NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal doesn't think the 2018-19 Golden State Warriors would stand a chance against his 2001 Lakers. Naturally, Stephen Curry begs to differ.
In speaking of the hypothetical showdown, Shaq recently told USA Today Sports, "I think we'd easily win. Other people might feel different, they [the Warriors] might feel different. But we had one of the best teams of all time in 2001 when we went 15-1 in the playoffs. We would've gone 16-0, but A.I. [Allen Iverson] went off on us and stepped over Ty Lue."
The Diesel also told Complex, "Yeah, we woulda beat ‘em (the Warriors) up. We would have forced Curry into the lane, and every time he came into the lane we would have fouled him hard."
Curry responded on Wednesday night by saying O'Neal is "dead wrong", according to ESPN's Nick Friedell.
"Oh, he's dead wrong," Curry said. "Of course. We'd beat them. We can go back-and-forth all day."
"For me, I think it's a tough conversation because I've always found it hard to compare eras to each other," Curry said. "But in terms of having three banners up there and create parallels and comparisons to how they dominated the league through their run to what we're doing now, I think that speaks a lot on its own."
For what it's worth, Jeff Sherman of the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook told ESPN on Thursday that this year's Warriors squad would be a 12.5-point favorite over Shaq's 2001 Lakers team on a neutral court.