The result...
Shaquille O'Neal "dreamt of" his peak performance, racking up 41 points and 13 rebounds, and exploding against the "Western Second Center" Dan Piel.
The Cavaliers chewed through this tough bone.
Securing a "two-game winning streak".
It's important to realize that, although the Cavaliers were second in the Eastern Conference, if their record were to be placed in the West, it would barely rank them at the fifth position, tied with the Nuggets.
From the standings point of view, they were far behind the Mavericks.
What's more, they were without LeBron James.
But the Cavaliers managed to gnaw down the Mavericks too.
Kenny Smith said, "I can see a strong sense of urgency in the entire Cavaliers team, and the man driving this desire is Shaquille O'Neal. Honestly, I haven't seen Shaq like this in a long time. He isn't usually this fired up in the regular season, but the fact shows that when he gets serious, he still ranks among the league's top five centers!"
