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Olajuwon:One-of-NBA's-four-best-pivots

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by packet, Sep 9, 2008.

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  1. packet

    packet Member

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    Comments: Many People say crap about Rockets / Olajuwon championship ... because M Jordan was not playing etc. However, it was Olajuwon who won Rookie of the Year 85 and took his team to Finals playing againt power house teams (lakers/Boston) earlier than Jordan without having strong role players or talent.


    http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8534870/Olajuwon:-One-of-NBA's-four-best-pivots


    The memory lingers in varying proportions of blocked shots, ferocious slams on offensive rebounds and dizzying spins known as the "Dream Shake." It was a performance that nobody in attendance could ever forget — 49 points, 25 rebounds and 7 blocks in a Game 6 Western Conference elimination game that the Houston Rockets lost in double overtime at Seattle.

    Hakeem Olajuwon — then Akeem and forever "The Dream" — put his stamp on the center position in the NBA that night and it still lives 21 years later, just days after he became one of seven inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

    Olajuwon, now 45, was presented into the Hall along with rival center Patrick Ewing, superstar coach Pat Riley, high-scoring Adrian Dantley, Detroit Pistons and Shock owner Bill Davidson, women's basketball pioneer Cathy Rush and gregarious college basketball commentator Dick Vitale on Friday night.

    But it was Olajuwon who blossomed into certainly one of the four greatest all-time centers along with Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, putting up a superior career to both Bill Walton and Shaquille O'Neal. The big comparison, of course, came with Ewing. Olajuwon clearly was the more pure athlete and they became rivals first at the collegiate level before titanic struggles in the NBA so it was fitting that they would be inducted together.

    Olajuwon was a product of Lagos, Nigeria, and never played the game until he was 17. But at 6-foot-10, he had developed extraordinary hand/eye coordination and footwork as a soccer goalie and playing team handball. So with that size and those skills, he was a natural for basketball. A coach lured him to the court and he ended up playing on a national touring team.

    Within months, still 17, he landed on the University of Houston campus, and after a year of adjustment to life in America and learning the game from coach Guy Lewis, Olajuwon became a human highlight film of blocks, steals and rebounds while learning the finesse of offense. It became a dunkfest every night for Lewis' Cougars and the team, along with All-American Clyde Drexler, drew national acclaim as the Phi Slama Jama dunking fraternity.

    They went to the Final Four three times with Olajuwon winning the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player award in 1983. But they did lose in the thrilling championship game to Jim Valvano's North Carolina State Wolfpack on a last-second put-back, and then again in 1984 to Ewing's Georgetown squad.

    It was then that the Rockets made Olajuwon the first overall pick of the fabled 1984 draft ahead of Sam Bowie and Michael Jordan. From there Olajuwon became an unstoppable force with the Rockets. He established the "Dream Shake" spins on the baseline on the offensive end, with endless pivots that would end in a jump shot or a patented up-and-under move. Today, Kevin Garnett does his own version on jumpers, but not with the same power, nor at the basket with the same effect.

    Olajuwon went on to set Rockets records for points (26,511), rebounds (13,382), blocks (3,740) and steals (2,088). His blocks are the most in NBA history although it is widely considered a mark that Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain exceeded dramatically but were not recorded because blocks didn't become official statistics until the 1973-74 season.

    Nonetheless, Olajuwon's impact on the game was inexorable because of his unusual combination of quickness and agility on such a powerful 6-10, 255-pound frame. He was rookie of the year in 1985, combining with 7-4 Ralph Sampson, the rookie of the year the previous season, to foist the "The Twin Towers" moniker on the NBA. They upset the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in 1986 in the Western Conference finals before losing to the Boston Celtics in the Finals. But Olajuwon was devastating in 20 playoff games, averaging 26.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.0 steals.

    In many ways, it was hard to believe the Rockets didn't get back to the Finals until 1994, with the loss to the Sonics in 1987 the biggest upset they suffered. But it was during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons, when the Rockets won back-to-back titles, that he cemented his role in history. During the 1993-94 campaign, Olajuwon won his only Most Valuable Player award, and he then led the Rockets to their first title. In his much-awaited re-match with Ewing, the Rockets overcame a 3-2 deficit to defeat Ewing, Riley and the New York Knicks for the 1994 NBA title.

    Perhaps even more impressive was the next season, though. Struggling mightily as a team, the Rockets made a mid-season trade to get Olajuwon's former college teammate Drexler, and limped into the playoffs as the sixth seed. Nonetheless, "The Dream" had a remarkable season, averaging 27.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.4 blocks, but nobody realized that was just a taste of what was to come in the playoffs.

