Have you ever heard of Shaquille O’Neal falling to the 5th position in an all-time ranking for centers? Well, ESPN analyst Chris Russo, famously known as Mad Dog, brought up a simple argument to bring down the Los Angeles Lakers legend in his ranking. After hearing the players that Russo had ranked above Shaq, his co-hosts were not able to keep themselves composed on live TV.

While Stephen A. Smith was questioning why Russo was allowed to talk about basketball, Jay Williams was lost for words and had to eventually turn to God to bring Russo back to reality.

Jay Williams starts a prayer to stop the Shaquille O’Neal disrespect

In a recent episode of ESPN’s First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Jay Williams, and Chris Russo talked about Shaquille O’Neal’s recent comments about having Stephen Curry in the GOAT debate. But things quickly turned sideways as Russo asked, “We gotta hear Shaq now do this? Shaq is what the fifth-best center in NBA history?” This made both Smith and Williams lose their cool.

Things further escalated as Russo started naming centers in NBA history who were better than Shaq, which both Smith and Williams severely disagreed with. After saying that Kareem, Wilt, Hakeem, and Duncan (who is technically a power forward) are better than Shaq, Williams finally had enough as Russo then placed Moses Malone above the 4x champion.

“Help this man. Help this man, he needs help, Lord,” prayed Jay Williams, who was left disappointed after hearing these takes from Russo. Russo’s only argument against Shaq is that he didn’t go up against dominant centers in the NBA finals. He used the same argument to raise players like Moses Malone as he faced the likes of Kareem Abdul Jabbar in the finals.

Does Russo’s claim have any value?

There is no doubt that Shaquille O’Neal dominated in the NBA. Shaq did play against Yao Ming, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Dwight Howard, Hakeem Olajuwon, and many more great centers during his time in the NBA. But how was he when it mattered the most?

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Let’s just take a look at the matchups between Shaq and Olajuwon, who Russo has higher on his list. Overall, in their careers, Shaq has a better record against Olajuwon. But in the playoffs, both have won one series against each other. In Olajuwon’s case, he won against Shaq in the NBA finals. In the 1995 NBA finals, Hakeem outscored Shaq in all four games en route to winning a championship.

When Shaq was eventually in his prime, there were just a few great centers left in the NBA. So when looking at his matchups and numbers, we can understand why Chris Russo was not hesitant to make this bold claim on national television.

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What do you think of the comments made against Shaquille O’Neal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!