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The top center in the NBA isn’t Pau Gasol or the injured Yao Ming, or even Dwight Howard. No, the best man in the middle the league has to offer is Shaquille O’Neal/Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

At least if you ask Shaq.

“I said it before, that myself and him, we are the best center in the game,” said Shaq.

It might sound a little cocky, or even flat-out absurd. But maybe, just maybe, the wily veteran is on to something.

Ilgauskas has been a steady force at the center position for the Cavaliers the past seven seasons after battling foot injuries for the first several years of his career. The 34-year-old Lithuanian has averaged 14.3 points in his career and is the Cavs all-time leading rebounder.

O’Neal is a four-time NBA champion and was the Finals MVP on three of those title teams. For his career he has averaged a double-double and is the fifth-leading scorer in NBA history.

Together the two seven-footers equal a very complete center, especially on the offensive end.

O’Neal makes his living in the post, where he has dominated opposing big men for the past 17 years. Ilgauskas is mainly a jump shooter and even hit 15 three-pointers during the 2008-09 season. The two complement each other so well that Mike Brown has begun to play them together for a portion of many games this season.

“(They have) The ability to make that paint look really crowded and that’s what we get,” Brown said. “And then Z has the ability to space the floor with the way that he shoots it. There’s some positives to it.”

Brown used a decent dose of the “Twin Tower” lineup on Thursday against the Chicago Bulls, with mixed results. O’Neal and Ilgauskas were on the court for over four minutes in the second quarter and for nearly three minutes in the game’s final quarter. Overall, the Cavaliers were outscored 13-11 with the two centers on the court in the 86-85 loss, although the team did lessen the fourth-quarter deficit with the two playing together.

The biggest weakness of the lineup is the lack of mobility and quickness. Neither O’Neal or Ilgauskas has ever been known for their speed, and the fact that they have now combined to play 28 years in the NBA does not help.

Brown has acknowledged that the combination makes the Cavaliers more susceptible to pick-and-rolls than they are with J.J. Hickson or Anderson Varejao at the power forward position, but said he “will continue to play them together some once in a while.”

The length that the Shaq/Z lineup gives Brown could be valuable, but the pair may be better served to substitute for one another exclusively, with each helping to limit the wear-and-tear on the other’s aging body.

“I realize that we are going to share minutes, so it’s vital that we just go out there and give it all we got,” said O’Neal. “It’s good to have an excellent big man like him as a backup.”

So far this season the two have combined for 18.1 points, 13.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game, while Dwight Howard is averaging 20 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.

Maybe Shaq is on to something.