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#NBA #Straya Never Forget! It’s not often we have a day steeped in sadness here at NBA Straya… but here it is. Nine years ago, on this very day, the man the size of the Gulf of Carpentaria… the one… the only… Outback Shaq played his LAST EVER NBA game. That’s right, Nathan Jawai — aka Aussie Shaq, aka Baby Shaq, aka the Cape York Crusader — pulled on his No. 15 XXXXL jersey for the Minnesota Timberwolves and went to work against the Sacramento Kings in his final NBA ride. But we’re not much for sadness here at NBA Straya, we’re all about celebrating Strayan ledges! For the Cape York Man Mountain to MAKE the NBA and play 45 games over two seasons with the Wolves and those maple syrup-swigging, ice hockey-loving, Nickelback-producing Canucks up in Toronto is more impressive than Chad Kroeger marrying Avril Lavigne while looking like a homebrand Paddle-Pop Lion.
So! After a season of Rick Adelman not realizing he had possibly this generation’s most dominant center riding the pin, Big Nate finally got off the bench and played 8 minutes and 45 seconds. And proceeded to smash ‘em like Warnie and a pack of Winnie blues. Going to work like a Cook Town chippie in summer, Jawai put up two shots as quickly as he could… Unfortunately, big fella missed both of them. BUT! Baby Shaq DID go a perfect 2-of-2 on his free-throws for his finally tally of 2 points, finishing 100% from the Free Throw line! That’s better than bloody Regular Shaq, who shot his free-throws like he was Big Fev shot-putting pies into his mouth while watching the Wangaratta U18 reserves on a Saturday argo. More impressively though, Jawai ripped down 4 rebounds and hammered away a block so viciously that the US government revoked Andres Nocioni’s work VISA and deported the poor bloke. Not only that, the Aussie ambassador commissioned Powderfinger to write a touching tribute to it. That’s where the Powdies song ‘Golden Rule’ comes from! The Golden Rule is: ‘Never try to shoot over Outback Shaq or he’ll block you back to Argentina’. He was only slowed down by the refs and their usual anti-Strayan bais, slugging for Nate with 4 absolutely rubbish fouls. Mongrels. Anyway! What a showing! And, even though stats are for nerds, it means that on a per-36 basis, Aussie Shaq would’ve posted 18 rebounds and 4.5 blocks if given the chance! Not bloody bad mate. The problem was we never got see Jawai get an extended run, as a series of NBA teams and coaches sadly under-utilised the Big Fella, so he never quite reached his full imposing, world-dominating potential in the ‘States. Ah well. Every cloud has a silver lining, as Aussie Shaq’s a dead-set Aussie ledge and now back in Oz and slinging that wood in the NBL! And the line for pulling for him to keep whaling on chumps and dominating starts right behind us. #ONYA Outback Shaq! **Smash the *DAILY* NBA Straya podcast** Also – smash us at twitter.com/NBAstraya – facebook.com/NBAStraya – NBAStraya.com And check out Ben Simmons merch HERE