Shaq won MVP award in a runaway
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from May 2000.
Brought to you by
He missed, by one vote. ``The first thing I did was call my mother and father," O'Neal said Tuesday at the Los Angeles Lakers' practice facility in suburban El Segundo, where he was presented the Mauriscoring and field goal percentage, received 120 of 121 votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters, with the remaining vote going to Philadelphia's Allen Iverson.
O'Neal's 99.2 percentage was the highest for any player since the league introduced the award in 1955-56. Michael Jordan received 96.5 percent of the vote in four years ago.
``That was kind of hard to believe," O'Neal said. ``I've always thought that Michael Jordan, Magic and Kareem and Wilt were the greatest players in the NBA."
O'Neal received 1,207 points in the voting. Minnesota's Kevin Garnett was second with 408 and Miami's Alonzo Mourning was third with 367. Iverson was seventh with 132. ``He's playing at a level rarely seen in the NBA,", second best in franchise history, and making them prohibitive favorites to win their first title since 1988.
``This is a very special day for a very special player. I think we're all very excited he was able to win this award in such unprecedented fashion," Lakers VP of basketball operations Jerry West said. God, I feel sorry for the one guy who didn't vote for him."
That was Fred Hickman of CNN/SI, who opted to vote for Iverson. ``You take Shaq away from the Lakers and you've stille no longer contenders."
O'Neal laughed off questions about not getting every first-place vote. The one guy who didn't vote (for me): Thank you, too," he said with a grin. ``I appreciate it."
Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Jordan's coach when he won four MVP awards in Chicago, said O'Neal ``certainly deserved it this year." "I think his leadership has been the most important thing for us," Jackson said. "This is the honor that everyone wants in this league, but we don't have a championship, yet."
O'Neal won his second scoring title this season, averaging a career-high 29.7 points on 57.4 percent shooting. He was second in stop Shaquille O'Neal is Shaquille O'Neal, and that hasn't happened this year," Lakers forward Glen Rice said.
s in Chicago, who, referring to Jordan, added, "I played with one before, huh?" "He had a tremendous, tremendous season," guard Kobe Bryant said.
"He played at a high level every night."
O'Neal, 28, is the first Laker to win the award since Magic Johnson. Johnson did so for a second straight time in 1990. O'Neal is in his fourth season with the Lakers after playing his first four NBA campaigns with the Orlando Magic. "This is the first time I've been knickknack injury free in Los Angeles, on. If we can get it done this year, my plate will be full as a player."
After signing as a free agent with the Ltrained groin last season.
He missed only two games because of injury this season, both last month because of an ankle sprain after the Lakers had clinched the NBA's best record and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. O'Neal has averaged an NBA-high 30.7 points and 16.8 rebounds in six playoff games.
