Nov 23rd 2008 2:30AM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA Last NightThe Suns had an important game at home against the Blazers, needing to get back on track after losing their last time out to the Lakers. But to many, finding out how Greg Oden would do in his first game against Shaquille O’Neal was just as interesting.

With Shaq in the starting lineup and Oden coming off the bench, there was a question of just how much time the two would actually spend on the floor together. At about the eight minute mark of the first quarter, Oden reported to the scorer’s table to check in, but Shaq ended up subbing out at the same time, so it was unclear if we’d see more than a minute or two of the matchup. But in the second quarter, Shaq came in and didn’t hesitate to go at Oden the very first trip down the floor.

O’Neal posted up Oden, and went to his patented quick-baseline-spin move, the one that usually leaves young defenders standing there wondering what just happened as Shaq gets an uncontested dunk. The move worked on Oden just as it had on Andrew Bynum two nights earlier, but this time the refs whistled Shaq for a travel before he got the chance to throw it down. Shaq would get another chance in to dunk on Oden in the third quarter, and this time, he would not be denied.Continue Reading