[TV static drones]
[bright tone]
- The following
is a presentation
of m*therf*cking
HBO Sports.
Once upon a time
in the land of La La,
Showtime prevailed.
- A world champion
would you believe that?
- America
are running scared ♪
- The Lakers made good
on Coach Pat Riley's guarantee
of a year ago
that they would
repeat as NBA champions.
Last night's win over Detroit
marks the fifth NBA title
in the 1980s for the Lakers.
- I'm going to Disneyland!
Yeah!
- Dr. Buss put together
what he wanted the Lakers
to be.
And that was Showtime.
He wanted the focus
on the team.
He wanted to bring
entertainment to sports.
- How many more of these
would you like to get
under your belt?
- About 20.
[laughter]
Because of the HIV virus,
I will have to retire
from the Lakers today.
- But then we go
from the Magic Johnson/
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar era,
and we're floundering.
[buzzer blares
- This is a comedy of errors.
- People were losing hope.
My father was on a mission
to remake the roster
to rival the Showtime era.
And there was no doubt
that Shaq was the answer.
♪
- Shaquille O'Neal met
with VP Jerry West
and then agreed to the deal
a short time later.
- Shaq signed a 7-year,
$120 million contract
the largest in sports history.
- I believe that it guarantees
a sellout crowd
every home game.
I think it guarantees a chance
the Lakers have another
world-title opportunity.
- History is really
repeating itself here.
Wilt Chamberlain went
from Philly to the Lakers.
Kareem went from
Milwaukee to the Lakers.
And now another great center
is motating to the Left Coast.
He leaves Orlando
as a four-time all-star,
former rookie of the year
without an NBA title,
which may not be
a very long time in coming
to this fair city.
♪
- Please welcome
Shaquille O'Neal!
- Every year after
we lose in the playoffs
with the Orlando Magic,
the next day I'm in LA,
filming movies,
working on my rap album.
So, when I left to go to LA,
it's like I'm going
to my second home.
Superstars and palm trees
and parties and movies
it was everything.
You know, people always say
I don't concentrate
on basketball
I do too much rapping.
I do too much movies,
but to me,
movies are an opportunity
to have a summer job.
- Roll camera! Action!
- You know, I think
people get, you know,
tired of hearing money, money,
money, money, money, money.
I just want to go be young,
drink Pepsi, wear Reebok
[laughter]
And have fun.
Ahh.
The day I arrived to LA,
Jerry West brings me
in the Forum,
and he says, "Young man,
I want you to look up."
And it's all
the retired jerseys.
He says to me, "I guarantee if
this thing is done correctly,
we're gonna win
multiple championships."
And then the lights go off.
[imitates lights buzzing]
And then you see
the spotlight on Kareem.
[imitates light buzzing]
Spotlight goes on
Wilt Chamberlain.
[imitates light buzzing]
Spotlight goes
on Magic Johnson.
And he said, "By the end
of your career,
"you either gonna be up there
with those guys,
or this whole thing
is gonna be a bust."
He said, "I know you like
doing movies
"and your rap stuff,
but at some point,
"you're gonna have
to dial it down
"to where you're doing
nothing but concentrating
"on winning championships.
Now you got to step it up."
It's time.
- So the crowd of 10,300
is waiting to see the new
edition of the Lakers,
and there are
a lot of new faces.
Now here he comes,
the big fella,
Shaquille O'Neal!
[players shouting]
- Even though I'm the Shaq,
when, like, other superstars
see me or recognize me,
it's just like, oh, my God.
Is that Whoopi Goldberg?
Is that Denzel?
Then I said to myself,
"They're here to watch you.
"If you don't play,
none of this works.
Give them a good show."
- Look out, George,
here he comes!
360 turn, slam dunk!
- Oh, no
- Jerry West
he makes it!
- The whole thing
was the logo.
- Shaquille O'Neal was
probably the scariest center
that you'd want
to play against
- Shaquille, fadeaway
got it!
- Particularly when he was
really into the game,
when it was important.
Shaquille would run
through you.
Shaquille would go
over top of you.
He could embarrass you.
- Like, mm.
Get out of here.
That's his game.
- To Shaq
both: Oh!
- Slam dunk!
- I've won on every level.
I won
on the international level,
the young level,
the kiddie level,
DY level.
Well, now it's a must
that I win on this level.
