Sergeant Father Stopped Shaquille O’Neal From Shooting Underhanded Despite Bad Results: “Forget It, That’s a Shot for Sissies”

Published 02/03/2022, 12:18 PM EST

Shaquille O’Neal dominated the court. If he were to catch the ball in the low-post area, his defender would be in for a nightmare, as the big man would go straight to the basket for a monstrous dunk. This was how Shaq successfully dominated his opposition.

However, there was one area that defenders realized Shaq was weak at. This was his free-throw shooting. The opposition teams created a tactic to make the big man foul. Only to send him to the free-throw line. Known as, ‘Hack-A-Shaq.’

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The free-throw line allowed a player to earn free points. It is because the opposition is unguarded. But the free throw line was a daunting place for Shaq since he missed shots from there frequently. This is exactly what teams took advantage of.

O’Neal’s shooting struggles were not something that came as a result of the pressure in the NBA. They were present even during his college career as an LSU Tiger. So when his LSU coach tried to get him to shoot underhand, the ‘Big Aristotle’ chose not to listen due to his father’s opinion.

Shaquille O’Neal Father’s Opinion on the Underhanded Free Throw

When someone says underhanded free throw, the player who immediately comes to mind is NBA legend, Rick Barry. The shooting style was so successful for Barry that he shot nearly 90% from the charity stripe. So when the LSU coach tried to get Shaq to shoot underhand, Shaq stuck to his original shooting technique in accordance with his father – a man whom he looked up to.

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“I really didn’t want to shoot them that way. When I was a kid, someone suggested that approach before and Sarge told me ‘Forget it. That’s a shot for sissies,'” explained Shaq on the reason he didn’t shoot underhand.

And so, even in the NBA, Shaq stuck to his original shooting action. This only allowed him to shoot 52.7% from the free-throw line during the regular season. And slightly lower at 50.4% in the playoffs. It was this fact that former Mavericks’ coach Don Nelson developed the ‘Hack-A-Shaq’ strategy.

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Had Shaq made all of his free throws, he’d have scored 5,317 more points in the regular season. And 1,149 points in the playoffs, throughout his career. Additionally, in his last playoff journey with the Lakers, Shaq would attempt 254 free throws but make only 109 of them. Maybe switching to the underhand action could’ve benefitted him and even may have allowed the Lakers to score some extra points.

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Sameer is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Having graduated from Manipal Institute of Technology, he has always had a keen interest in basketball and the numbers behind the game. With a goal to become a Sports Performance Analyst for a professional sports team, Sameer brings insights backed by data.

Sergeant Father Stopped Shaquille O’Neal From Shooting Underhanded Despite Bad Results: “Forget It, That’s a Shot for Sissies”

Shaquille O’Neal Father’s Opinion on the Underhanded Free Throw

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