    The Rockets struggled to a five-game win over Utah on the road in the first round and pulled out a spectacular one-point victory at Phoenix in Game 7 of the West semifinals. That set up the conference finals against MVP center David Robinson at San Antonio. The special night belonged to Olajuwon, who embarrassed Robinson with 41 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks in a one-point win at San Antonio. It set the tone for the Rockets to clinch the series at home in Game 6.

    And that brought in the next big challenge for Olajuwon and the Rockets, monstrous rookie of the year center Shaquille O'Neal and the Orlando Magic. The Magic blew Game 1 in overtime, and the Rockets swept the series with Olajuwon winning NBA Finals MVP for the second consecutive year. His performance in the playoffs — 33.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.8 blocks — moved coach Rudy Tomjanovich to utter, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion," about his superstar.

    A champion bound for the Hall of Fame indeed
     
    #1 packet, Sep 9, 2008
  2. ClutchCityReturns

    ClutchCityReturns Member

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    Jordan was Rookie of the Year.
     
    #2 ClutchCityReturns, Sep 9, 2008
  3. mlwoo

    mlwoo Contributing Member

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    Yup, somebody better fire an editor.
     
    #3 mlwoo, Sep 9, 2008
  4. francis 4 prez

    francis 4 prez Member

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    nice article. but it's "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion." always gets misquoted as "Never" instead of "Don't ever."
     
    #4 francis 4 prez, Sep 9, 2008
  5. jcee15

    jcee15 Member

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    Despite the obvious ROY mistake and the backhanded all time block record holder compliment, the article managed to give me chills. Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion, indeed.
     
    #5 jcee15, Sep 9, 2008
  6. Angkor Wat

    Angkor Wat Member

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    C'mon now, I'm sick of people acting like Hakeem played with trash. Ralph Sampson > Scottie Quitten. We had at least 6 guys that year averaging double digit points. Hakeem didn't take a bunch of nobodies to the Finals 3 times, we had good role players.
     
    #6 Angkor Wat, Sep 9, 2008
  7. saleem

    saleem Member

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    We had good role players without a doubt who fit in very nicely with him.In 95 he got to play with another star,Drexler who we couldn't have won without.
    If it wasn't for Ralph's injuries and the loss of the other players we could have gotten around 4-5 Championships but Hakeem wouldn't have gotten the credit that he is getting right now IMO.
    Winning Championships is more important than individual efforts,but I'm in awe of what the Dream did for us.
     
    #7 saleem, Sep 9, 2008
  8. packet

    packet Member

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    Yes, we have Ralph with his bad knee's or John Lucas with his cocaine issues. We did not have a very good core of players you add to create a dynasty. Please look at the tenure of the core role players guard John Paxson, Horace Grant, Pipen and they put better talent around core & MJ --- hence the '90s dynasty – The three-peat.

    I feel we could have had similar or better run ..
     
    #8 packet, Sep 9, 2008
  9. leebigez

    leebigez Member

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    U know, when I start to rail on Yao, I have to pull back some. I have to realize and I try to get people to understand that we went from Hayes to Moses to Dream. When we got Yao, I thought he was going to continue the lineage of great center play with the rox. The deal is, he's good, not great. We can win with good, but I thought we were going to get great. Its all good, its just a hard act to follow.
     
    #9 leebigez, Sep 9, 2008
  10. Aznoob

    Aznoob Member

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    Gotta agree with you on this one. 7'6" is amazing indeed, but you have to compare Yao to Shawn Bradley. I mean, both are 7'6", yet Yao produces FAR better numbers next to the other giant.

    The 7 foot Olajuwon was a LOT more nimble than Yao. Also, one has to remember the 90's as a centers game, mostly.

    Today, big men are pretty much extinct, as this game belongs to the Kobes and the Lebrons of the NBA.

    I think big men are making a comeback, slowly but surely. The rivalry between DH12, Oden, Bynum, and the Great Wall will be one for the ages.

    Or until Yao decides he is the best big man in the game. Whichever one comes first.

    :D
     
    #10 Aznoob, Sep 9, 2008
  11. tinman

    tinman 999999999
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    WRONG
    Ralph's bad knees wasn't something inherent, he got injured in the NBA finals vs Boston, which was his hip. Back then, medical staff was as advanced. He should have never played a single game after that injury, but he did, which the hip was not fully recovered so that led to his knee injuries.