It took the great
Michael Jordan
seven years to win one.
It took the great Hakeem
ten years.
I hope it doesn't take me
that long,
but I'm gonna just keep trying
hard until I get one.
- Immediately
get someone like him,
people start looking
at a team in different ways.
It's a championship team now,
championship caliber,
and along the way,
we had been fortunate enough
to make a trade
during the draft
young fella by the name
of Kobe Bryant.
- Showboat
that was the nickname we had
for Kobe when he first came in,
'cause some rookies,
when they first come in,
they say, "This is your team."
Like, when I first got to
Orlando, I was that rookie.
And Kobe was the type,
he never wanted to
be brought in slowly.
He wanted to be great
from day one.
♪
So we're good enough
to make it to
the Western Conference Finals.
When we go
against teams like Utah,
we would always get swept.
Before you succeed,
you must learn
how to fail.
I just hope that I don't have
to fail too many more times.
I've been going through this
for six years
and I hate f*cking
saying to myself,
"Well, maybe next year."
I don't believe in next year.
I don't believe
in the next day.
- Pretty Ricky what
they called.
- He pumps up a three.
- For Shaq, I'm sure he knew
he was gonna have to answer
as leader of the team
a whole lot of questions.
You didn't deliver again.
Brought you here
to win championships.
You're more focused on
everything else but the game.
- I mean
- I promise.
- Come on, man.
[laughter]
- Three quick things.
- No, I'm gonna
come right back.
- Come on, Shaq.
- I'm coming right back.
- Okay.
- All right, bud. Thanks.
- No, look.
[laughter]
♪
My superpower is getting mad.
When I get mad, it's over.
- Fisher necessarily
to take that shot that fast.
- Uh-oh. Oh, and there's
a swing by O'Neal!
And they got a brouhaha
on the floor!
- When Shaq
would emote physically
- Shaq is violent.
- As jovial and as playful
and as funny as he can be
it was a dangerous place to be.
[thunder rumbles]
♪
- The big Texan
- Ostertag was coming
on the heels
of sweeping us
the year before.
- Ostertag picks up
- And he made some comments
in the preseason
about his lack of concern
or respect for Shaq
and the Lakers.
- So the first preseason game
in Utah,
he's talking in an article.
"Shaq ain't all that,"
"overrated."
Those are words that I'll punch
you in your face for.
- People thought he was
just a big puppy.
He didn't care.
He cared.
- Shaq had read the headlines,
and he turned to me,
and he just said,
"I'm gonna smack
this m*therf*cker."
And I'm like, "Oh, my goodness.
Here we go."
- And all of a sudden,
here's Shaquille O'Neal
going down
the steps real fast.
- So I said, "Hey, man.
Old Greg, I have kids now.
Watch what you say
in the article."
"Man, f*ck you."
He said, "You heard me. f*ck"
- He goes down there
and smacks Greg Ostertag.
- Laid him out.
Laid him out.
- Many Lakers thought Ostertag
talked a little too much
when Utah eliminated LA
in the playoffs,
and after words
were exchanged Friday
between the big men,
an open-handed slap
from O'Neal
sent Ostertag to the ground.
- So, again, we're great
in the regular season.
I'm turning the place out.
Kobe's turning the place out.
But as soon as
we get to the playoffs,
especially the
Western Conference Finals
- San Antonio Spurs
have swept aside
- We get swept.
- Lakers in the
Western Conference Semifinals.
- So now I'm starting to hear
the "you're not that good.
You're never gonna win
a championship."
Even the great
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
you know, they had
an article comparing us,
and Kareem said,
"How great is he
when he hasn't won
any championships?
That just boiled my blood.
- Between the lines,
he's not Shaq-a Claus.
You know, he's Diesel.
He's the Big Fella.
He's the Big Nightmare.
I'm sure he'll have
100 nicknames for himself.
- Shaq Diesel, Superman,
Big Aristotle, the Big Sewer.
I call myself the Big Sewer
'cause I got a lot
of sh*t with me.
[toilet flushes]
- You know, whatever he is,
he's one of those personas
you don't want to run into.
Shaq, postgame locker room
in any playoff-series-ending
loss
was a dangerous place to be
because all the pressure
is on his back.
Things got punched.
Things got thrown.
Locker room got destroyed.
