Shaquille O’Neal Closes In On The Big 5-0(…00 Missed Free Throws)

Is there anything scarier in sports (other than skate lacerations or Franck Ribery’s smile) than Shaquille O’Neal trying to shoot a free throw? With his bad aim, one errant degree off and the ball could carom into the stands and kill someone. Well, thanks to that horrible aim, the future Hall of Famer, currently with the Suns, is eight free throws away from a milestone that won’t tarnish his four NBA titles or MVP award. He’s about to hit (or miss, in this case) 5,000 missed free throws.

Mind you, this only includes regular-season games. In the playoffs, Shaq has bricked another 1,131 free throws, more than doubling every other player in history except Chamberlain. Despite his claim that he makes them when they count, he’s actually significantly worse in the postseason (50.1 percent) than the regular season (58.1 percent) — the low point came when he helped Miami to its only title despite shooting 37.4 percent during the playoffs.

We wonder if Shaq weren’t “Big lovable lug Shaq” and aloof like Tim Duncan or an ass like Bruce Bowen [Ed Not: Oops, did we just mention two Spurs? Sue us], would he be able to get away with his horrible free throw shooting. Sure announcers rib him and he makes jokes about it, but we wonder if his charm (and yes, titles) makes him immune from the “Alex Rodriguez in the post season” type scrutiny he’s never recieved form the media.
Five questions about The Big 5,000 [ESPN]
Image [ESPN]