In January 1993, Shaquille O'Neal began to gradually adapt to the NBA scene. At one point, he struggled with how to get in better position, catch the ball, and avoid being squeezed out of position by his opponent when asking for the ball. However, as the match progressed, he gradually learned the art of communicating with the referees and understood that arguing with these experienced referees was useless. At the same time, while O'Neal is learning new game techniques, opponents in the league are constantly developing new defensive strategies to limit his play.
On December 30, 1992 and January 2, 1993, the Orlando Magic lost back-to-back to the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons. Against the Lakers, O'Neal was plagued by Divac's combination of defensive tactics and Perkins' timely interference. And in the matchup with the Pistons, the most cunning pair of villains in NBA history, Ranbill and Rodman, used their tricky and outlandish defensive strategies to keep O'Neal helpless. In each of those two games, O'Neill had seven turnovers each.
The Magic's coaching staff was helpless about the situation. The whole league knows that the Magic let O'Neal pick up the ball in the left wing box, and then a power forward used his cover to cut to the weak side, and the whole team pulled away to play inside and outside. However, the Magic couldn't come up with a new tactic to replace this strategy, so O'Neal had to face the challenge alone.
In the early spring of 1993, O'Neill became a public enemy of New York. The reason is that he became an All-Star starter at the age of 21 and as a rookie player. New York originally thought that Patrick Ewing's selection to the All-Star team was a sure thing, but this position was taken away by O'Neal, which undoubtedly provoked the anger of New York.