There were no points or punches from Shaquille O'Neal down the stretch of Tuesday's overtime heartbreaker in Chicago. But he came close.
The day after the Lakers' 129-123 loss to the Bulls, in which the All-Star center was held scoreless for the entire fourth quarter and extra period, O'Neal revealed that he wanted to slug Dennis Rodman by game's end."At that point, I was ready to take (a three-game suspension), to show people he's not that tough," O'Neal said of his late tussle with Rodman, which saw Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen throw their controversial teammate to the floor to keep him from responding to a Shaq shove.
"It's one thing to talk tough and one thing to be tough. If he would've come at me, I would've gladly taken three games."
Rodman maintains that O'Neal is easily frustrated and thus easy to neutralize despite giving up seven inches and almost 100 pounds. He formulated that theory during last year's Eastern Conference Finals, which saw Rodman repeatedly shut Shaq down in the fourth quarter.
Bulls coach Phil Jackson hoped to keep Rodman off O'Neal on Tuesday, but Shaq's 23-point first half necessitated a strategy change.