- I had to learn quickly
how to not bring this life
over into this life,
'cause I was a as*h*le
when I come home.
I'd tear sh*t up.
The only thing that saved me
was having children,
'cause before the children,
I would never turn it off.
It was on all day, every day.
And once I started
having children,
the great
Dr. Lucille O'Neal said,
"Can't do that."
Soon as I touched
that doorknob
It's only one guy that calm me
down, too, on the team.
That's Uncle Jerome.
He knows me.
He helped raise me.
He understands me.
He's the only one
that when I get to ten
[imitates sizzle]
Nobody else in America.
My mama can't even bring me
to zero.
- Shaq didn't like to lose.
He'll come in tearing up stuff,
turning over tables.
In those games
when he first went to LA,
whenever the team lost,
the focus was always
Shaq's focus.
You know, that's a lot
of weight to carry,
but that's why they paid him
the big bucks, I guess.
You got to carry the weight.
[laughs]
- All right, gentlemen,
let's have
some good, clean basketball.
- So, when Shaq
came to the Lakers,
they were struggling,
and Reebok kind of gave up.
And Shaq was getting
a little frustrated,
and they weren't
getting behind him.
They were backing
Iverson instead.
The Reebok deal
just eventually ended.
- No, f*ck that.
I'm eight, nine years in.
Like, I'm starting to be on
the other side of the mountain,
and I do not want to be
on that list.
He was a great player, but he
never won any championships.
- I'm the Magic Man
with the Midas touch ♪
Got to play the right way
to keep on moving up ♪
You only will be measured
in this game, in the NBA
by how many rings you have.
When Michael, Larry Bird,
the Magic Man,
when we sit down,
what we talking about?
How many rings you got.
- 'Cause I got ten fingers
and no rings.
And I love jewelry.
- When you sign
with the Lakers,
there's expectations
that's not on any other player
in the league.
We as Laker fans demand
championshipsthat's it.
all: We're number one!
- But if you got
championship players
and you don't have
a championship coach,
that's the difference.
all: We're number one!
- The direction of a team
is very, very important.
We know we have
a talented team here,
and we just feel
at this point in time
that we're not going
in the right direction.
- We started with Del Harris.
You know, Del was moved on.
- Nothing really bad happens
in the NBA
until you lose
three games in a row.
- Then we went to Kurt Rambis.
That was a disaster.
- It's not the easiest.
It's not the best situation
either to be working under.
- We needed a coach
that when he spoke,
he demanded our presence.
- We need to get someone here
that we're not gonna think
about getting rid of.
- And one of us says that,
"Jerry, sir, you need to get me
Phil Jackson."
If you watch the NBA Finals,
you're gonna see Phil Jackson,
so we know what
his résumé states.
And that was all I need
in the locker room.
So, before Phil signed,
he wanted to meet me.
We get a call.
"Hey, man, we need you
to go talk to Phil."
What? Mont
Where the f*ck is Montana?
[thunder rumbles,
animals chattering]
♪
- I spend my summers
in Montana.
I have a home there.
- Jackson getting
a beautiful
- The Bulls have won
their fifth championship!
- So I invited him to come
down to my place
on Flathead Lake, and
Shaq and Jerome were there.
Jerome had driven his car
right down to the lakefront.
- He kind of, like,
jumped on us
about being parked
on his grass.
[laughs]
- You've had
very few outsiders
like us come in here
why is that?
- Well, I really didn't want
you to even get this close.
You're closer than
I want you to be, so
- When I arrived
at Phil Jackson's house,
in his foyer,
you see six NBA championship
basketball trophies.
He had a sunroof at the top,
and the light would hit those
ba*ls when you see them.
I was like
[vocalizes]
And I just felt like
I was in basketball heaven.
He lived on the lake, and there
was, like, a little island.
He said, "You need to take
that log from my backyard
and move it to the island."
I know it's a test.
You know, it's the same stuff
my father used to do.
So then I jump in this lake.
It's the coldest water
I've ever felt in my life.
Pushing a log, swim,
push the log, swim.
I did it. No problem.
Dried off. Didn't complain.
And he liked that.
- Submerged.
- And I knew that he probably
was, "Shaq ain't serious.
Shaq just want to make money."
And I told him, "I want to be
known as one of the greats."
And he says,
"If you listen to me,
"you'll get MVP
the regular season,
"MVP of the All-Star Game,
and you get Finals MVP,
and we'll win a championship."