    Dude. It was Wiggins/Lloyd that got busted that year and they were awesome. Plus Rodney McCray and Reid?

    Hey I hate to break the news to you, but Jordan and his cohorts did play that era too. Yeah, Ralph and Dream did beat them. Bad Knees and all.

    Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
    Date: FRI 01/16/1987
    Section: Sports
    Page: 1
    Edition: NO STAR

    Rockets stymie charging Bulls for 107-96 win

    By ALAN TRUEX
    Staff

    CHICAGO - A very dangerous thing happened to the Houston Rockets early in the third quarter Thursday night.

    They got a 22-point lead.

    Keep in mind, this is the team that blew a 21-point lead to lose a game to Phoenix a month ago.

    The Rockets got their big lead against the Chicago Bulls and tried to sit on it.

    So the Bulls came back, knocking 18 points off that lead. But the Rockets still managed to win, 107-96.

    The Rockets had to offset a 43-point game by Michael Jordan. They did it by getting 20 or more points from three players: Robert Reid (26), Ralph Sampson (25) and Akeem Olajuwon (20).

    The Twin Towers, Olajuwon and Sampson, with 15 and 14 rebounds respectively, dominated the Bulls inside. Olajuwon blocked four shots.

    But despite a number of impressive individual efforts, it looked as the Rockets might let this one slip away.

    "I saw what was going to happen," Reid said. "We lost that edge, killer instinct. We stood back and watched one man try to take over.

    "It seemed like he was everywhere."

    The one man was, of course, Jordan, who tied his own team record by taking 43 shots.

    He made only 17 of the 43, but he took control of the game for half of the third quarter and most of the fourth.

    "In the end," Rockets Coach Bill Fitch said, "we were getting tired, making errors and dropping the ball."

    One problem is they are shorthanded, following the banishment of Mitchell Wiggins and Lewis Lloyd for cocaine abuse. Also, reserve forward Buck Johnson has missed 11 games with a hyperextended right knee.

    But down the stretch, with Chicago trailing by four, at 88-84 and again at 90-86, Reid hit 20-foot jump shots to keep his team from getting caught.

    Chicago Coach Doug Collins said, "These guys are so big they give everyone a problem. Sampson got a great streak going where he was hitting everything he put up.

    "And then when we tried to force them to hit jumpers from the outside, Reid hit them.

    "They are a poised team, a team that's been to the finals, and the way they played tonight is a sign of a team that's been there before."

    Jordan said, "They played well tonight and controlled the inside. They clogged it up and we couldn't get our inside game going. We let them get too far ahead and then used a lot of energy trying to get back into the game."

    Jordan was slightly off on his shooting and was suffering from a bruised right shoulder. He hit only eight of 19 shots in the first half as the Rockets ran up a 57-48 lead.

    Had it not been for seven turnovers in the first quarter, the Rockets might have buried the Bulls early.

    In the first half, Houston shot 61 percent form the floor (to 40 percent for Chicago), and the Rockets had a 30-17 rebounding advantage.

    It wasn't that the Rockets were unleashing one of their furious fast-break assaults. They simply waltzed to a number of easy baskets as the Bulls were offering no resistance.
     
    #11 tinman, Sep 10, 2008
  12. tinman

    tinman 999999999
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    Why do I have to correct Rocket fans on their poor knowledge of Rocket's history? :mad:

    You mean that those role players were so good for them they we shot 72%
    with Sleepy Floyd, Mitch Wiggins, Buck Johnson ?

    No Maxwell, No Kenny Smith, No Clyde Drexler, No Mario Elie, No Robert Horry, No Sam Cassell

    note this game in 1990 at the apex of Jordan's athleticism and scoring, his team is the same championship team.

    Jordan
    Pippen
    Grant
    Paxon
    Cartright

    vs

    Sleepy Floyd
    Mitch Wiggins
    Buck Johnson
    Dream
    Otis Thorpe

    Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
    Date: FRI 02/02/1990
    Section: Sports
    Page: 1
    Edition: 3 STAR

    Rockets crush Bulls 139-112/Chicago's newfound unity fades into thin Air Jordan

    By EDDIE SEFKO
    Staff

    If this were golf, the Rockets today would be deflecting accusations that they are sandbaggers.

    Whether or not it was by design, the Rockets set up Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls for a big fall, then slugged them Thursday night with a 139-112 haymaker that must have caught the visitors from the blind side.

    The Bulls, after all, had spent the night before doing homework. They had watched the Rockets on television blowing a fourth-quarter lead, missing nine of their last 10 shots and losing at Dallas.

