Preface
When it comes to the most dominant player in history, some people think it's Jordan, some think it's James, and some fans think that Chamberlain and Russell are the strongest players through data records. I have to say that the NBA, as the best basketball league in the world, has given birth to too many superstars, after all, "there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people", and O'Neal at his peak is also the strongest existence in the NBA in the minds of many people from ancient times to the present.
Then O'Neal's strongest period is undoubtedly the beginning of the 21st century, leading the Lakers to win three consecutive championships, and his performance in the 1999-2000 season is the star of the stars, looking at history, there have never been many players whose single-season performance can match this year's O'Neal. So how strong was O'Neal at that time? Let's take a look back at how dominant he was in the regular season and in the playoffs!
In the regular season, he led the Lakers to sweep thousands of troops and won MVP+AMVP
After being swept by the Spurs in the 1999 playoffs, O'Neal also reached a critical juncture in his career, and if he is about to turn 30 years old, if he doesn't prove himself, the Lakers may even restructure the roster. Under heavy pressure, O'Neal finally ushered in an explosion, and from the regular season of the 1999-2000 season, he turned on the full force mode.
In the regular season, O'Neal played in 79 games (the highest since 1995), averaged 40 minutes per game (a career-high), and averaged 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3 blocks per game, including career highs in points and assists. O'Neal recorded 63 double-doubles throughout the regular season, including a number of double-doubles such as 38+20, 39+20+5 and so on.
O'Neal's strongest game this season was against the Clippers, and since it was O'Neal's birthday, he hoped that the Clippers would provide him with some tickets so that his family could attend, but the Clippers refused his request. For this reason, O'Neal completely regarded this game as a personal vendetta, and he used his performance on the court to vent his dissatisfaction with the Clippers, he kept bombing the opponent's basket, and finally he shot 24 of 35 from the field, 13 of 22 from the free throw line, and slashed 61 points, 23 rebounds and 3 assists, and his 61 points in a single game was also the highest single-game score in his career.
Under O'Neal's leadership, the Lakers have improved qualitatively in the regular season, and they have achieved a 67-15 record that is the only one in the league, and their winning percentage has improved by 20 percentage points compared to the previous season. Therefore, in O'Neal's MVP selection that year, he completely defeated other competitors by an overwhelming margin, and superstars such as Garnett, Mourning, and Duncan eventually became O'Neal's "stepping stones".
In this season's All-Star Game, O'Neal was also elected AMVP with Duncan with his performance of 22 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks, which was also the first time he won this award in his career. In addition to MVP and AMVP, O'Neal was named to the All-Team Team, All-Defensive Second Team and won his second scoring title after the regular season.
In the playoffs, they defeated strong opponents and struggled to get out of the West
In the first round against the Kings, I thought this round of the series would be easier, but the Kings tied the score in two consecutive games after falling behind 0-2, but fortunately, the Lakers stabilized their position in time, and O'Neal took over the game in the fifth tiebreaker, and cut 32 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks in the whole game, and finally the Lakers also advanced to the Western Conference semifinals, while O'Neal's average data in the series was 29.4 points, 17.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.6 blocks.
In the second round against the Suns, the latter, as one of the teams with 50+ wins in the regular season, their strength should not be underestimated, especially the series against the Kings in the first round made the Lakers dare not be careless. In the first game, the Lakers gave the Suns a dismount, O'Neal and Kobe Bryant combined for 62 points, and the team also beat the opponent by 28 points at home.
Soon the Lakers got the match point with a score of 3-0, and in the fourth game, the Suns fought to the death, and all five members of the team scored double-doubles, Robinson and Kidd combined to contribute 54 points to drag the series into G5. However, in the last game, the Lakers didn't give the Suns another chance, relying on defense to limit the latter to only 65 points in the game, and many of the opponent's cores played miserably, Kidd shot 3 of 13, Robinson shot 3 of 11, and Hardaway only shot 1 of 9. Although the Lakers don't feel good on this side, O'Neal can help the team in other ways even if the offense is not in shape, 21 rebounds per game is the best proof, and he averaged 30.2 points, 16.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.6 blocks per game in this series.
In the Western Conference against the Trail Blazers, the Lakers still showed their dominance as the first in the league in the regular season, and they have already got the match point after four games, and the 3-1 score also makes the Trail Blazers fans see no hope of a comeback. However, in a desperate situation, the Trail Blazers burst out with greater potential, and with the help of Wallace, Pippen and others, they won G5 and G6 in a row, and the series entered a tie-break.
O'Neal's performance in the first six games was more or less inconsistent, he had 31 points, 21 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in the battle of Tianwang Mountain, but G6 only had 17 points and 11 rebounds. When it came to stealing seven, the Lakers also didn't have any margin for error, or they would have to be sent home by their opponents again, and what the Trail Blazers didn't expect in the key game was that Kobe Bryant stepped up instead, he cut 25 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks, and sent O'Neal that game-killing open catch in the final moments.
This series can be said to be O'Neal's worst playoff performance of the year, but he still averaged 25.9 points, 12.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.9 blocks per game.
Returned to the playoffs after 5 years and lifted the trophy as he wished
In the finals against the Pacers, O'Neal used 43 points, 19 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks, 40 points, 24 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks in the first two games to show his attitude, he just wanted to lead the team to win the championship in one go. However, as the champion of the East, the Pacers obviously will not let the Lakers get their wish easily, so in the third game they also started a counterattack, Miller scored 33 points in the game and O'Neal against Biao, and finally they successfully recovered a point.
In the fourth game, in order to avoid the Pacers from taking advantage of the victory, O'Neal and Kobe Bryant both performed better, O'Neal in addition to 36 points, he also contributed 21 rebounds, while Kobe Bryant cut 28 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, and the Lakers also successfully got the match point under the leadership of the duo. Although the Lakers lost Game 5 later, they did not let the Pacers continue to be arrogant after experiencing the lessons of the Western Conference.
G6 returned to the home court, O'Neal showed the style of dominance under the basket, hitting the third 40+ in this series, and finally his personal data was 41 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. The rest of the Lakers players also played well, Kobe Bryant and Glen Rice combined to contribute 42 points, 16 rebounds and 6 assists, and in the end they also successfully defeated their opponents to win the O'Brien Cup.
With an average of 38 points, 16.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1 steal and 2.7 blocks per game, O'Neal was elected FMVP without any suspense, and so far his season has come to a successful end!