He said, "No more rapping,
limit your commercials,
and no more parties
or hanging out."
And I said, "Deal."
♪
The legend of Shaq
in the year 2000
the most dominant.
♪
- Phil Jackson,
making his debut
as coach
of the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Shaquille O'Neal
looking for his best season.
- This is a team
that is talented.
It's young.
It's on the verge.
It's been on the verge,
and yet it hasn't
quite gotten over the top.
- You know, now I got a coach
with a good track record.
And now it's just our job
as Lakers players
just to continue
his great track record,
make him look good.
- Shaq says he wants
to win a championship.
- Mm-hmm.
- Well, okay.
We're gonna find out
if all that's true right now.
- My dad said,
"Look, I expect you
"in this five-year contract
I'm giving you
to win a championship."
And Phil said,
"I think we can win five."
- I look forward to this
with great anticipation
of having a guy
who was legitimately
one of the best centers
that the NBA had ever seen
to be the focal point
of this offense.
I give books out to players
and Shaq had talked
about himself
being the big philosopher,
the Big Aristotle.
- Big I understand,
but Aristotle?
- And I got him a book called
"Ecce h*m*" by Nietzsche.
- Of course
I didn't read the book.
I went to cliffnotes.com,
figured out what the book
was about.
Friedrich Nietzsche
was so brilliant
that people thought
he was crazy.
And that's Shaq.
Somebody is the Black
Friedrich Nietzsche over here
a genius.
- Now we're getting
into the hard part
of what this sport is about,
because it's
about personalities a lot.
Finding out how players
rely on each other
and their personalities
that fit together
that's the coach's dilemma.
- Tremendous play,
and the little guy's
stealing the show.
- We have the most
physically dominant force
in the game inside,
so let's use that to set
the table for everything else.
- We had a real system
of basketball.
We operated on principles
of penetration
♪
Pass, dribble,
and offensive rebounds.
If that wasn't available,
then we went around,
move the ball to the opposite
side of the court.
So, very organized.
- When Phil first introduced
the triangle offense,
I hated it, but I knew
the ball came to me.
Thank you.
- Defended by Harvey.
Harper on the move,
and an alley-oop to O'Neal.
- Shaq grabs it
out of the air.
Controls it and slam dunks it.
- [laughs]
- We all had something
that we had to choose
to buy into together
for the first time.
Because Shaq and Kobe
were so good,
I think our team
got to the zone.
- He got these guys assembled,
got them to get off
some of their bad habits,
and all of a sudden,
this team started to win.
- My father taught me you
ain't bigger than the system.
So now that I've figured
that out,
we became unstoppable.
- And the Lakers cannot play
better than this.
- The Lakers have won
29 of their last 30.
- Shaquille O'Neal, the most
dominant player in the NBA.
He'll be a runaway MVP
this year.
♪
[bird screeches]
- Wilt Chamber-neezy.
That's my alter ego.
Right now
I'm just plain old Shaq.
Once the ball comes up,
bring it to me.
[chuckles]
Drop step,
hook, dunk, free throws,
fadeaways,
bringing it up court,
look-away pass,
blah blah, la, la,
getting yelled at by Phil.
- Shaq was a guy,
like Chamberlain,
who did not want
to be Goliath,
did not want to be the bully,
but yet he was willing
to challenge guys.
Will this guy be able to take
my shoulder and stand up?
- The more you whine,
the more bigger I get.
And the more bigger I get,
I get strong.
And the more stronger I get,
nobody can stop me.
- Shaq spins
♪
Oh, the extra move,
and he dunked it!
- Oh, my goodness.
- And he knocked David down.
[whistle blows]
- His capacities as a player
were something that officials
had not seen before.
[whistle blows]
So we had to learn
how to officiate him.
- Great ball movement,
but Blount
[whistle blows]
Misses the hook.
- And I say, I don't think
we officiated him very well.
He was getting fouled
more than we called,
because Shaquille
was so strong
that he went through things.
When he was playing
for Orlando,
you had a lot of people getting
jobs on teams in the East
because every team
had three centers
that could take
six fouls on him.
They're willing to
give him 18 fouls.
And then when all of a sudden
he gets traded out West,
all those guys get jobs out
West to go as backup centers.
- Hey, we can't call
all the fouls.
