With their 75-72 road win in New York, the Miami Heat managed to win for the first time since last April.
But Heat fans shouldn't celebrate just yet.
Despite the final score, the game raised concerns for the rest of the season, most notably about the ineffective play of Shaquille O’Neal.
O’Neal’s decline is staggering—and doesn’t bode well for the Heat’s playoff chances.
Against the Knicks, the Heat got the ball to Shaq in prime post position a total of 22 times. Most of those times, O’Neal was defended by Eddy Curry and double-teamed by an assortment of help defenders, usually before he began his dribbles.
In the first quarter, O’Neal’s five touches in the paint yielded four missed hook shots and a non-shooting foul on Curry. The first team's three possessions were centered around Shaq in the post—and by the time Pat Riley tweaked the strategy, Miami was trailing 6-0.
Shaq picked up the production a bit in the second quarter, picking up an easy dunk, a baseline spin and layup, and a smart kickout, re-post, and layup.
Still, for the half, the Big Diesel only managed six points on 3-8 shooting in his nine post touches—while being defended by one of the worst defensive centers in the NBA, and while facing constant double-teams that left teammates open all over the floor.
Where were the cross-court passes out of double teams, or the punishing power moves that overwhelm opponents?
Where was the invincible Shaq of old?
Only early in the second half did that Shaq appear. In eight third-quarter possessions, he tallied eight points on 3-3 shooting with an assist, a turnover, and two crisp passes which didn’t lead to points.
The bad news is that the Heat offense became overly-reliant on Shaq’s post successes, and lost the ball and player movement that allowed them to score 25 points in the first quarter while Shaq was ineffective.
While Shaq went 6-7 in the second and third quarters, the Heat managed only a combined 27 points in the same span.
Shaq struggled again in the fourth quarter, going 1-2 with a turnover—and almost committing a second.
For the game, he shot 7-13 on his 22 post possessions, drew three non-shooting fouls, and added an assist with two turnovers. He created 18 total points on the night.
For all the that, though, the most telling stat signaling Shaq’s decline is his number of free throw attempts against New York:
Zero.
Shaq no longer intimidates opponents, and he no longer intimidates referees. As it stands, he looks to have finally sunk into the realm of the mortal.
Also, Shaq’s presence in the paint attracted defenders keeping his Heat teammates from attacking the offensive glass, though he did use his bulk well in shielding off Curry and grabbing a handful of long rebounds.
That said, he was unable to defend Curry one-on-one, and his rotations were horrendously slow. And while he did pick up three blocks, two were on crowded layup attempts by Renaldo Balkman and David Lee—where the Knick forwards didn’t have ample space to go up with any force.
Shaq’s defense could become more and more problematic as the season goes on, especially against teams with agile forwards and penetrating guards. T
Heat Breakdown: The Decline of Shaquille O'Neal
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9 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Kart Chen about 1 year ago
Clearly, you don't know basketball at all. YOu probably only look at player's offense statistics (scoring, scoring, and scoring) and judge the player's good and bad. And I see no reason saying Hardaway playing his best help defense in his entire career. Entire for you probably means in his Knicks time? Because Hardaway was always known for his help defense, people in the past talked about it all the time. He was a decent one on one player, but a fantastic help defense player on the weak side. He knows where to stand and how to set up the defense as a team, his basketball IQ is high so that's his way to play defense. And you know what, Penny was away from NBA for 2 years, and this is his 4th game back in action. Apparently it affects his offense, but man, how can you say he is not good with other "basketball" area. Actually, his defense is good, and he helps the team's offense move a lot smoother than it is if the ball is in J-Will's hand. Actually, J-will makes a lot of stupid mistakes and because he is the highest scorer in this game, your entire article didn't even mention his mistake at all but trying to attack a clearly very valuable player like Penny? What a stupid article that wastes people's time to read. You should watch and understand more basketball before you write any article about it. And basketball is a team sports, ok, and it's not only about scoring.
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David Williams about 1 year ago
Erick, meet Penny Hardaway's PR man, Kart.
That aside, I have Shaq on my fantasy team so I can tell as far as production goes, Shaq is barely even half the man he used to be. He needs to get his act together or I might have to trade him!
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Dave Finocchio about 1 year ago
Haha...when are the new Penny's coming out. White for home games...black for away.
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Erick Blasco about 1 year ago
lol, I think the Penny's have gone the way of that action figure that used to be in his commercials. Shame too, those commercials were awesome.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Clearly, you don't know basketball at all. YOu probably only look at player's offense statistics (scoring, scoring, and scoring) and judge the player's good and bad. And I see no reason saying Hardaway playing his best help defense in his entire career. Entire for you probably means in his Knicks time? Because Hardaway was always known for his help defense, people in the past talked about it all the time. He was a decent one on one player, but a fantastic help defense player on the weak side. He knows where to stand and how to set up the defense as a team, his basketball IQ is high so that's his way to play defense. And you know what, Penny was away from NBA for 2 years, and this is his 4th game back in action. Apparently it affects his offense, but man, how can you say he is not good with other "basketball" area. Actually, his defense is good, and he helps the team's offense move a lot smoother than it is if the ball is in J-Will's hand. Actually, J-will makes a lot of stupid mistakes and because he is the highest scorer in this game, your entire article didn't even mention his mistake at all but trying to attack a clearly very valuable player like Penny? What a stupid article that wastes people's time to read. You should watch and understand more basketball before you write any article about it. And basketball is a team sports, ok, and it's not only about scoring.
