NBA's 60 Greatest Playoff Moments: #34

[L4dude5]

I watched this game on NBA TV the other day! Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the best centers in history hands down.

[mstfsircold]

HAAAAAAAKEM HAAAAAAAAAKEM KAFAM GİRSİN

[MrSDCHARGRS]

HAKEEEEEEEEEEEM

[SoccerbossXD]

Hakeem Olajuwon is my all time favorite player. His work ethic was phenomenal and a great guy in general. So much respect for that man....he will live on in NBA history for years to come

[ballabogan]

It was partially bloiiaaayyeeandOlajuwantoOlaju­won with the big tip. Did anyone else catch that?

[AwesomeDude5415]

@ballabogan me lol

[ballabogan]

It was partially bloiiaaayyeeOlajuwan! lol

[jstafford81]

i think 0:19 should be the thumbnail.

[vccstudents]

I still say this is where the Knicks choked! They should have gone for the tie and played for OT. Then a year later Ewing proved he was a BUM when he went for that stupid finger roll against Indiana and MISSED! Ewing as Mr. Knick! NOT! Willis Reed was MR. KNICK! So was just about everyone else from those '70 and '73 teams!

[CoolerKing37]

@vccstudents Get over it, you fucking baby.

[thenintendogamer]

Lol, Hakeem's jersey number is 34, same as this video.

[RaferAlstonAkaLAZIO]

One dislike. Guess from who? Thats right... John Starks.

[Stevenelow]

Bringing back horrible childhood memories.

[MrUlcards1]

its a crime that Patrick Ewing never won a championship

[mrbriscoe2001]

..most boring Finals ever..New York style was DULL...

[ChrisnSnoop]

One of the best finals match-ups ever, and probably my favorite!

[ChrisnSnoop]

I still think about this game to this day... Starks played one of the most remarkable games I have ever seen from a single player, and had he made this shot, THIS MOMENT would have been top 10 all time. It would have won the Knicks their first championship in over twenty years, and Starks would have been a hero. The way Starks was shooting and judging the orientation of the ball, it was as good as in--so the Knicks were ONE FINGERTIP away from another championship. My favorite ball club/era ever

[tharock220]

This was vintage Hakeem. Once he got help he was unstoppable. This was his was of telling Starks you've had your fun this quarter, but the ring is mine.

[THEGREATMIAH777]

clutch city baby

[SinJackal]

Basically what I mean is (sorry to make ya read so many comments about it), is that Hakeem's actual production was only a few baskets better than Robinson's by comparison. Hakeem also took WAY more shots per game. He took almost 30 a game, while Robinson took about 20 or so a game, and still got 24 PPG, to Hakeem's low 30s per game with 30 FGAs. If you take effeciancy into account here too, Hakeem especially did not dominate him. It was the ridiculous 60% 3pt shooting that did in the Spurs.

[maxedwell]

@ SinJackal

I'll say up front I dislike 1v1 comparisons since hoops is a TEAM sport. Who's better, Magic or Bird? Even if we could switch each player to the other's team, we'd still never know.

Anyhow, IMO you're focusing too much on the numbers. I just checked and Hakeem took nearly 11 more shots/game than Robinson (27.6), but the flip side is Robinson averaged nearly 12 FT/game vs Hakeem at a hair over 5. This kinda stuff can be debated endlessly, but the numbers don't tell the story.

cont'd

[SinJackal]

Yeah but Robinson was getting And 1's too. You can't calculate all FTs as "missed shots". If you equate all the extra shots taken by Hakeem, their actual contributions were nearly the same. Hakeem just forced up more shots. It''s like when Kobe goes 12-30, and gets 30 points. Is that truly better than someone going 10-12 and getting 24 points? In my opinion, it is not. It's far worse, despite the fact that he scored 6 more points.

[maxedwell]

youtube is giving me problems, & I can't post comments argh. Anyhow, you're still stuck in the numbers. Go back & watch those games like a coach. The way each team ran their offense & counter schemes was vastly different. The Knicks/Ewing played the Rockets far better than the Spurs.

Keep track of how often Admiral/Dream are doubled & where the 2nd defender comes from. Look at the matchup during 1v1 isolations. Fantasy sports junkies get bogged down in stats whereas the game is more than that.

