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American Morning

NBA Finals: O'Neal, Player to Contend With

Aired June 12, 2001 - 10:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LAURA OKMIN, CNN ANCHOR: The NBA finals take another day off, before game four tips off tomorrow night. But while their bodies have been off, the 76ers' and Lakers' mouths have been running continuously -- and I mean continuously. Jaye Davidson and Forest Whitaker starred in the film "The Crying Game," back in 1992, but the sequel is going on right now in Philadelphia.

CNN's Tom Rinaldi debunks the myth that grown men don't cry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM RINALDI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In these finals, pain isn't simply part of the game, it's a relationship: Shaquille O'Neal gives it, and the 76ers and Dikembe Mutombo have taken it. When O'Neal fouled out of game 3, it might have seemed like the punishment was worth it for Philadelphia; then, O'Neal added insult to injury by saying Mutombo wouldn't and couldn't play him "like a man."

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, LAKERS CENTER: Challenge me. Treat me like a game of checkers, and play me. But that's all that I am asking, just play me.

DIKEMBE MUTOMBO, 76ERS CENTER: I'm not going to flap if I've got a couple of stitches in my mouth. Either I put down myself, or I went to our team doctor and said, Why don't you cut me in. And I hooked up with stitches then, and I tell the people I've got stitches in my mouth. So that, as I said, sounds so stupid.

TYRONE HILL, 76ERS FORWARD: It's amazing, some of the stuff that they do and what they get away with. I play like that, and I'm fouled out in two minutes.

RAJA BELL, 76ERS GUARD: I went down there and tried to grab his arm, and he just took me and the ball up to the rim one time. And then I had a whole new respect for what Dikembe's going through down there.

O'NEAL: I just wish that the things that I get done to me, that I could do them back. Foul unto others as they foul unto me.

RINALDI: The longstanding thought has been that O'Neal has fouled most times he touches the ball. His size and power create inevitable contact. But if O'Neal is held to a different standard by officials, even playing against the defensive player of year, he still seeks double teams and is insulted by anything less.

O'NEAL: Yes, I do enjoy punishing people, especially people that think they can play me one on one. That's a challenge to me, playing me one on one, because I can't even stop myself playing one on one.

MUTOMBO: My strength I got from my legs. I think that's what is happening to me. Otherwise, he can just remove you in any position, from one point, A, to one point, B.

DEREK FISHER, LAKERS GUARD: We still know that we can get points and we can get things from Shaquille anytime we want to against anybody who's guarding.

RINALDI (on camera): Kobe Bryant said, in practice, Shaquille O'Neal likes to dribble between his legs, run out on the wing, and shoot fadeaway jump shots. But O'Neal is aware of how his opponents fade when having to guard him: "You might bang with me for a quarter or a half," O'Neal said, "But never an entire game." The 76ers have to bang with him for an entire series.

At the finals, in Philadelphia, I'm Tom Rinaldi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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