[Highlights] Jermaine O’Neal scores 55 points in 36 minutues in a win against the Bucks. He subbed himself out of the game with 1:43 left on the clock so Reggie Miller could keep the franchise record (57) - 2005
Giannis will do the same once he gets to 80.
How’s he supposed to beat the second greatest scorer of all time anyway?
Who do you mean? You mean Kobe bryant?
No, Bam.
*82
I’m really confused why this has so many upvotes?
Wilt Bam Kobe
in that order
Bam could have passed Wilt, but he was being nice.
55 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 18-of-28 FG, 19-of-25 FT and +22 +/- in a 116–99 win
I started reading the stats in Tim Robinson’s voice.
Don’t do the voice!
He has to, he’s doing something!
55 points 55 rebounds 55 assists 55 blocks 55 turnovers 55 fou…
I thought you were making some kind of twin towers joke like Tim Duncan and David Robinson’s love child since it’s the type of statline you’d expect from those guys lol
Why didn’t you include the part where you said he subbed himself out?
Not everybody knows how to do everything. Editing videos isn’t the only thing.
Sick reference
That’s a really stupid answer. Thanks.
This is especially impressive when you consider that Indiana and Detroit were holding teams to 57 points total in some of these games!
Yeah, JO was so good. He’s one dude who won’t ever get talked about outside of these threads but deserves to.
Even as a Pistons fan who HATED the Pacers then, it feels like they should have at least won one. They had some teams that were so good.
And I know I’m not alone in saying without Malice in the Palace, they had a really good shot.
He was maybe 1-2 more All-Star seasons away from being a HOFer imo. He was really fucking good in his prime.
Hall of Fame? Not even close my man
He’s a 6x All Star and 3x All NBA. That’s only a few major accolades (All NBA, Championship) away from the Basketball HOF.
One literally got in with those accolades in Amare with a ROY added to it.
Pretty much only one more All Star and he’d a lock. 7x All Star is the threshold these days.
Because the bar to get in keeps getting lowered every year on Reddit
The bar to the Basketball HOF has never been super high.
Showing how little you know about the NBA, nice.
there’s a certain guy who talks about jermaine o neal a lot lol
JO had a very short prime because of injury, but in his prime he was right there with Duncan/KG. It’s a shame players like him are somewhat forgotten by history, but I guess that’s a part of sports. What is the classic saying? “Availability is the best ability”, or something like that.
This is against the Bucks who were bottom 3 defense in the league
So most other players that have scored 55+ did it against the best defense in the league at the time?
Dude Jermaine O’Neal was moving like a different O’Neal
Patrice?
He’s GOATed too for his contributions on the black Phillip show
He did kind of move like a sea monster in this vid
Ed O’Neil.
As if Jermaine could ever score four touchdowns in a single game
Both shitting on the competition huh?
When we talk about “underrated players” on this sub people usually use it as their pet Steve Nash parasocial moment or some such with another guy we hear praise for all the time. Jermaine O’Neal is a guy who is genuinely underrated.
He was a consistent scorer in a low-scoring era, a winning player, and averaged 2+ blocks a game for his entire prime. 6x all-star, 3x all-nba.
Pacers only All NBA 2nd team player ever (‘03-‘04)…they’ve never had a 1st team player. Not crazy to say he’s the most talented player we’ve had in the NBA years.
This is a crazy statistic. Any teams with no 1st or 2nd team ever?
Nope, but the Nets had their first and only All NBA 2nd team player (no 1st team players until today) with KD in the 2021-22 season.
Are you not counting the Nets when they were the New Jersey Nets? Jason Kidd made 1st team All-NBA in 2002 and 2004.
I think every team has at least a 2nd team player. Raptors, Hornets and the Pacers each don’t have All NBA 1st team players…according to Google AI.
Removed dumb AI logic.
Marc Gasol and Jason Kidd says you can’t trust AI
Yeah, it’s probably conflating Vancouver and New Jersey vs Memphis and Brooklyn history.
Reggie is still #1. He just had an impossible task making an all-NBA team during his era at SG.
