{"id":555180,"date":"2026-03-21T15:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/555180\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T15:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:21:08","slug":"shaquille-oneal-says-dikembe-mutombo-is-the-reason-allen-iverson-and-sixers-got-destroyed-in-2001-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/555180\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaquille O’Neal Says Dikembe Mutombo Is The Reason Allen Iverson And Sixers Got Destroyed In 2001 NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/a> has never shied away from telling his side of history, and his latest take on the 2001 NBA Finals puts the spotlight on Dikembe Mutombo<\/a> rather than Allen Iverson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking on The Big Podcast<\/a>, O\u2019Neal made his stance clear. The Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> did not lose because of Iverson. They lost because of how Mutombo chose to guard him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel for Iverson that they had to meet us in the Finals. But it wasn\u2019t his fault, it was Dikembe Mutombo\u2019s fault. I take it as a sign of disrespect if you don\u2019t double-team me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo my uncle, my mother\u2019s brother, he\u2019s one of the most smartest guys I know. He liked to read the paper, because I don\u2019t like to read the paper. He liked to read the paper. And he came in one day, I\u2019m in there eating cereal. And he was like, you heard what Mutombo said?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said no. He said he\u2019s going to play you one-on-one. I said he didn\u2019t say that. He already had that highlighted at 8:30 in the morning. Well, he needs to see this. So I\u2019m looking at it. I\u2019m the defensive player of the year. I\u2019m going to play Shaq one-on-one. Shaq is an okay player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSee, hey, okay player is what I\u2019m talking about. Shaq is an okay player. Now I can\u2019t even finish my mother\u2019s cereal. So I get on the internet at the time, and I learned how to say I\u2019m going to bust your ass in Swahili, but I didn\u2019t quite get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as a shot blocker, you got to take it to his face. So you\u2019re going to see a lot of clips of me elbowing him in the face. I had to do that on purpose to let him know I\u2019m coming. Oh, I\u2019m coming. So like the first play of the game, once I bowled him and he backed up, I knew I had him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo then after the first game, they beat us, but I still had a lot of points. He had a lot of bandages, and he walking down the hallway with his kids. I\u2019m glad I had Uncle Jerome with me. Uncle Jerome said don\u2019t let that mother***ker soften you up. Don\u2019t let him soften you up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, Shaq, why you do me like that in front of the kids? Why you be like that? Yeah, so after that, I knew I had him.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Shaq, the turning point came even before the series began. He recalled reading a quote where Mutombo, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, said he would guard him one-on-one and even referred to him as an \u201cokay player.\u201d That line stuck.<\/p>\n

From that moment, Shaq approached the matchup with intent. He wanted to dominate physically and mentally. He even described going out of his way to initiate contact early in games, setting a tone that Mutombo would have to deal with all series long.<\/p>\n

The numbers back it up. Shaq averaged 33.0 points, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 3.4 blocks over five games while shooting 57.3% from the field. Those are not just strong numbers. Those are overwhelming numbers, especially in a Finals setting.<\/p>\n

Mutombo still produced. He put up 16.8 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game on 60.0% shooting. On paper, that looks solid. On the court, it did not slow Shaq down.<\/p>\n

The series itself tells the story. The 76ers stole Game 1 in Los Angeles, winning 107-101 behind Iverson\u2019s iconic 48-point performance. Shaq still had 44 points and 20 rebounds in that game, which showed the issue early. Even in a loss, he dominated.<\/p>\n

After that, everything shifted. The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> won the next four games and closed the series 4-1. The Philadelphia 76ers had no answer inside, and the lack of consistent double teams allowed Shaq to control every possession in the paint.<\/p>\n

From Shaq\u2019s perspective, that was the mistake. Mutombo tried to take the challenge head-on, but against a player like Shaq at his peak, that approach rarely worked. Teams that had success against him loaded the paint, sent help, and forced the ball out of his hands. Philadelphia did not adjust enough.<\/p>\n

There was also a psychological edge<\/a>. Shaq described moments during the series where he felt he had already won the matchup mentally. Physical dominance, constant pressure, and confidence created a gap that grew with each game.<\/p>\n

Iverson, on the other hand, did his part. He averaged 35.6 points in the series and carried the offense throughout. His Game 1 performance remains one of the most iconic in Finals history. But without defensive support in the paint, it was not enough.<\/p>\n

That is why Shaq frames the series this way. In his eyes, the outcome was decided by how he was defended. One-on-one coverage against a player of his size and skill turned the series into a mismatch.<\/p>\n

The result speaks for itself. Shaq secured his second straight Finals MVP, and the Lakers moved one step closer to a three-peat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shaquille O\u2019Neal has never shied away from telling his side of history, and his latest take on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-555180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}