[SinJackal]

the youtube thing is like that for a lot of people. have to go to the comments page half the time to even post.

Anyway, no I am not caught up in the stats. 100% of the reason people claim hakeem "dominated" Drob was "because of the stats", and yet, the stats are not magically way in Hakeem's favor. That was my point. I never said stats were everything. You invented that notion to have an argument, since what I said originally was not debatable.

[maxedwell]

@ SinJackal

I've still got these games on VHS, and ya gotta remember, Houston won the 1st 2 games of the series IN San Antonio. To their credit, the Spurs came back, but throughout the series, the Rockets & Hakeem made the key plays.

Mind you, I've been a Laker fan for 30+ years, yet the most impressive performance I've seen by a center wasn't Shaq or Kareem, it was what Hakeem did versus Ewing, Robinson & Shaq. There is ZERO doubt The Dream outplayed them all during the 2 year run.

[SinJackal]

I remember the games too. There is plenty of doubt that Hakeem outplayed all three of those guys. He only outplayed Ewing. Shaq actually outperformed Hakeem when they played, and vs Robinson they were roughly equal (very tiny, slight edge to Hakeem). You cannot sit there and say he "dominated and outplayed them all", because he did not.

The Rockets' lucky three point shooting is what got them rings. They would shoot over 50% from three in most of their wins.

[maxedwell]

@SinJackal

At no point did I say Hakeem dominated them. I said he outplayed them and this view is widely held by most hoops aficionados who aren't bitter or packing agendas. Robinson himself said:

"I don't even know how I can say it with a straight face, but I thought most of the time I defended him pretty well. The man just played as well as I've seen anybody play in a long time."

Anyhow, I'm glad a classy, hard-working guy like The Admiral still got rings. I loved his game/attitude.

[SinJackal]

That is paraphrasing. I simply subbed the word you used for one that is synonymous with it. That's like saying, "I didnt' say it was great, I said it was amazing!", and trying to make an argument about that. It's the same thing.

That view is held by people who don't watch NBA in detail, and look to sum up entire series or playooff runs in a few sentences. Nobody who is a true "afficionado", will so blasely paint those playoffs in that way.

[maxedwell]

@SinJackal

You equate being dominated with being outplayed? There's quite a LARGE difference to me.

There's a reason you hear so many former players talk w/ respect about what Hakeem did those two years. But you're a bitter homer who refuses to see the truth. Example? What you called "lucky 3 point shooting" was a direct by-product of the Spurs collapsing on Hakeem, Drexler & Cassell around the paint. Check the assist distribution. Spurs double, pass pass pass open shot. No luck needed.

[Stellarmasterelite]

@SinJackal All I have to say, is the words of The Admiral himself, when asked what a team should do to solve Hakeem. "Solve Hakeem? You don't solve Hakeem".

And that was said by one of the greatest defenders ever to play the game, so I rest my case.

[SinJackal]

Sports is filled with players who are considerate, respectful, and give compliments to other players. That same comment has been made by players who play better than their counterparts, and win the games. In fact, similar comments to that are made on a daily basis, after nearly ever single game. "He was great today, we couldn't stop him".

[SinJackal]

And no offense, but citing a common line used by nearly every player and coach in sports is no proof. FYI, Robinson outplayed hakeem all throughout their career, holding him to an average of 44% shooting, 6 points below Hakeem's career %, and to under 20 PPG average.

[tharock220]

@SinJackal

Hakeem actually held DRob to <20ppg. Not vice versa.

Remember the NBA commercials, the playoffs where legends are born. Hakeem raised his game for the playoffs. The Admiral could not. That's why Hakeem's playoff numbers are higher than his regular season numbers and that's why he has a finals MVP. Robinson's career vs Hakeem was defined by that WCF.

BTW, I'm a Spurs fan to the point that when the Rockets are out of the playoffs I want the SA to beat them.

