Hey, if most of us came out of a game against Shaquille O’Neal with intact ribs, we’d take a whole week off too. Does that make it okay just before a championship though? Not really. ‘Shaq’ himself learned that lesson three years into his career, that stung even after his first title and his fourth, and it still stings today. Twice in the same month, ‘Shaq’ conveyed on The Big Podcast (as well as on TNT) that getting swept in the 1995 NBA Finals remains his biggest regret. He had the chance to win Orlando Magic its first-ever title. But a crucial mistake derailed his championship trajectory.

He’d not win his first title till he left Orlando but the franchise and the city are close to his heart. He wanted to be their first champion and by all means Magic started the season looking like it. Their 1994-95 campaign could pretty much be divided into two parts – before and after playing against Michael Jordan.

‘Shaq’ before he beat Michael Jordan

By most accounts, there was a void between the two Bulls three-peats. Who would dethrone the Bulls with Michael Jordan out playing baseball was the looming question. The Orlando Magic looked poised to mount a big campaign. They had rookies Shaq and Penny Hardaway as well as Horace Grant fresh off three championships with MJ. They set the tone from the opener and were at 37-10 by the All-Star break.

On March 19, 1995, two words shook the NBA. “I’m back,” is all the warning everyone got when ‘Air Jordan’ came out of retirement. At this point, Shaq is averaging 29.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and was on his third All-Star appearance. He was close to winning MVP earlier than he did in 2000 that year.

Going into the playoffs, every Magic player was looking dominant. They eliminated the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference after a series that concluded 3-1. Then came the semis against the Chicago Bulls. If they thought they could take on the Bulls before, they now had MJ back in the rotation.

We saw it on The Last Dance, Jordan was wearing #45 in Game 1 which Magic won 94-91. Nick Anderson apparently provoked the Bull claiming #45 is not looking like #23. Game 2, #23 on the Bulls side made a return. Jordan got his revenge and won 104-92. It remained a close series until Orlando won Game 5.

Game 6 was the decider. Orlando won 108-102 and cut short Michael Jordan’s comeback. They’d go on to beat Reggie Miller and the Pacers in the ECF in a close series and earn their spot in the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

To this day, O’Neal loves to gloat that Orlando was the last team to beat Jordan in a playoff. If he’s this proud now, he was on cloud nine after the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals. And it cost him and the whole team.

Shaq after beating Michael Jordan

For the second time this month, Shaq expressed how his partying ways cost him. Back then, Orlando earned a well-deserved break after the ECF. Though it would’ve been better if they had used it to hit the gym or watch tapes of recent games. Instead, he told on The Big Podcast that they would party at his and Dennis Scott‘s homes and jet off to Atlanta. “We was going crazy, like, we beat Mike.” They had also beat their opponents from the West, the Houston Rockets, in the regular season.

Inspired by his favorite karate movies, Shaq thought by beating Jordan, he surpassed the master and was pretty confident he was winning his first ring in his third NBA season. Hakeem was his idol too and he thought he could do it again. They came back from their vacation, ready for the Finals. It was supposed to be the battle of the All-Star centers. All that hype was for naught as the series became one-sided. The Rockets swept the bumbling Magic 4-0 to claim their second consecutive title.

Shaq was no slouch. He averaged 28.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 2.5 blocks, and 0.3 steals in this series alone. Yet he admitted he lost his focus ahead of the Finals. “It taught me that if I ever get back to that position again, to dominate,” he promised himself and stuck to it.

He would however not reach there the way he imagined. In 1996, he moved to the West to the Lakers never taking Orlando that far again. Jordan and the Bulls remained dominant for the next three seasons. It wouldn’t be until Jordan’s second retirement that Shaq and the Lakers finally reached the Finals, this time with former Bulls coach Phil Jackson, and won.

Interestingly, very recently on Inside the NBA, Shaq pretended he gave Olajuwon the opening to beat him. Hakeem’s then-teammate and current TNT analyst, Kenny Smith proved Shaq’s lack of discipline with evidence. Shaq remains a party animal, but at least he didn’t let it come in the way again.