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Shaquille O'Neal Shares Kobe Bryant Memories - Including Giving Him a Piggyback Ride
The NBA legend told Jimmy Fallon about some memorable moments from his basketball career.
Shaquille O’Neal's September 25 visit to The Tonight Show was sweet — and not just because of the sack of candy he brought along with him.
After Shaq opened the interview by slapping Jimmy Fallon on the hand for simply waiting too long to have him on the show again, Fallon soon helped the NBA legend take a trip down memory lane as he shared pictures of some memorable moments from O'Neal's basketball career.
The first image was of O'Neal playing against another one of basketball's all-time greats, Michael Jordan. O'Neal told Fallon that he had a Jordan poster on his wall in high school "like everybody else,"
"So he was like a god to me, and I was terrified being out there with Michael Jordan the first time," he continued. "But on that play right there, I blocked his shot, and I fouled him, which made me say to myself, 'Okay, he's human. I can compete. I'm not there yet, but one day, I'm gonna be at the status of a Michael Jordan.'"
But, he added, "Michael Jordan taught me something very important. I fouled him, and I was like, 'Oh, Mr. Jordan, I'm sorry about that.' He said, 'Don't ever help anybody up.'"
Another photo captured O'Neal when he broke a basketball hoop after trying to "send a message" to New Jersey Nets player Derrick Coleman to never dunk on him again. But the sweetest memory was that of helping late basketball icon Kobe Bryant.
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The sweet reason why Shaquille O'Neal gave Kobe Bryant a piggyback ride
The final picture was of O'Neal giving a piggyback ride to his L.A. Lakers teammate and friend, Kobe Bryant, as they entered the arena for Game 3 of the 2000 NBA Finals.
"So, Kobe twisted his ankle, and Kobe was probably one of the toughest kids I've ever met. I knew he was gonna play," O'Neal said, explaining the sweet reason why he was carrying his teammate.
"I didn't want him wearing his ankle out. He had just had a great game. I had a great game. We were winning. We were up. We were happy," he recounted. "I was like, 'Let me carry you to the arena, get your treatment, because I need you to do what you do tonight.' So that was many of the things that, you know, we used to do."
During a January 2020 appearance on The Tonight Show, Fallon asked O'Neal about a hypothetical matchup: O'Neal and Bryant against LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
"Yes. The answer is yes. Of course [we would win]," he answered. "There's only one contributing factor: Who's gonna guard me?"
Bryant and his daughter Gianna, died in a helicopter crash later that month, a shock that O'Neal told TODAY's Craig Melvin in January 2021 was "still kind of hard" to process a year later.
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"I redid my living room, redid my gym, his pictures are up on the wall," he revealed in the interview. "He was already a legend, he was already a guy that would never be forgotten, but he was definitely, definitely gone too soon."
"I always say we were the most dominant one-two punch ever created," O'Neal added. "Enigmatic, controversial, having fun and there'll never be another like us."