[HeadlessEye]

Hakeem averaged 35.3 ppg 56% shooting, to Robinson's 23.8 on 44.8%. There was almost nothing Robinson did in that series that Hakeem didn't do better. 4.5 apg for Hakeem, only 2.7 for Robinson; 13.1 rpg for Dream, 11.3 for Robinson; 4.2 bpg for Hakeem, only 1.5 a game for Robinson. Robinson's only saving grace was that he got to the line a lot, otherwise it was complete domination by Dream. As for the 3-point shooting, Houston shot 34.5% for the series, they did not shoot over 50% in any game.

[SinJackal]

@HeadlessEye They shot nearly 50% in game 2 (19 attempts) in what was a close game which dictated the series, 45% in game 3 (29 attempts!!!).

Not to mention Hakeem had the great Clyde Drexler backing him, and Robert Horry who was playing well nearly every game. All DRob had was two lesser players for backup in Sean Elliot and Avery Johnson.

I never denied Hakeem had a better series, the fact is, that's only ONE series, period. One measely series doesn't define BOTH their careers.

[riotusa1]

It took 34 spots to finally show hakeem? That's a travesty. Olajuwons dominance of D. Robinson in 95 should have been at least top 10.

[SinJackal]

@riotusa1

If he actually did "dominate" him, maybe it would've been up there. But he didn't. Robinson averaged 24/12, with good assist and block numbers too, while shooting a good %. Hakeem barely outdid him in any category besides points, and that's only because he took 10+ more shots per game. I wouldn't call that domination.

Rockets only beat the Spurs because they were shooting like 60% from three in the series. Not because of Hakeem vs Robinson.

[riotusa1]

@SinJackal I undrstand whbat you are saying but I disagree. Robinson was going to get his points/rebounds, etc., His most importantm job however was to contain Olajuwon. The fact was that he could not guard Hakeem. Hakeem made him look sick and demoralized. In the two games the Spurs won, they doubled Hakeem and made the perimeter shooters beat them. Whenever Robinson guarded Hakeem one on one the Spurs were in trouble. But it was also the way Drexler made an ass out of Del Negro that helped.

[SinJackal]

I dunno. One of Hakeem's best games was in a loss to the Spurs. I'm not 100% fresh on every aspect of the series since it's been 15 years, but I don't think he was getting doubled in that first loss since he took over 30 shot attempts and shot almost 60%, but they lost anyway.

The reason I don't consider Robinson to have been dominated, it because Hakeem's best game (arguably), was in a loss that series, and Robinson did pretty well during Hakeem's other good games that series

[SinJackal]

I agree that Robinson didn't defend him as well as he needed to. . .but I don't think Hakeem defended him very well either by contrast ('cept two of the games, one of which was a loss anyway for the Rockets)

I just don't consider a player to have been "dominated", if he's still putting up 24/12 games every night shooting almost 50%, and getting 3-4 blocks per game too. Hakeem did great, but I just can't consider only a few extra baskets in stats over DRob's performance to be that dominating.

[HonoreT35]

The poor Knicks. If it wasn't the Bulls then it was the Rockets. But they were a great team. Truly physical and a man team for the ages.

[raclos234]

damn OJ overshadowed this nba finals!

[armydime]

@raclos234 lmaoooo sure did

[masanf]

@raclos234

I still remember watching one of the games when they broke in with the footage of the white Bronco being followed by all the cop cars.

[onblock7]

@masanf We all will remember this game and that forever!

[hailhopes]

@masanf yea i was at a party watchin this then the bronco broke in. im a Rockets fan butr OJ fuk me up though.

[thenintendogamer]

@raclos234 what do you mean by that?

[Sagerian81]

He was absolutely in the zone in game 6, this block turned the series.

[astrosfan611]

What is the name of this song?

[imbobsaget]

you are the most inappropriate, rude youtube member ever

[ThaShark316]

Damn that shot was gonna go in if not for Dream! GO ROCKETS!

[jaboo82681]

The bad part was Starks had a great game in that 6th game and turned around and had a horrible game 7

[jlsav66]

@jaboo82681 2 for 18 in game 7...solid.

[armydime]

@jaboo82681 i agree this finals as a knick fan was almost amazing to watch even though they lost...john stark faithful!

[nitestar95]

@jaboo82681 Worse was that in game 7, Riley kept Starks in the whole game and never put 4 time all star Rolando Blackman in at guard, even though Starks was throwing up bricks all night long.