You could actually argue similarly for JO given he played PF in the same era as Duncan, KG, and Dirk. But yeah, hard to really dominate all-NBA and all-star teams when you play in the same division with the unanimous GOAT at the same position. I definitely think in terms of just “peak ability” JO is probably the most talented Pacer ever, but his body broke down almost immediately. You could make arguments for Ron Artest during the brawl year (he was an animal and never hit the same highs) or Paul George.
But yeah, in terms of overall impact, it’s Reggie Miller and always will be unless Haliburton wins one.
Agreed. HOF talent
Whoa there, easy fella
I used to love playing with on 2k7. Whenever I made my team for my player I would always add him as my center with either Bosh or boozer as my Pf. The pick and pops were undefeated and I could play 5 out
Totally, another “underrated” player from that era is Rip Hamilton. I am not sure we will ever see a player like him again, a complete master of the midrange.
Bam Adebayo would never.
Good for Bam. Intentionally not breaking a record you are well on pace to break is lame.
And all of us who are Dolphins fans saw what that buys you just a few years ago, not a god damn thing.
Still mad Mike didn’t do it. Maybe it changes things maybe not. We should’ve broken it
Still disappointed about this. *Sad dolphin noises*
I don’t follow NFL at all. What happened to the Dolphins?
Had put up 70 points against the Broncos, they had a chance to kick a pretty easy field goal to get the record for most points scored in a game and decided to concede it. Shortly after, the roster completely fell apart due to injuries and lack of accountability. Now we are at the start of another rebuild with absolutely nothing to show for the past 6 years.
Why? Cuz they were up so much? Why have the ability to concede points? (<- never watched football)
Wilt, Bam… Kobe.
Man that post work was nasty
Nasty post work, beautiful mid range jumpers, that’s some pretty basketball right there
I loved Jermaine. Was one of the better bigs in this time when Shaq was starting to lose his huge chokehold of dominance in the position and before Dwight became the guy.
These guys really loved Reggie.
Reggie is king in Indy. Still more loved than any other athlete or celeb, including Peyton manning.
No I’m pretty sure Peyton could murder someone on live tv and people would say it wasn’t him. It’s sad to say but if Reggie had won one I think he’d be right there with him but Peyton winning a Super Bowl elevates him.
You’re probably right about Peyton but idk people just loved reg and that baby face.
Also Peyton helped prevent Colts being moved, and provided years of relevance and dominance
That’s true but it’s still a basketball town. Reggie was loved statewide. There are still bears fans in the northwest region and bengals fans in the southeast. If Peyton was as loved as Reggie you wouldn’t have that.
The Colts weren’t moving. They did (and do) have one of the best civic situations in the NFL. The city and state practically let them play for free. Hell, public money funded 90% of Lucas Oil Stadium and the Hoosier (RCA) Dome was funded before their arrived.
Why do you think the Bears decided to leverage the state of Indiana in their stadium saga?
Watched him from when we drafted him at 17 until we sent him packing, then he goes on to become a 6x all star, lovely.
I remember being upset that we traded away dale davis for a bench player. LOL
Dale Davis was possibly my favorite Pacers player when he got traded and I was really mad about it. I eventually came around.
He was a dawg
I hope he went from 4-6 points out of respect to Jayden Daniels
Reggie miller = legend. Kobe Bryant = r*pist ball hog. Don’t get it confused!
Lmfao real
That fat boy in Detroit lucky as shit Jermaine O’Neal slipped on that punch
If Amare is the bar then JO should’ve been in a long time ago considering he was much better and I say this as someone who loves STAT
he a better man than me
I loved Jermaine O’Neal, such an agile, fast moving PF that could easily score and also defend properly with those blocks and positioning. Constantly underrated.
Somehow he landed in my NBA 2K26 team with a special card, guess who became #1 player on that roster for me.
Prime J.O was special. So short lived too. Even towards the end of his career he was still a beast on defense.
let’s all feel free to never use the words JO and beast in the same comment in the future.
Don’t even know what you’re referencing or implying.
Edit: You dirty dog you.
figure it out, you’ll be doing yourself a solid
One of the few NBA players I saw out in the wild. I was working at Costco, and he came in with 8 dudes that piled out of 3 cars/suvs lol.
