Shaq, Howard play to Super standoff
ORLANDO, Fla. – Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O'Neal arrived at Amway Arena on Tuesday wearing a customized T-shirt with "Big Diesel Mafia" on the back and the universally recognized "S" logo on his chest. His message was as bold as that same Superman logo he had tattooed on his right bicep 16 years ago.
Shaq was coming home to reclaim something.
"What do you THINK that 'S' stands for?" he responded to an intentionally dumb question. "I got four [championships]. Your man has none."
"Your man" was Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, whose rise to fame has followed a path that O'Neal carved in the '90s when he played here.
O'Neal arrived in Orlando on the heels of one of his most impressive back-to-back performances in several years, pounding the Toronto Raptors for 45 points and scoring 33 in a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, O'Neal wanted to take back the Superman moniker he used earlier in his career, the one Howard claimed last season when he won the All-Star dunk contest wearing a cape on his back and the logo on his chest.
But when Tuesday's game ended – a 111-99 victory by the Magic – little had been settled in the battle of past and future greats. The 23-year-old Howard totaled 21 points, eight rebounds, one block and five turnovers. O'Neal, 36, finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, two blocked shots and four turnovers. The standoff will have to be settled another time.
"I'm not going to get into that 'who is the real Superman?' " Howard said. "When people started calling me Superman last season, I knew there was going to be a tug of war with him. But that's why young guys come into the league. I respect my elders. I'm not going to get into a war of words with anyone."
On this night, neither Howard nor O'Neal looked very super. Shaq intimidated Howard early. Howard was too quick and athletic for him late. Both lost their cool and were called for technical fouls in separate incidents. Both also seemed content to let their supporting casts determine the outcome.
Howard played only 30 minutes because of foul trouble throughout the game. O'Neal played only 35 because he was tired. And despite all his bluster about his willingness to battle Howard alone, it was Shaq who resorted to a flop late in the game against Howard.
"He always talks about people flopping against him, but only one big guy tried that tonight," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I was shocked and disappointed. He knows what it's like. 'Let's stand up and play like men.' Our guy did that tonight."
O'Neal clearly rattled Howard at the start of both halves as the Suns set the tone quickly. Steve Nash tricked Howard into knocking him down and getting a charge on the Suns' first possession. O'Neal grabbed an offensive rebound over Howard on the same possession and blocked Howard's running hook shot at the other end. None of Howard's first four fouls came from touching O'Neal around the basket. He wasted them in other ways, on lesser players.
At the start of the second half, O'Neal stripped Howard on his drive to the basket. Then he forced Howard to miss on the next possession.
"I think he was really trying to get into my head," Howard said.
The comparisons and contrasts between O'Neal and Howard have been obvious since the day Howard joined the NBA. Both were No. 1 draft picks by the Magic. O'Neal arrived in 1992 with considerably more fanfare after playing three years at LSU. Howard showed up in 2004, younger and straight from high school but with similar expectations.
O'Neal was an All-Star and a major attraction when he first arrived. But he also was forced to push past Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing, and it took him six years to earn first-team All-NBA honors. Howard didn't become an All-Star until his third season, but he became the All-NBA first-team center in his fourth, rising to the top in an era when great big men are harder to find.
More importantly, O'Neal took the Magic to the NBA Finals in his third season, eventually winning four titles with the Lakers and the Miami Heat. Howard, now in his fifth season, is hoping to lead this Magic charge back to the Finals.
"My record speaks for itself," O'Neal said. "It doesn't matter to me who tries to take my name. We all know who the real [Superman] is. I don't have to talk about it. I'm too old to try and outscore an 18-year-old. When all is said and done, I'll have four or five NBA titles. That's a fact."
O'Neal, now in his 17th NBA season, has played well of late but clearly isn't the same dominant force he was in his younger years. Yet his pride and his ego, buoyed by his recent surge, are as strong as they ever were. And although Howard may never score like O'Neal once did – Shaq averaged 27.2 points in his first four seasons with the Magic – he already is a much better defender than the original Superman ever was.
"They are two different monsters," Magic general manager Otis Smith said. "Shaq, in his day, was nothing like anything the league had ever seen. Dwight is the hybrid of that. He is the next-level Shaq, a different version, a more athletic version."
