David Robinson vs. Shaquille O'Neal: The Story Of How The Admiral Won The Scoring Title With A 71-Point Game
In 1993, after winning his third straight championship and his seventh straight scoring title, Michael Jordan abruptly retired.
This changed the game and left some new questions for the 1993-94 NBA season:
- Who will win the 1993-94 NBA championship?
- Who will win the 1993-94 scoring title?
This was an interesting topic as Michael Jordan was the firm holder of both titles for so long.
By 1993-94, there were many strong scores in the game. You had Hakeem Olajuwon, Dominique Wilkins, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing, just to name a few.
The players I named were the third through sixth (in order) best scorers that season. So, who were the top two scorers?
The top two scores of the 1993-94 NBA season were Shaquille O'Neal of the Orlando Magic and David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs.
The scoring title was up for grabs as late as the very last game of the regular. That's how close this race was.
Shaq led “The Admiral”, David Robinson, by just .06 points per game and 33 total points.
First up, Shaq and his Magic played against the New Jersey Nets. Shaq didn't just “go through the motions”, he played an incredible game, dominating the Nets, as he always seemed to do.
Shaquille O'Neal scored 32 points while grabbing 22 rebounds in a 120-91 victory.
Not a bad way to end your season. Shaq's scoring average would bump up by a hair from his 32 point performance.
Next up, it was David Robinson's turn. His San Antonio Spurs faced off against the lousy Los Angeles Clippers.
There was no question that not only “The Admiral” wanted to win the scoring title, but his coach and teammates wanted the Spurs center to win it as well.
So, when the ball was tipped on that night in April 1994, the game plan was simple: get the ball to David Robinson and get out of the way.
On the very first play, the ball was thrown to “The Admiral” in the post. He immediately hit a turn around 15-footer.
This wasn't a fluke, the ball would continue to find Robinson every trip down. “The Admiral” scored the Spurs’ first 18 points of the game.
The Spurs quickly took a huge lead against the Clippers, and there was no chance for a Clippers’ comeback.
So, what did the Spurs do? Take Robinson out in the meaningless last game of the regular season? It was a blown-out anyway, right?
No, the Spurs did the opposite. They kept Robinson in, and they kept feeding the ball to him.
At this point in David Robinson's career, his highest-scoring game was 52. Would “The Admiral” eclipse high career high?
You know he would. David Robinson would go on to score 71 points, setting the team record for most points.
The Spurs' previous highest-scoring game was 63 by George Gervin in 1978. “The Admiral” shattered that record, but he didn't do it alone.
Robinson’s teammates began fouling Clippers players to get back on offense quicker, even though the Spurs were blowing out the Clippers.
This would be seen as petty and a cheap way to win the scoring title. In fact, when asked about Robinson's performance, Shaquille O'Neal had this to say:
“I heard they ran every play to Robinson. If that would have happened down here, I would have 70 points, too. I didn’t care.”
Shaq would go on to add, “It would have been nice, but 50 wins was more important to me than the scoring title.”
When Orlando Magic head coach Brian Hill heard about the Spurs game, he called it a “mockery of the game.”
Shaquille O'Neal and David Robinson had a history of beef even before this scoring title race happened.
It all started in the 1994 NBA All-Star Game. The dominant veteran centers and big men of the league like David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Karl Malone, to name a few, wanted to send a message to the LSU product.
Why were these other big men of the NBA conspiring to shut down Shaq? This goes back to the other big men thinking Shaq was a brash young star.
Shaq became the league's most popular player once Michael Jordan retired. On top of playing in the NBA, he was releasing rap albums, and acting in movies like the 1994s Blue Chips.
The big men in the West, along with their coach, Seattle Supersonics coach, George Karl, put together a plan to shut Shaq down.
Coach Karl sent double and triple-teams at Shaq all game. This was unheard of in an All-Star Game. The tactics of George Karl worked. Shaq was held to only 8 points on a dismal 2-12 shooting from the field.
Shaq had this to say about the incident:
“A couple of them at the All-Star Game said it (triple-teaming) was the player's decision, and a couple of them said it was coach Karl's decision. I'm getting them all back, one-by-one.”
Shaq's targets were George Karl and the Supersonics, Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, and of course, David Robinson.
Two games after the All-Star game, Shaq and his Magic would face George Karl's Supersonics and Shaq would get his revenge.
The Magic would win 124-93 behind Shaq's 38 points and 20 rebounds. Shaq was a monster, hitting 16 of his 19 shots. The first name on the revenge sheet was firmly checked off.
How would Shaq fare in his first post-All-Star Game meeting against “The Admire” David Robinson?
The date was March 6, 1994, which just so happened to be Shaq's 22nd birthday.
The game was held in San Antonio, Texas. Shaquille O'Neal definitely showed up with revenge on his mind.
Shaq put up a nice 32 points on 11-20 shooting. He also grabbed 11 boards in the game. Not bad, eh?
On this night, though, the game belonged to David Robinson. “The Admiral” balled out against Shaq.
He scored 36 on 14-26 shooting. He also grabbed 13 rebounds, dished out 7 assists, all while collecting 6 blocks and 3 steals.
Shaquille O'Neal wouldn't get his revenge on this night. “The Admiral” led the Spurs to a 111-113 victory.
Shaq certainly held a grudge against the San Antonio Spurs center after this, including making up a story about how Robinson was rude to him as a teenager. Shaq would eventually apologize for making up the story.
So, on that night in April of 94, did David Robinson take it personally against Shaq? Or was he just a player playing the game to try to achieve something special?
After his 71 point game, David Robinson had this to say about his performance:
“It was unbelievable. My team has been behind me the whole year. They always push me to do a lot of individual things. As a leader, I just try to win games, but tonight they really wanted me to shoot it. When the game started, they were looking for me almost every time down the court.”
If you observe David Robinson throughout his career, then you'd know “The Admiral” is one of the nicest guys to ever play in the NBA.
Robinson wouldn't “beef” with anyone, so on that night in April of 94, Robinson just wanted to play, and that he did.
“The Admiral” earned that scoring title and his performance is still one of the greatest in NBA history. Well deserved, David.
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