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Kenyon Martin explains the differences in guarding prime Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan
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- Kenyon Martin explains the differences in guarding prime Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan
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Kenyon Martin had the distinction of being one of the unique guys who played against Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan in the NBA Finals.
K-Mart helped the New Jersey Nets reach the biggest stage in 2002 and 2003, facing the Diesel and the Big Fundamental in back-to-back trips.
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Unfortunately, the Nets fell short both times, although it was not for lack of trying. According to the 2000 first-overall pick, there was just no stopping these two all-time greats when they got going.
There was no stopping Shaq
At 7'1" and weighing over 300 pounds, O'Neal was a walking mismatch. There was nobody on planet Earth, much less in the four walls of the NBA, who could match up with that size and agility. Some Western Conference teams could throw a couple of bigs on him and make the Big Fella work on offense, but all of the Eastern Conference, even the Nets, were at his mercy.
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"I was the roamer, I was the double guy because you and I know I couldn't do nothing to that dude," Martin said on the "All the Smoke" podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson . "If I did get caught on all that, all I had to do was try to front him and he just pushed up the lane… Impossible to guard."
As Martin noted, there really was no stopping Shaq because by then, another missile would hit you. Kobe Bryant would then go to work and eat his fair share. It did not take long before both of them went for 30 at any given time.
True enough, Shaq averaged 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.8 blocks in the four-game sweep over the Nets in 2002. He was automatic from the floor (59.5 percent) and even on the line, shooting over 66 percent from the charity stripe, over 13 percentage points above his career rate.
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Meanwhile, Bryant averaged nearly 27 points plus over five boards and five dimes per outing, adding 1.5 steals and nearly a block. He was highly efficient as well, shooting over 51 percent from the field and a True Shooting Percentage of 62.3 percent.
It was a mistake not to double-team Duncan
The Lakers were eventually vanquished by the San Antonio Spurs in the West, while Martin's Nets still reigned supreme in the East.
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The Spurs were supposedly a better matchup size-wise for the Nets, but Timmy D just proved he was on another level compared with everyone else. While Shaq did it with brute force, Tim did it with an overflow of skill on both ends, especially when the Spurs needed him the most.
"Listen, Timmy was a problem," admitted K-Mart. "Some of the numbers he put up in the series, though? Yeah."
Stack was with Duncan on that Spurs team in '03 and added some bits of information.
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According to Jackson, the late Dikembe Mutombo, then a backup center for the Nets, believed he could handle Duncan one-on-one. He discouraged his teammates from double-teaming the reigning MVP and paid the price. Timmy destroyed the Nets in Game 6, tallying a near-quadruple-double: 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists and eight blocks.
"He blocking everything. He playing offside on me and on-ball on me, and he did his thing," Martin said of Duncan.
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Even though Old Man Riverwalk practically demolished the Nets' championship hopes, K-Mart believed he made Duncan work for his points. And more importantly, Martin believed drawing the Timmy assignment made him an even better defender.
"I figured out how to guard people because of having to guard him. Where to meet him, force him to where I want him to go instead of walking me straight down the lane and catching the ball where he wants to. Like, he never shot that bank shot on me ever because I wouldn't allow it," added Martin.
Martin looked overmatched from a physical standpoint, trying to stop the two legends, but his experience gave light as to why the decade belonged to them. Shaq and Tim were so dominant that they dictated the terms of engagement and nobody, even K-Mart, could do anything about it.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