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Mosang Miles about 1 year ago
Tell me about it David.
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Erick Blasco about 1 year ago
What Penny Hardaway have you been following that has been anything more than a mediocre defender his entire career? And what people in the past talked about it?
He never was an effective defender in Orlando, on the ball or otherwise, and injuries have decimated him since then.
Watching yesterday's game, his rotations were timely, and he made several useful closeouts. He also made a number of smart passes which led to assists. His on the ball defense was poor as even Mardy Collins was beating him off the dribble. He couldn't hit open shots, he couldn't do anything with the ball, and he'd probably be exploited against other teams offensively and defensively, as has happened to him this season.
As a fourth guard, he can probably come in as a backup point because he'd be a more stable option than Smush Parker or Chris Quinn. But as a limited offensive and an exploitable defensive player, what exactly can he bring a team besides stability?
You bring up vague unstructured arguments which don't corellate. Having a high basketball IQ doesn't mean you are a great defender. Deron Williams is an example of that.
And when did I refer to Hardaway as "good" or "bad?" As if the NBA is that cut and dry that players are categorized as "good" or "bad."
What "mistake" regarding Jason Williams are you referring to? Give me an example. Williams does occasionally make mistakes, and he committed three turnovers, missed two layups, and forced one bad jumper. But he consistently got to the rim, played great defense down the stretch, and made all the big plays that allowed the Heat to win.
Given the lack of offensive punch on the team, Williams is a lot more valuable to the Heat than Hardaway is. Look at how the Heat performed last year with an injured Williams compared to their Championship winning season when he was healthy. And his game is a lot more toned down now than it was half a decade ago. Have you been watching him, or are you still watching the Sacramento Kings from 1999?
And Udonis Haslem's contributions, my criticism of Shaq's defense, Ricky Davis' locking down of Jamal Crawford, Smush Parker's selfishness...obviously all I focus on when I watch a game and take notes are the amount of points logged in a box score. Give me a break.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Well Erick, thanks for your reply. And sorry I uses strong words as trying to say you don't understand basketball but stats.
I didn't mean to say all your column was wrong about those players, but I do think you have strong prejudice on certain players. I strongly disagree with your statement still, you said Hardaway was just a mediocre defender his entire life and asked whom am I following exactly or what people in the past talk about it. I have to tell you, I follow his game since his college year and as I said, he probably was never a good one-on-one defender, but a lot of people, including many of those columnist in the past praise his help defense and I indeed heard quite a few saying that he was one of the best help defense player back in his prime years. Of course this argument won't have an answer cuz you have your own bias on Penny's defense already and since I can't bring you back what Old Penny can do, it's probably stupid to try to convince you. But I have to say what I have known. And (I believe) you are wrong. Plus, I didn't try to say high basketball IQ equals to good defense. I just tried to explain that Penny knows how to set up the court and utilize team defense instead of trying to stop the other team's offense. Sometimes it's more effective especially certain player is unstoppable one on one no matter how good the defender is.
J-will made several ill-advised shots (not just one) during 2nd and 3rd quarter and I believe that's why Riley used Quinn instead of him in the end of 4th quarter for a while (but of course he found out Quinn was not any better...and switch back to Jason in the last 2 minutes). To me, a player's playing style won't get changed during a tight game, that's usually when you can see what a player is made of. Like Kobe, he can pass the ball during first quarter, but you won't see him pass the ball in the 4th because he is never a pass-first player. Same thing applied to J-will, he is a shot first player, so he rarely pass the ball when the game is tight. People can force him change his style of play when the game is not as tight, but they usually switch back to their own instincts otherwise. You could argue he is no longer the Kings J-will, but to me, I saw that old J-will came back all the time when the game is on the line.
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Erick Blasco about 1 year ago
I guess that's fair. When I saw him in Orlando, he was constantly beaten off the dribble and never went hard around screens. In Phoenix and New York his entire defensive game was a mess---rotating, sagging and recovering, the whole shebang. Maybe he was a better rotator in Orlando when he was healthy.
Williams will always be given a little bit of leeway to take a quick shot or two because Riley trusts in Williams' ability to make pull up threes. While I didn't log it, I think Williams missed one pull up three, and also missed a horrible shot in the second where he dribbled all around the court to the corner and missed a contested three.
During Williams' game winning shot sequence, he passed the ball to Davis at the wing then curled down and to the left baseline for the jumper. He's not as bad as you make him out to be.
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