Time to say goodbye to the most dominating player to ever play in the NBA. As a Miami Heat fan, I will most remember him for helping and co-leading the Miami Heat to the 2006 NBA Championship.
This all comes after an injury plagued season with the Boston Celtics, and a disappointing 2nd round playoff exit after the Celtics lost to the Super Friends (Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James) and the Miami Heat.
But none of that will diminish Shaq's contribution to the game of basketball.
From NBA.com:
NOTABLES:
Won three consecutive NBA Championships (2000, 2001, 2002) with the Los Angeles Lakers and a fourth title with the Miami Heat (2006)…named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history, the youngest player to earn the honor…was awarded Most Valuable Player honors during the 1999-2000 season, 2000 All-Star Game (co-MVP) and NBA Finals 2000, becoming only the third player in NBA history to accomplish that feat…earned All-NBA in 14 of his 17 seasons, including First Team honors eight times (1997-98, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06), Second Team honors twice (1994-95 and 1998-99) and garnered Third Team honors on four occasions (1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 2008-09)…15-time NBA All-Star, the second-most All-Star appearances in NBA history (K. Abdul-Jabbar)…started nine of the 12 NBA All-Star Games in which he has participated and averaged 16.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 1.8 assists in 22.8 minutes while shooting .551 percent from the floor…three times he was selected to play in the All-Star Game and could not participate due to injury (1997, 2001 and 2002)…named the 1999-00 NBA MVP…named NBA Finals MVP three times (2000, 2001 and 2002)…three-time All-Star Game MVP (2004, co-MVP in 2000 and 2009)…three-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team member (1999-00, 2000-01 and 2002-03)…captured NBA Player of the Month honors 12 times and Player of the Week accolades on 19 occasions…earned NBA Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Rookie honors in 1992-93…became the first player in NBA history to earn Player of the Week honors after the first week of his career after he averaged 25.8 points and 16.4 rebounds…won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics as a member of the USA Men’s Senior National Team…has appeared in 1,117 regular season games (1,108 starts) in his 17-year NBA career…owns averages of 24.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.4 blocks in 35.7 minutes while shooting .582 percent from the field… his teams have compiled a 751-366 record (.672) in the 1,117 games in which he has played and a 124-120 record (.508) in the 244 games he has missed…among active players he ranks first in points, field goals made, field goal percentage, free throws attempted, offensive rebounds and games played… among active players, second in minutes played (Jason Kidd), field goal attempts (Allen Iverson), and defensive rebounds (Kevin Garnett), third in free throws made (Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant), and fourth in scoring average (LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant)…ranks 15th on the NBA’s all-time rebounding list (12,566) after passing Dikembe Mutombo for 17th (Feb. 17), Paul Silas for 16th (Feb. 24) and Charles Barkley for 15th (April 10)…has led the NBA in scoring average twice, in points scored three times, in field goal percentage on 10 occasions (breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA record of nine), in field goals made five times, in field goals attempted twice, in free throws made once and free throws attempted on five occasions… has gone over 140 consecutive games scoring in double figures three times in his career…longest stretch of consecutive games scoring in double figures is 245 and occurred from Feb. 28, 1995-Nov. 9, 1999…longest stretch of consecutive games scoring at least 20 points is 37 and was accomplished from March 2, 1998-Feb. 23, 1999…has scored at least 30 points in a game 313 times (28.0 percent of his games)…longest stretch of consecutive 30-point games is 11 and occurred from March 28, 2001-April 17, 2001…has scored at least 40 points in a game 49 times…longest streak of consecutive 40-point outings is two and occurred on three occasions…registered three games of at least 50 points and one 60-point game (career-high 61 points on March 6, 2000)…averaged at least 20 points in 14 of his 17 seasons…shot at least 55 percent from the floor in each of his 17 NBA seasons…averaged at least 20 points and 10 rebounds for an NBA-record 13 consecutive seasons from 1992-2005… has notched 35 games with 20-or-more rebounds…longest career streak of consecutive games grabbing double-figure rebounds is 18 and was accomplished twice (Nov. 27, 1993-Dec. 30, 1993 and March 18, 2001-Oct. 30, 2001)…recorded double-figure blocked shots once…recorded 717 double-doubles (64.2 percent of his games)...finished the season as the fifth-leading scorer in NBA history with 27,619 career points...became just the seventh player in league history with 27,000 career points and just the second player with 27,000 points, 12,000 rebounds and 2,500 blocks (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)…two career triple-doubles on Nov. 20, 1993 (Orlando at New Jersey., 24 points, career-high 28 rebounds, career-high 15 blocks) and April 11, 2006 (Miami vs. Toronto, 15 points, 11 rebounds, career-high 10 assists)…has missed a total of 222 games during his career due to injury, eight games to NBA imposed suspensions, seven games due to personal reasons and seven games he was a healthy scratch on the Inactive List.
Shaq's antics and larger than life personality (literally and figuratively) on and off the court will surely be missed.
Bon Voyage! It was fun while it lasted aye?
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