    It was enough to give anybody a serious case of overconfidence.

    "I think that they thought we would come out timid," said John Lucas. "And we didn't. We came out strong, hitting our shots.

    As a result, fans at the sold-out Summit saw the best of both worlds. Jordan was airborne much of the night, scoring 35 points. And the Rockets got a runaway win.

    It was a great game all the way around, unless you were a Bull.

    "I don't think we showed up," Jordan said. "I don't call that a game. There wasn't any ball played on our part.' Considering the Rockets plowed through the Bulls' defense to a 41-21 first-quarter lead and widened the gap to 34 by the fourth quarter, Jordan was right.

    The Rockets established season highs with 41 first-quarter points, 77 first-half points and 139 points for the game.

    In their eternal pursuit for the .500 mark, they now are 21-23.

    Otis Thorpe had 30 points and 13 rebounds    , playing his best overall game of the season. It was his best point production since he had 33 in the fourth game of the season.

    He had loads of help. All five Rockets scored at least 16 points. Akeem Olajuwon had 23 points. Sleepy Floyd had 20 points, hitting all three of his three-point shots in the process.

    Sometimes, the Rockets can look pretty good when they play five-on-five basketball.

    Playing five-on-one, they can look downright invincible.

    They ganged up on Jordan.

    The Rockets breezed by the Bulls like they were nothing but Air. And, on this night, Chicago was nothing but Air.

    The Air Jordan show was magnificent as Chicago's superstar scored 25 points in the first half. He could have posted a remarkable scoring night had the score not gotten out of hand. He sat almost the entire fourth quarter.

    "I have only one thing to say," Chicago Coach Phil Jackson said. "This was one of the longest nights I've ever spent in the NBA. And I've been in the league 18 years.

    "The Rockets were terrific. And we were equally as bad.' Affirmative on both counts. The Rockets hit their first seven shots, fired in 72 percent of their attempts in the first quarter and hardly slowed down the rest of the way.

    For the game they knocked in 62 percent of their field-goal tries.

    "It's really amazing what a day will do for a team," Coach Don Chaney said. "Last night (Wednesday against Dallas) we couldn't buy a basket.

    "Tonight, we shot the ball from all over and made everything.' In a way, it was no surprise. The Rockets continue to be a good home team and an awful one when they step outside the city limits.

    "It's driving me crazy," Chaney said, "because I can't figure out why we can't hit a shot on the road. At home, we take shots and know they are going in. On the road, we're a different team.' But for one night, the Rockets successfully stole the spotlight from Jordan, although he had his moments.

    He scored 15 second-quarter points, mostly on swooping drives to the basket, levitating above and beyond the Houston defense when necessary.

    And while the Bulls may have subconsciously been underestimating the Rockets, Houston certainly got a boost by Jordan's once-yearly visit to The Summit.

    "There's no question that when you've got a great player like him, your intensity level rises," Chaney said. "I was worried about this game because of the fatigue factor.

    "But I don't care how you feel. When you go against somebody like Jordan, you get up for those games.' And the Rockets were never in trouble. They steadily increased the lead. Their shooting was as good as it has been all season.

    "When you shoot the ball like we did tonight, everything falls,"said Mitchell Wiggins.

    Including the Bulls.

    But then, they were set up for the putdown.
     
    #12 tinman, Sep 10, 2008
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2008
  13. packet

    packet Member

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    The point ::Chicago Core played together for longer period and had better talent on and off the bench. You can compare the numbers for the remainder of the player. You can not win with lesser talent ... Chicago had pipen, jordan, grant ...

    I am not arguing that we were not able to beat chicago bulls ... we have always beat the crap out of chicago w or without jordan. The point is What could have been if we had better talent around "The Dream" we could have couple of peats ...


    Jordan (84-98)
    Pippen (87-98)
    Grant (87-94)
    Paxon (85-94)
    Cartright (88-94)

    vs

    Sleepy Floyd with Rockets (88-93)
    Mitch Wiggins (85-90)
    Buck Johnson (86-92)
    Dream (84-2001)
    Otis Thorpe (89-95)

    Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
    Date: FRI 02/02/1990
    Section: Sports
    Page: 1
    Edition: 3 STAR
     
    #13 packet, Sep 10, 2008
  14. Shroopy2

    Shroopy2 Member

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    Shaquille O'Neal was not a monster rookie of the year when they met in the finals. He won it a full 2 years before that season so its another ROY he got wrong. Bad editing but decent article.
     
    #14 Shroopy2, Sep 10, 2008
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