<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">DALLAS -- Call it the Revenge of "Ericka." Also call it an NBA Finals that will need a dramatic reversal, and quick, to reach beyond the four-game minimum. If it smells like a sweep, follow your nose. But the Mavericks' total dominance thus far should come as no surprise. Don't tell me you didn't know Shaq, the most productive jumbo of this basketball era, would suddenly be reduced to a quivering 350-pound tub of jello. You mean you never thought of that one? But when Mr. Shaquille O'Neal is abused -- I said abused -- by his former favorite verbal whipping boy... And when Shaq finds his butt ridin' pine for the final 15 minutes of Game 2 ... And when Erick Dampier shockingly outscores Shaq and out-rebounds Shaq, then it was a given the Mavericks would be in cruise control on Sunday night. Cruise they did, 99-85, and if the Heat don't locate something at home for Game 3 on Tuesday night, something like the real Shaq, then the broom looms in these Finals. O'Neal got his mouth and his posterior handed to him in Game 2, based on those catty things he said about Dampier a year ago. Said Damp's game was better suited for the WNBA. As in the "Ericka" tag. Said Damp was "soft." And until Sunday night, most of the league -- and be honest, most of North Texas (yes, I plead guilty) -- was laughing along with Shaq at those comments. But if a guy like Damp is finally going to earn his $70 million contract, why not make it on this kind of stage? The defense of Dampier and DeSagana Diop confused, frustrated and shut down Shaq in Game 2, after limiting him in Game 1. O'Neal got off five shots in 28 minutes. Five for five points, his worst NBA playoff game ever. Dampier also played 28 minutes, had six points, but dominated inside with 13 rebounds as the Mavs easily controlled the boards. A mere six rebounds from Shaq might explain why. Pat Riley certainly won't say it, but the best the Heat had to offer offensively in Game 2 was when Alonzo Mourning was in the game. Shaq wasn't saying that or anything else afterward. "If you guys are waiting on Mr. O'Neal, he has departed," a member of the Heat's staff announced to a group of reporters in the locker room. What, no funny one-liners? About an hour after the game, and after O'Neal was a post-game no-show, commissioner David Stern announced a $10,000 fine for the player and a $25,000 fine for the Heat due to a failure to speak. Who is laughing now? Actually, not Dampier. About Shaq's previous rips on him, Dampier's post-game comment was a shrugging, "I think it's behind us now." Intentional or not by Damp, that also explained Avery Johnson's two-headed defensive dominance of O'Neal. Shaq couldn't get behind Dampier or Diop. It was, however, a given going into Game 2 that Riley would demand that his Big Fella receive more "touches" and more shots from the paint. Shaq was 8-for-11 in Game 1, but seemed timid in going to the bucket. This time he seemed to want no part of "Ericka." "Yes, we need to get [O'Neal] the basketball," said Riley. "But this game was about another team's competitiveness and energy at the start of the game. "I mean, they doubled him every single time he caught the ball. He made the pass that he was supposed to make. Other times, they would front him. We didn't get what we wanted when we threw the ball over the top. "Obviously, we have to go to work on that the next couple of days."</div> Source
yeah I heard about that Erica thing....lol....but yeah Dampier and Diop have been doing an oustanding job on Shaq so far, and both are doing a good job of keeping him off the boards to.
The Diesel is nearly 35 while Damp is about 4 years younger. That's alot of NBA miles. If Shaq could only play about 15 minutes a game as a back-up he could play for 4 more years. He'll never be able to re-live his championship days, but he can play on a championship team; he just won't be the Big Aristotle.