It'll slow the game down,
which is fine.
But if they touch me up,
let me touch them up.
[whistle blows]
So now when I wake up
'cause you done pissed me off,
I'm gonna start throwing bows
and knocking teeth out.
Now I'm the villain.
- Offensively,
he's a mountain.
- That was always
the chess piece
that no other team could match.
Like, there was
no countermove to Shaq.
- I think you want to see
that type of domination.
I'm talking
about the whole, total game,
not scoring, somebody
who can only play defense.
I'm talking
about the total package.
You're never gonna see a guy
that size run that fast
on the fast break, catch it,
and be able to do something
with it.
- Nobody 7'1", 315 pounds
should be able to do
what he just did.
- Sometime he was taking it
off the board
and going coast to coast.
I said, "Wait a minute.
It's only one Magic.
You can't be a 7-foot Magic!"
- The rise!
- Phil had to be pleased
with his Laker all-stars.
Shaq was assertive
and devastating at times.
- Shaq, MVP of the game
is this a prelude
to maybe MVP of the league,
hopefully,
before the season's over?
- If you guys
vote me in, then,
you know, it'll gonna happen.
- Shaq could've been MVP
at least three to four of
the seasons I played with him.
There's certain players
that dominate an era,
and they live
above the NBA All-Stars
and the everyday guys.
They just live
on their own level.
They're so dominant,
they become underappreciated.
♪
- Happy birthday, Shaq.
28 years of age.
Just think,
28 years ago tonight,
he was sleeping in a crib.
- Big crib.
[whistle blows]
- So March 6, 2000 was an
accidental great performance.
We're playing the Clippers
those bums.
Kobe, you do it.
- Lamar Odom comes
out of the backcourt.
Driving Odom to the left.
He's down the middle.
8-foot jumper on the way
no good.
Tipped up under there,
wouldn't fall in.
A nice try none the less
by Taylor.
Gives the ball back to Odom.
He comes underneath.
Shot no good.
Odom gets it again.
Puts it up and scores it.
And if anybody ever
earned a basket, Odom did.
- Yeah, and if you're
the Laker coaching staff,
you're not happy
about everybody
just standing around
spectating.
- But now we're losing
to the Clippers.
Now everybody's
looking at me.
So I'm like, "f*ck."
And now I look
on the Clippers bench,
and my idol is there
Mr. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Time-out.
Throw that m*therf*cker
to me every time.
Forget the game.
I want him to look at me and
just say, "Okay, nice move."
- He's got the ball.
He's made
Here's a lob.
Slam dunk!
Standing ovation!
Beautiful play!
- I just keep going and going
and going and going and going.
And then, finally, I had 61.
- Shaquille O'Neal
has established NBA history
for 1999, 2000.
Is this the highest number
of points scored
by anybody this year?
- Yes. Yes, it is.
- Shaq's free throwing
is poor so far25%.
Can't have everything
on your birthday.
- But Shaq
doesn't want everything.
He just wants a couple
of free throws here.
♪
- It was painful for me
to watch it.
People just started
fouling him.
Hopefully he didn't miss
both of them.
- Shaq has missed both free
throws he has taken tonight.
- It was like
the basketball gods going,
"Bro, I'm gonna give you
all of this,
but we got to tax you
over here."
[thunder rumbles]
- Shaquille O'Neal,
i.e. Superman,
does have a Kryptonite, and
it's at the free-throw line.
- This free-throw thing
was the weirdest thing ever,
because whenever he practiced,
he would make them.
[crowd cheering]
- Missed them both.
- A lot of people say that
because the smaller guys
are looking up at the rim,
they're sh**ting up at the rim.
- You have to have arc
on this shot,
and you have to get it up
in the air so that it enters.
- He would almost
shot-put it up there.
- Shot-put the ball
towards the hoop.
- Wow.
- That one was a line drive.
- Here's Shaq's dad giving us
a little follow-through there.
- But everybody's a coach.
- I used to carry a sign that
said, "Bend your knees."
And when I held it up,
the whole arena
"Bend your knees.
Bend your knees."
And I think that probably
threw him off his game, too.
So he said, "Mom, don't put
that sign up anymore."
So I stopped doing that,
and that was the end
of my conversation
about the free throws.
- I've beaten more teams
on the line
than I've lost games
for my team.
