Not even the early 2000s Los Angeles Lakers enjoyed the sustained success of the Golden State Warriors. But just because the Lakers' dynasty fueled by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant didn't have nearly the shelf life of Golden State's hardly means its all-time peak lags far behind the Warriors'.

Shaq, in fact, is fully confident the 2001 Lakers would beat the juggernaut 2017 Warriors in a seven-game series. Why? Not only would Golden State have no answer for arguably the most dominant player in league history, but O'Neal knows exactly how Los Angeles would keep the Warriors from heating up from deep.

“They're gonna have to double me,” Shaq said on the most recent edition of The Big Podcast.  “If they don't double me I'm going for 60 without the free throws.”

O'Neal was responding to Stephen Curry's recent take (via Zion Olojede of Complex) that the 2017 Warriors would beat the 2001 Lakers, mostly on the back of their insurmountable advantage from beyond the arc.

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But Shaq knows how he'd combat that edge, too.

“Here's my rebuttal: Once they get hot, D-Fish, send them to the hole, I'm gonna lay they ass out,” he said of the Warriors' star marksmen. “Now, what's gonna happen after I lay you out? You still gonna be hitting them threes? Every time we up on you at the three, you're gonna have to drive, and when you drive you're gonna have to worry about me laying your ass out. And I'm gonna lay all of 'em out—Steph, Klay and KD. I'm gonna touch they ass all the way up.”

As with all historical comparisons between eras, there's no right or wrong answer here.

The 2001 Lakers and 2017 Warriors are two of the best teams in the modern era. As much as Golden State would struggle containing Shaquille O'Neal inside, Los Angeles would struggle keeping Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson in check from three-point range—a fascinating and illuminating contrast in styles between all-time championship teams.

If only Golden State's dynasty had come along a decade-and-a-half earlier.

[The Big Podcast]