In a hilarious moment on TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA,’ Shaquille O’Neal failed miserably while attempting a Jalen Green-inspired crossover move. On March 19, during the Rockets’ 137:114 victory against the Wizards, Green scored 42 points and performed a special move. The point guard dribbled with his left and then pretended to go to the left. After a powerful dribble, he moved the ball behind his back to his right hand and in the process, defender Jared Butler fell to the ground, leading to an open three-pointer for the scoring guard that he easily nailed.
As he made the shot, Green stared down Butler after the double cross that resulted in an epic highlight. During the ‘Craws’d Up’ segment of Inside the NBA with Jamal Crawford, Shaq tried to replicate the Rockets’ elastic shooting guard.
A gala-dressed O’Neal was “saved” by Crawford and, unlike Green, he couldn’t use power dribbles or leave the defender in the dust.
Instead, she did a basic behind-the-back dribble at a slow pace and her shot after a Candace Parker “contest” didn’t even touch the rim.
The clip of NBA on TNT The X Account covered Shaq’s misadventures as he attempted to recreate Green’s extraordinary double crossover.
During the segment, they also played Shaq attempting a fancy behind-the-back dribble move on the baseline by Heat guard Duncan Robinson. As expected, Shaq also failed to execute Robinson’s move to comic effect.
Shaquille O’Neal showed his handles during his heyday
While Shaq’s current dribbling maneuvers would have left many fans divided, he once put on a show on the court. During the 1996 All-Star Game, the former Magic Center went 1-on-1 against Michael Jordan. He showed off shiny handles on two occasions.
At first, he used a couple of dribbles and nailed a jumper against MJ.
Meanwhile, his maneuvers during the second half were even more impressive.
The dominant 15x All-Star used two well-executed between-the-legs dribbles. He then took Jordan to post and, in Olajuwon’s Dream Shake style, he confused Jordan about where he was going next.
To complete the play, Shaq made a beautiful uppercut. So, while Shaq is expected to no longer produce such highlights at age 52, he used to have some decent drives.
However, their current names in the studio have received some funny reactions from fans, one of which even highlights the comedic quotient of their moves. “People are forced to laugh.”
During practice at the 1996 Olympics, he made similar between-the-legs moves against Scottie Pippen. He showed some pretty deep dribbling ability and also made long-range jumpers. These two examples may break the narrative that the big guy was just a dominant low force in the past.