"We know we can't stop Shaq,
we're gonna foul him."
Okay, what do I do?
Practice free throws all night.
I just sh**t 1,000.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And every time somebody said
that, we beat them.
[cheers and applause]
- For as dominant as he was,
there's not a day I sat
on the free-throw line
where I was like,
"Oh, man, Shaq got
to sh**t this free throw."
No. I was just like, "Okay."
- This moment's
where they announce
Shaq, starting lineup,
and he's running out.
♪
And you can just see it
on his face.
You feel like, there's nothing
that's gonna stop us.
♪
- Shaquille O'Neal
does have a Kryptonite,
and it's
at the free-throw line.
- You talked about it before,
Shaquille O'Neal said,
"If don't win it all, this
season will be a failure."
♪
- The series goes back to
Los Angeles for game five!
- My father and Uncle Jerome
had a direct channel to me.
Uncle Jerome was security
behind the bench
[line trilling]
And my father would call him
during the game.
- Oh, man, he would call me
"What is he doing?"
Hey, man, you're watching
the same thing I'm watching.
"Put him on the phone."
I said, "Wait a minute, Phil.
He's in the game."
- Yes, sir.
"Why the f*ck am I watching
this sh*t?
You're playing like
a little b*tch."
Yes, sir.
"Turn it up, m*therf*cker."
♪
- Invincible Lakers are
on the ropes.
This is the team with the best
regular-season record,
the probable MVP, and one
of the most decorated coaches
in the history of the NBA.
Whatever happens
will begin and end
with Shaquille O'Neal
for Los Angeles.
- Just play like Shaq does.
He dominates the inside.
♪
- First of all,
before we get started,
I'd like to thank
my role model, my mentor,
Phillip Harrison.
You know, I was
kind of hard on myself
'cause I had two
bad games in Sacramento.
But, you know, he told me
he says, "You dummy,
"you always play bad
in Sacramento.
And when you come home tonight,
let's bring it."
- Phillip Harrison, that's
Sergeant Harrison, your father.
- That's right. That's my pops.
♪
- Every great team
in every sport,
you can almost tie a string
to a great season
for their best player.
I think that happened
for us in 2000
with Shaq going
to another level.
- Your instinct's to go
for the rebound,
and he's just too big
and strong.
- Shaq again.
Count it.
To the line.
♪
- Shaquille wants it,
he gets it.
He goes to the dribble.
He does a 360 spin. Oh!
And a slam dunk
with the right hand!
- And the LA Lakers win big
in the decisive game,
as they move on to
the Western Conference Finals.
♪
- Shaquille, you've had
a dominating MVP season
number one in scoring,
number two in rebounds,
number three in blocked shots.
Four assists a game,
and only three people
played more minutes,
as you were leading your team
to 67 victories.
Congratulations,
1999, 2000 NBA MVP,
Shaquille O'Neal.
♪
- When I won the MVP,
my father, Phil,
Sergeant Harrison,
cried for two seconds.
I seen one tear come down,
it was like
an "I'm proud of you" tear,
and then he
military-drill-sergeant up.
[sniffs and sighs]
"You should've got
one last year, too.
I don't know
why they gave to"
I'm like, "Damn, man."
I'm like, "Thanks."
- Him winning his first MVP,
that was a special moment.
- I would've been the first
unanimous MVP player
in the history of the game,
but some f*cking as*h*le
decided to give one vote
to somebody else.
He f*cked up history,
but anyway
I'd like to thank
Phil Jackson,
my teammates,
most of all
the Staples Center fans,
'cause you guys are the best.
This is y'all award.
Love you.
♪
- We went into the playoffs
knowing that
the Portland Trail Blazers
were gonna give us everything
that we needed or wanted
as far as a challenge.
♪
Portland came out
with dedication and ambition
and were able to take
a game away from us
on our home court.
And we had to go back and win
on their home court.
♪
So we'd had
this back-and-forth.
♪
The sixth game of the series,
we were up three games to two,
and the team went dry, dead.
Everything was kind of lost.
The charisma,
the joie de vivre
was gone of this team.
- Knocked away from him
and Stoudamire's got it,
and he's gone.
- And I came
in the locker room,
and Rick Fox was saying,
"Are we gonna let this happen
to us again?"
- No one hands you
a championship.
You don't win a championship.
