Shaquille O'Neal says Hakeem Olajuwon taught him the most important career lesson when he dominated him in the 1995 Finals: "I already thought that the job was done" originally appeared on Basketball Network .
Many expected the Orlando Magic to win the NBA championship in 1995 after they eliminated Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the playoffs. Instead, the Magic ended up getting swept by the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals.
Former Magic center Shaquille O'Neal has always taken the blame for that defeat. O'Neal has repeatedly said that he was outplayed by Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon throughout the entire series. In his recent appearance on the "New Heights" podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, Shaq also said that "The Dream" taught him a very important lesson in preparation.
"The year we made it to the Finals, we beat Michael Jordan, the greatest player ever," said Shaq. "So I already thought that the job was done. And then we had ten days off and living in Orlando, you're going to restaurants, it's standing ovations and you're getting extra deals and it's the parades."
1995 was the year when Michael Jordan faxed "I'm back" and returned to the Chicago Bulls after his brief first retirement. That season, the Magic were the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference. Orlando opened their postseason with a dominant 3-1 series win over the Boston Celtics in the first round.
In the next round, Shaq's Magic faced the 5th-seeded Bulls, who stung the No.4 ranked Charlotte Hornets in their opening-round matchup. Taking advantage of a rusty MJ who rejoined the Bulls only in mid-March, the Magic dealt Jordan his only playoff series loss during their dynasty years.
Perhaps overwhelmed by their monumental victory, O'Neal and some of his teammates celebrated too much. Instead of preparing for the remainder of the postseason, they partied like they already had won the championship. That came back to haunt them in the Finals.
"Me and one of my teammates, we jumping on private planes, we go to Miami and party and you know, cuz I like to get ready three days before but you got ten days off. I couldn't be like this for ten days. So I'm like 'Let me take a couple of days off, we definitely going to win. I'm playing against Hakeem. We won one. We the same size. We're definitely going to win.' But he taught me never to celebrate too early," added Shaq.
While Shaq did not tell the Kelce brothers who that teammate was, in past interviews, he mentioned that it was sharpshooting forward Dennis Scott who flew with him to the Magic City strip club in Atlanta , where they continued their celebration. Now, this is the part of Shaq's story that becomes a little murky.
O'Neal talked about a 10-day break between series, but there was only a three-day break from the ECF to the NBA Finals. There was, however, a five-day gap from the end of the Bulls series to the start of the East Finals, where they faced the Indiana Pacers. Based on this information, Shaq and 3D likely partied in Atlanta after beating the Bulls.
Orlando struggled to put away the Pacers in the ECF, needing all seven games of the series to advance to the 1995 NBA Finals. O'Neal still had a big Finals outing at 28.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 2.5 blocks per game. But Scott shot just 31 percent from the floor and 24.1 percent from 3-point distance while averaging only 10.5 points per game.
Meanwhile, the Rockets were the lowest-seeded team to advance to the NBA Finals, as they advanced to there as a sixth seed in the West. But they peaked at the right time and after breaking Orlando's spirit in Game 1, they went on to sweep the Magic 4-0 and deny Shaq his first NBA title.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
