'Neal to the second Finals MVP.
2001-2002 season
Playoffs first round, Lakers vs Trail Blazers, O'Neal vs Rashid Wallace
O'Neal averaged 25.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.7 blocks per game, shooting 56.3 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 3-0 sweep of the Trail Blazers.
Playoffs second round, Lakers vs Spurs, O'Neal vs Duncan & David Robinson
In the first two games, David Robinson was absent due to injury, O'Neal was against Duncan, and in the next three games, O'Neal was david Robinson, who averaged 21.4 points, 12.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.6 steals and 3 blocks, shooting 44.7%, leading the Lakers to a 4-1 elimination of the Spurs.
Western Conference Finals: Lakers vs Kings, O'Neill vs Vilati Divac
O'Neal averaged 30.3 points, 13.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.4 steals, 2.4 blocks per game, shooting 53.2 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 4-3 win over the Kings.
Finals: Lakers vs Nets, O'Neal vs Todd McLoch
O'Neal averaged 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.5 steals, 2.8 blocks per game, shooting 59.5 percent from the field, leading the Lakers to a 4-0 sweep of the Nets, and O'Neal finished his third Finals MVP. O'Neal said the Finals was the most boring game he'd ever played, and his counterpart, McLodge, was an obscure center, and the Nets' defense inside was useless.
Looking at these data, it can be found that Sabonis and Rashid Wallace, Duncan and David Robinson, the two-tower combination of the two teams, defended O'Neal the best, and only these two teams successfully limited O'Neal's shooting rate below 50%.
Sabonis and Rashid Wallace limited O'Neal's shooting to 48.1 percent in the first round of the 2000-2001 playoffs, and Duncan and David Robinson limited O'Neal's shooting percentage to 44.7 percent in the second round of the 2001-2002 playoffs. And only let O'Neal average 21.4 points per game, the Spurs double tower will O'Neal's shooting percentage and average points per game are very low, but the Lakers still have Kobe, the Spurs were eventually eliminated by the Lakers 4-1.
At that time, all the playoff teams in the West had hoarded a lot of excellent interior lines, and almost every team that wanted to make a difference in the playoffs would have a defensively excellent center and a defensively excellent big forward, who formed a double tower combination to deal with O'Neal, so Kobe Bryant would play a very important role in the Lakers rushing out of the West.
Uncle Mu has won the best defensive player 4 times in his career, has been elected the block king three times, and is one of the best defensive players in NBA history, but there is no defensively excellent big forward to cooperate with him, and his effect of restricting O'Neal is very unsatisfactory, O'Neal still cut a large double-double data of 33+15 per game on his head, shooting 57.3% from the field. O'Neal during the triple crown was the most dominant player in NBA history, not one, who was in favor and who was against?