You take a championship,
and that means you take it
in an ungraceful manner.
We were all
at a bubbling point.
We were done, man, with losing.
- No more excuses.
We got the best coach.
We got the two best players.
I got shooters.
I got th*gs on the team.
Now it ain't no excuse.
♪
We hit the moment of truth,
game seven.
Shaq, you better play well,
or guess what.
Gonna be the same thing
this summer.
Shaq's fault.
Work on your free throws.
Why is he doing albums?
"Kazaam" sucked anyway.
Like, I didn't want
to hear any of that,
so this game seven, I'm
Got to come in.
♪
- It's a disappointing start
for Shaquille O'Neal.
Shaq is giving it up
against the double teams
too readily, too easily.
- Driving on Schrempf,
into the crowd.
Can't finish it.
O'Neal
[whistle blows]
- Phil Jackson
needs a time-out quickly.
- We're down 15 points,
and I called a time-out
early fourth quarter,
and I said,
"Shaq, now's the time."
Just stay with your game.
Don't get yourself depressed
about some bullshit.
- He knew
who was on the floor.
He knew how
they were gonna respond.
He knows what to say.
He never panicked.
- Out to Shaw.
They get it deep to Shaq.
And he connects
- Come right back to Shaq.
There he goes.
- And when you have
Shaquille O'Neal
making plays like that, that
inspires the rest of the guys.
- Shaw
[crowd roars]
Even, with 3:37 left.
- Shaquille O'Neal
did come alive,
and that turned it around
for the Lakers.
- We made
some exceptional plays,
but one of the ones
that always stand out
was Kobe coming down
the court,
throws the ball up
about 11 feet high,
and Shaq goes up,
puts it through.
When you give of yourself,
your bond becomes stronger
as a group.
[crowd roaring]
- The Lakers are going
to the NBA Finals
for the first time since 1991.
- There's only one way
to win a championship.
You take it.
You take it.
We thought somebody for years
was gonna hand us
a championship
because we were so talented.
When you relinquish
the concern or care
for how you are digested
outside those lines,
how are you criticized or
perceived or celebrated
when none of that matters,
then you're on the right path.
- We was 13 down,
and I told my guys,
"Look, do or die,
time is now.
"We been
in this position before.
"We ain't never lost
three in a row.
Let's play. Let's go."
- With winning in the air,
Angelenos are falling in love
all over again
with their Lakers.
Showtime is back.
[indistinct chatter]
[drums playing]
- I think the city's
been waiting for this moment,
just like I've been waiting
for this moment.
Now we have a opportunity
to do something
that hasn't been done
for, I think, 10, 11 years.
So I'm sure the city
is pumped up.
Now we get to the Finals.
So now I have to go
into my pissed-off file.
What happened last time
you got to the Finals?
Oh, you got swept.
You got embarrassed
by Hakeem Olajuwon.
So now I always said
to myself,
"If I ever get back
to the Finals
I'm dominating."
- Having been shut out,
the desire to get back there
and be the dominant force
was, I think, inherent
in who he was.
- Shaq needed the win.
I recall him talking about,
if he doesn't win,
the word would be, you know,
"Shaq was never good enough."
- This is the moment of truth.
This is what
the great people do.
You have to turn it up.
[indistinct chatter]
♪
First game, I come in
"Throw it to me."
When I have that "throw it
to me" look, they know,
"Okay, we're just gonna give it
to the Big Fella."
But I got to make my mark
in this game.
♪
- O'Neal over Croshere
for the rebound
and powers back up and scores.
And Smits out on him
on a switch.
Here's Shaq for the jumper
from the baseline
that beats the shot clock.
Here's Miller on the drive.
Shaq with the block!
♪
There we go, Shaq,
right there.
- There's
your Shaw-Shaq Redemption.
- One hand going away
from the basket,
7'1", 330 pounds
- This has been a defining
season for Shaquille O'Neal
MVP of the league,
the scoring champion.
- And he can't defend him.
He fouls him there.
- O'Neal, double teamed.
- Hack-a-Shaq game.
You have to make him
sh**t free throws.
- On the Hack-a-Shaq there,
no easy baskets.
- He couldn't control it.
Now he does,
and they foul him.
♪
Shaquille O'Neal
to sh**t two.
With the first one,
he will tie,
and with the second one,
he will break the record
for most free throw attempts
in a single game
in the NBA Finals.
