For starters, Nick didn't even start the game because of a strained hamstring that had him questionable right before tip-off.

"Lenny (Currer) said that Nick couldn't go, but he was still dressing," Coach Matt Guokas said. "I'm happy he did."

Who wasn't so happy about seeing Nick and the visiting Orlando Magic were the New Jersey Nets' arena workers, who had to spend over 30 minutes fixing a backboard that Shaq -- still angry about getting dunked on by Derrick Coleman in their first meeting -- pulled down in the first quarter. Unlike the clean backboard break in Phoenix a couple of months earlier, this one was loud, nasty and scary. Worth noting, is some actually believe it was staged because it was the final game of the season for the Orlando Magic (a team not advancing to the NBA playoffs) and Shaq, who just had one of the best and most marketable rookie campaigns of all-time.

Once the game was able to proceed, Nick came off the bench and made his first shot. Then another and another and then after just 33 minutes, Nick had a career-high 50 points on 17-of-25 shooting from the field and a perfect 12-for-12 from the line -- a place that became a nightmare for Nick in his post 1995 Finals years.

"It kind of even shocked myself," said Anderson. "I was in a zone. They were all going in and everybody was giving me the ball."

Usually, after a game when a player scores 50, you will find reporters lined up to speak to that player. Not on this night. The media were lined up to talk to his rookie teammate Shaq, who ended the night with just 10 points and 5 rebounds...but did tear down a backboard, which is something you just don't see that often in an NBA game. FYI, the NBA created "Shaq proof" rims between this season and Shaq's sophomore campaign.

Nick's 50-point masterpiece just might be the quietest 50 in NBA history while Shaq's 10 turned out to be one of the loudest.

But Shaq did make some worthy noise vs the Nets during the following season when he racked up an insane 24 points, 28 rebound and 15 blocks in a single game!

"I guess I played O.K," said O'Neal after the triple-double.

SHAQ VS THE NETS

Shaq, born in Newark, New Jersey, always had a history of memorable games and moments against the Nets. During his first meeting with the Nets, he scored 29 but the memorable moment came courtesy of Derrick Coleman, who scored 30 and threw down the only "poster dunk" on Shaq during his career. After the game, Shaq vowed to never get posterized again and to make the Nets pay.

And he did make them pay. Shaq's next visit to New Jersey resulted in a broken backboard -- the 2nd of Shaq's rookie season.

Then the next time Shaq came back to his hometown, he put up the monster triple-double (24/28/15)! As for Derrick Coleman, who dunked on Shaq the year before, he came down on his right ankle in the 3rd quarter and left the game with a season-low 8 points and 8 boards. If that wasn't enough to frustrate the late great Coach Chuck Daly, who's been watching his Nets players go down like flies over the past few games, he thought the officials were padding Shaq's stats.

"We did a decent job on (Shaq). I think it's very hard on the officials because some of the things he does, a lot of his blocks are close to being goaltending." said Daly after the loss.

That might be true but Shaq's 3 blocks on Armon Gilliam in the 4th were clean.

MORE DOMINANCE OVER THE NETS

Shaq's dominance over the Nets didn't end in Orlando. In 1998, Shaq scored 50 on the franchise and in 2002, Shaq helped the Lakers sweep the Nets in the NBA Finals.

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The reason why I hated the two so much is because I was an Orlando Magic fanatic in the mid 90s and those are the two players that broke my heart the hardest during the 95 NBA Finals between the Magic and Clutch City Rockets.

The scene of the crime was Game 1, where the Orlando Magic blew a 20-point lead but still had a three-point lead with 10.5 seconds on the clock and Nick Anderson at the free throw line. All he had to do was hit one of two.  He missed the first. He missed the second but was lucky enough to get the offensive board and go back to the charity stripe for two more shots at redemption. He ended up missing both of those. That divine intervention gave the Rockets a chance and Kenny Smith came through with another three pointer to put the game into OT.

In the extra session, it was a back and forth affair that ended with a game winning tip-in by Hakeem Olajuwon. The demoralized Magic would lose the next three games.

The loss was also the beginning of the end.

Shaq would miss the majority of the next season with an injury, which allowed Penny Hardaway to become second to only Michael Jordan in NBA popularity. As fate would have it, it would be Jordan's Bulls -- looking for revenge after getting eliminated by the Magic the year before -- that knocked off the Magic in the playoffs that year. The end of the season also meant the end of the Batman and Robin team in Orlando. Shaq would leave Orlando to join his new Robin in LA, while the Magic franchise struggled to recover. No player struggled to recover more from that game than Nick Anderson.

“It affected the way I played,” he said. “It affected the way I lived. It played in my head like a recorder – over and over again.”

Nick "The Brick" Anderson went from a 74 percent free throw shooter to a 40 percent free throw shooter.  He played a few more mediocre years, including a very forgettable stint with the Kings and Grizzlies.

Nick is now back with the Magic organization and also serves as a commentator for Fox Sports Florida. I'm sure he was feeling some pain watching Game 6 of the Finals last night, seeing the Spurs clank free throw after free throw near the end of regulation that would have sealed the NBA championship for them. Now the demoralized Spurs are facing a confident Miami Heat team in a Game 7 on their home court and feeling the pain that Nick Anderson and the Magic felt almost two decades ago. I just hope Kawhi Leonard doesn't lose his confidence the way Nick Anderson lost his.

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