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Shaq: My Lakers would 'easily' beat current Warriors team

Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / Getty

Shaquille O'Neal says the Golden State Warriors wouldn't stand a chance against his Los Angeles Lakers squad that won three consecutive titles from 2000 to 2002.

"I think we'd easily win," O'Neal told Scott Gleeson of USA TODAY Sports. "Other people might feel different. They (the Warriors) might feel different. But we had one of the best teams of all time in 2001 when we went 15-1 in the playoffs. We would've gone 16-0 but A.I. (Allen Iverson) went off on us and stepped over Ty Lue."

The 2000-01 Lakers swept the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, and San Antonio Spurs before losing Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Lakers won their next four games en route to taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

As for today's Lakers, O'Neal believes they're a playoff team, but stopped short of calling them contenders.

"They're definitely hard to figure out," he said. "The world knows what can happen when you put good players around LeBron. The whole idea of patience only applies if you haven't won (a championship). When you're LeBron and you've been to eight Finals appearances in a row, you haven't got time for much patience. After I got my first one, I was like, 'You know what, let me get another one.' When you're on the top of Mount Everest, you don't want to go back down."

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