♪
- There had to be moments when
he was on the free-throw line
where it just
didn't feel good
♪
Where there was an article
that was written
whether we had lost
a couple games,
and he felt like people could
point to what he wasn't doing.
Being the center of the abuse,
it all had to feel like,
in that moment
at the free-throw line
by myself
everybody can see that.
♪
[cheers and applause]
- You know, my teammates
are looking for me.
You know, they tried
the Hack-a-Shaq.
I missed a couple
in the first half.
I think I was, you know, trying
too hard,
but once I settled down and,
you know, just took my time,
you know, most of them
fell for me.
♪
- Here comes Rose.
- Jalen all the way.
And you can count it!
♪
[buzzer blares]
- And that's it.
♪
- Four seconds.
Reggie off the screen
for three
[whistle blows,
buzzer blares]
The Lakers have a 3-1 lead.
- It's hard to stay
in the moment
in this kind of situation
you get giddy.
You know, you got
a lot of energy.
You got a lot of thoughts,
but stay really focused.
♪
- Thank you for bouncing back
with this kind of effort.
This showed
a tremendous amount of pride,
Bob, by this Indiana team.
They fought from start
to finish.
It's a big win for them
and their franchise.
- This is my shot.
I got everything I want now.
There ain't no excuses.
Now that I'm here,
what you gonna do, Big Dog?
♪
It's a must that I win
on this note.
It took the great
Michael Jordan seven years
to win one.
It took the great Hakeem
ten years.
I hope it doesn't take me
that long,
but I'm gonna just
keep trying hard.
♪
I'm eight, nine years in.
Like, I'm starting to be
on the other side
of the mountain.
♪
"You're not gonna make it."
♪
"You're not that good."
♪
"You're never gonna win
a championship."
♪
"You, you're not ready."
♪
I want to be known as
one of the greats.
♪
- The aura of Shaq is
that he showed up
in the biggest moments
of the game
♪
And that's in the NBA Finals
and delivered.
♪
[crowd cheering, buzzer blares]
- And the Lakers
are the 2000 NBA champions.
♪
- When you get
to that final moment
and the games are done
and you're declared
the champion,
that is no greater feeling.
I mean, just the pure joy
and happiness
you see it in their faces, but
just being able to feel that?
That's something
kind of special.
- To the unanimous MVP
of the 2000 Finals,
Shaquille O'Neal.
all: [chanting]
MVP! MVP! MVP!
- Shaq, you have won
everything this past season,
but I think it all pales
in comparison
of winning this championship.
- First of all,
I want to thank Phil Jackson.
[cheers and applause]
And I want to thank you fans
in the Staples Center.
Forget what everybody say.
This is the best arena
right here!
The Staples Center,
the loudest arena right here!
- We dreamed that dream
together.
What he wanted for himself,
I especially wanted for him.
♪
I always did something
to encourage the dream.
I told him,
"Never stop dreaming.
Just keep on
putting in the work."
all: [chanting]
MVP! MVP!
- I just kept
instilling in him
that your dreams
are going to come true.
Dreams come true.
♪
- I've held emotion for
about 11 years now.
I always wanted to win,
and it just came out.
It just came out.
♪
- That sort of got the monkey
off of Shaq's back,
that he delivered to the fans.
Yeah, get a look
at the dynasty.
This is the next one
right here.
- One thing I've always been
is a dreamer.
And all my dreams
have come true
because I believed them.
After we win a championship,
it's 17,000 people
in the arena,
2,000 people on the floor.
I put my hands up.
That just melted me.
I was like, "Wow.
"I'm here.
I'm here."
♪
In my mind, I'm about to do
the Phil Jackson thing
like on the lake,
the window right there.
I'm about to put it right there
every time so I can see it.
I get back home.
My father says,
"Give it to me.
You know how we roll, brother.
Go get another one."
So now at my house,
there's no trophy.
Watch ESPN"Yeah,
Shaq and them, they did it,
but can they get another one?"
I'm like, "Oh.
Oh, there you go."
[thunder rumbles]
[dramatic music]
♪
The rise!
[bright tone]
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01x02 - The Rise
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It showcases the life of the Lakers champion O'Neal from sports phenom to cultural figure.
It showcases the life of the Lakers champion O'Neal from sports phenom to cultural figure.