Lakers fans, do you remember where you were on June 2000? Confetti in the air, Shaquille O’Neal climbing to the mountaintop — finally.
Does that ring a bell?
“That was my first one, right?” Shaq asked with a smirk when I brought up the momentous occasion.
“The Pacers? Yeah. That one.”
Before the banners were added, before the three-peat and before “Shaq & Kobe” became legend, there was that gritty, emotional, six-game slugfest against the Indiana Pacers. And it was the series that changed everything for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Coming off years of questions about leadership, chemistry and whether all that talent would ever translate to titles, O’Neal came into that 2000 NBA Finals with a purpose.
Shaq recounts making it to the ’95 NBA Finals against Hakeem Olajuwon when he was a member of the Orlando Magic, and he said he was embarrassed.
“I said to myself: ‘If I ever go back, I gotta put on a performance so dominant that it won’t be a question who the champ is.’”
He proved it in 2000, too. It was vintage, and it was unrelenting and prime Shaq, too. The Diesel tore through the paint like a one-man wrecking crew. Averaging 38.0 points, 16.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game, The Big Aristotle played against a tough veteran Indiana squad led by Reggie Miller and Rik Smits.
There wasn’t a single answer for the DJ who doubles as a police officer and doctor of education.
Not a single one.
“There was something I had to prove and set an example,” Shaq said.
“Something that had to be done because if we don’t win that first one they’ll probably break us up and it’ll be a lot more negative stuff to talk about.”
Lakers fans know the stakes were real. Shaq and Kobe were still learning how to co-exist. The franchise was desperate to restore its championship standard. That title wasn’t just a win. In fact, it was a lifeline. It kept the dynasty dream alive.
And for Shaq? There was unfinished business.
“Rik Smits used to kill me when I was younger,” he shared candidly.
“So I know he’s way older. He came into the game [saying] – ‘Oh yeah Shaq’s a dog. He’s the same ol’ Shaq, giving out elbows to the face and in your mouth and in your nose.'”
That Finals? That was personal. That was legacy work.
“I’m coming to take this trophy,” Shaq said.
“By any means necessary.”
He did it too. In purple and gold and in the house that Dr. Buss built.
That 2000 championship was more than a ring. It was the moment the Lakers turned the page from the Magic Johnson-led Showtime era into a new chapter: one written by power, paint dominance and attitude.
Shaq wasn’t just a superstar anymore. He became a champion. And Los Angeles became Title Town again.
He grabbed Finals MVP and didn’t look back. Two more championships followed. A three-peat was sealed. But that first one?
That one hit different.
That was for the doubters. For the critics. For the fans who waited through the down years and wanted to believe.
Looking back, Shaq’s 2000 run stands among the most dominant postseason stretches in NBA history. No politics. no finesse.
Just sheer force of will.
And for Lakers fans, it was a dream realized because Shaquille O’Neal didn’t just win his first title…he did it in purple and gold.
By any means necessary.
