Shaquille O'Neal's wholesome reaction after defeating Michael Jordan in the 1995 playoffs: "He's the real Superman"
Shaquille O'Neal was a star on the rise in 1995, dominating the opposition with the Orlando Magic. He had the privilege of going against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs of the same year. MJ came back from his first retirement in March and everyone wondered if he could win another title even after he missed more than half of a season.
The Bulls and the Magic met in the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals. Jordan proved he could still score in bunches but was terribly out of basketball shape. Shaq didn't agree, though, as he gave Jordan his flowers.
"I don't think Michael ever gets tired. He is a real Superman and I am a real Superboy," Shaq said after leading the Magic to a 110-101 Game 3 win over the Bulls via NYT.
It was a humbling comment for Shaq, who witnessed Jordan go off for 40 points in that game. But with only Scottie Pippen providing Michael support, the Bulls failed to get over the resurgent Magic.
Jersey reversion hardly helped Jordan and the Bulls
Game 3 was the second game since Jordan reverted to his old jersey, no. 23. Michael initially wore no. 45, explaining that he felt it was a new beginning. It was the same jersey number he wore in high school.
Despite the jersey number change, the only good it did back then was seeing Jordan going back to his heavy-scoring ways. After scoring 19 points in Game 1, the last time he wore the no. 45, Michael went berserk in the games that followed. He scored, 38, 40, 26, 39 and 24 points in the succeeding games respectively.
Despite his efforts, Jordan's heavy scoring was not enough to overcome a gritty Magic team. Orlando knew it was impossible to prevent Michael from scoring. Hence, they did the next best thing, focusing their defense on the rest of the Bulls.
"We knew if we shut everyone else down, we had a chance," O'Neal said.Defeating Bulls was a must for Magic
Throughout that series, the Bulls got all the media attention because of Jordan. It overshadowed the stellar season that O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway had.
But for the Magic, they didn't care as it was all about proving they were the best at the time. The key was to defeat the Bulls, something they accomplished in six games.
Although Shaq was dominant, he gave props to Hardaway in that series. O'Neal pointed out how Hardaway held his own against Jordan, crediting his fearless mentality.
"Penny is the only guy I've seen who didn't really care that he was playing against Michael Jordan. He had that same fearless mentality that I had," O'Neal stated.
This didn't mean Hardaway disrespected Jordan. He held the same level of respect that Shaq had for him but knew that getting over MJ and Chicago was a must if they wanted a chance at the title.
"If you're the greatest of all time, which I respect, then you're going to have to show me. That was my mentality. I wanted to play against Michael Jordan. If we were going to get to a championship, we had to go through him," Hardaway quipped.
The Magic survived the Indiana Pacers in the 1995 Eastern Conference finals after that and the next matchup was against the Houston Rockets in the Finals. Orlando saw its run come to an abrupt end against Houston. Hakeem Olajuwon and company swept them.
They had a better 1995-96 regular season but fell short in the playoffs. Facing the Bulls again, this time in the ECF, Chicago got payback by sweeping Orlando to advance, as MJ was back to his old dominating form after a full offseason.
Things got even worse after that for the Magic with O'Neal leaving the franchise for the Los Angeles Lakers.
When O'Neal moved to L.A., his rise to greatness was cemented. He won three titles in a row with the Lakers and bagged his first and only MVP in 2000. That three-year run was probably the most dominating run by a player in NBA history because nobody could stop O'Neal.This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 21, 2025, where it first appeared.
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