It’s never a dull day when the Crossover Podcast talks about the physical intensity of 1990s NBA basketball. Particularly when discussing the sheer dominance of Shaquille O’Neal. This week on the Crossover podcast, NBA legends Tim Hardaway Sr. and Lindsey Hunter reflected on the Big Aristotle’s imposing presence. They recalled one of the most unforgettable, fiery altercations in the league’s history: Shaq’s infamous dunk over journeyman center Chris Dudley during a 1999 game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks.
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During a discussion on the toughest NBA centers, the panel revisited the iconic moment when O’Neal slammed a powerful dunk over Dudley, then shoved him to the floor on his way down, prompting an aggressive response from the furious Knicks center.
Recalling the immediate aftermath on the court, Hardaway (who was playing for the Heat at the time) claimed he saw O’Neal look over to his bench after the physical exchange. “That’s why I think Shaq is looking at the coach like ‘what you want me to do?'” Hardaway explained.
As the lore goes, Shaq looked over, saw Dudley was alone on the defense, felt disrespected he was not double-teamed, and humiliated Dudley.
When a co-host struggled to remember the opposing big man’s name, Hunter quickly chimed in with the answer: “Chris Dudley… that was when he threw that ball back at him though.”
While the co-host expressed skepticism that Dudley would actually engage in a full physical fight with the 7’1, 330-pound superstar — remarking, “But he ain’t gonna fight him” — Hardaway strongly disagreed, emphasizing Dudley’s toughness.
“No, no, Dudley would’ve fought him,” Hardaway insisted. “Dudley would’ve had his head knocked off. Dudley was a strong guy.”
Even as the co-host clarified, “I ain’t saying he’s a punk. This is Shaquille O’Neal,” Hardaway maintained that Dudley’s competitive grit meant he wouldn’t back down from anyone, regardless of the physical mismatch.
In fact, Hardaway is right. Dudley did fight back and paid the price for it.
The March 28, 1999, clash between the Lakers and Knicks was one of the final NBA games played at the Great Western Forum, and it went down in history as one of the most epic highlights ever.
After O’Neal, these days, the Commissioner of his own Dunkman league did a thunderous two-handed power dunk over Dudley; he aggressively used his hips and arms to push Dudley to the hardwood.
Enraged by the contact, Dudley popped up, picked up the basketball, and hurled it directly at O’Neal’s back, exactly as Hunter and Hardaway described. He drew technical fouls and got ejected.
Just earlier, his teammate Kurt Thomas got ejected over a Dennis Rodman (who was somehow with the Lakers for five minutes) foul.
Hardaway, a Hall of Fame guard who spent years battling Eastern Conference powerhouses like the Knicks while leading the Miami Heat, regularly witnessed Dudley’s physical style of interior defense. So he knew the big man could fight.
This incident marked the prime of the bad blood between the Knicks and Lakers. Both Shaq and Dudley were slapped with fines for this altercation. But the Big Diesel, as he was, took the fine as a small price for reminding the league of the cost of not double-teaming him.