Damn, they must’ve needed a lot of snacks
i really do miss this era of ball
I loved this era of basketball.
Joe Smith, Zaza Pachulia, & Marcus Fizer getting roasted!
Yea…That sucked BIG TIME
We need to retire his number
Still sad he didn’t return to us in 2015 for 1 more season to get a ring
Bam would never
If he stayed around one year longer he would have won a championship with the Warriors
Players like Jermaine O’Neal would have had Giannis, Jokic, and Bam crying in the locker room while he texts them to go pick up his Subway order. Don’t even get me started on Ben Wallace.
Back when dropping 50+ meant being on the news for days
Loved Jermaine O’Neal. Caleb Wilson will be a springier Jermaine.
People forget how dominant Jermaine was.
Loved this dude’s game even as a Knick fan. I miss players like this
Bam took ZERO notes
He literally did the “out of respect” meme
White Pinstripe pacers oneal jersey is an all time great.
Players like Jermaine O’Neal
Man this guy was one of my favorite players as a kid. I loved playing as the pacers in nba live 03 haha
I ran into Jermaine O’Neal hanging out with Tracy Mcgrady and Devean George on Miami Beach back in like 2005. It pains me to say that Tracy McGrady was a dick when I tried to say hi to them (I know, I know, but I was an extremely excited 16 year old). Jermaine O’Neal, however, was the man. He stood up, shook my hand, and chatted with me a little bit.
Then I ran into the same two again when I was going to a club for my 21st birthday in 2009 and they were both super chill.
Anyways, I love Jermaine O’Neal.
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The record belongs to Wilt. He should have stopped at 99
You seeing this, Bam?!
Records are meant to be broken, not “honored”. Intentionally not breaking records cheapens those records. Bam displayed Mamba Mentality by passing Kobe’s 81.
He subbed himself out because it was a blowout and he should’ve already been subbed out? Or he subbed himself out solely to save the record for Reggie? Because that’s lame af if he did the latter.
It was 83-79 Pacers at the start of the 4th and 108-94 Pacers when O’Neal subbed out, so both. They needed his 55, but it was also out of reach for Milwaukee by the time he subbed out. I’m sure he could’ve stayed in for another 3 points if he wanted to.
Pacers had 109 when he subbed out and they ended with 116. He definitely could have broken the record.
The latter wouldn’t be too surprising tbh. Jermaine has always had a lot of love for Reggie. He even showed deep regret over the Malice of the Palice mainly because that situation greatly ruined their chances to get Reggie a ring.
It was to save the record. I remember watching this game and Jermaine O Neal saying something like “I’ll have plenty of opportunities I break this record”…he was very wrong.
I agree. What kind of record is it if you know someone could have beat it but intentionally deferred? It becomes an asterisk record.
This is why he never won. Never wanting to be better than Reggie Miller. Reggie never won either. We made sure of that
For sure
Classy. Not like Bam
If Kobe was alive he would hate to hear this.
You Kobesexuals preach mamba mentality and all this shit but HATE it when somebody one ups Kobe in something.
Y’all some cringy ass hypocrites.
You realize that makes no sense considering Kobe and Bam are associated with two different franchises while these two were Pacers right?
I’ll never understand this sentiment. If Kobe could take wilts record, he would have (and he would have every right to). Dead or alive, records are meant to be broken
its gotta be sarcasm lol. makes no sense
its a lakers flair, wat do u think?
Reggie was loved by everyone in Indy including the players. They called him uncle Reggie at this point in his career.
I’m aware what he meant to Indy. That doesn’t mean it’s dishonorable to break one of their records lol
To me JO intentionally deferring and not breaking the record cheapens it. Now there is an asterisk next to it saying “but we all know JO would have broke it.” Records are meant to be broken, not “honored”.
And now his scoring record has an asterisk next to it. JO cheapened Reggie’s record, he didn’t honor it.
he also didnt stop at 60 for lebon, wat a jerk
It’s actually lame and unsportsmanlike. It cheapens the record and makes it an asterisk record because we all know it would have been beaten.