7’0 Hakeem Olajuwon uniquely flexed his dominance against Shaquille O’Neal and Patrick Ewing 11/11 times in the Finals
Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the most skilled centers in NBA history, and when it came time to show his dominance, he showed up against Shaquille O’Neal and Patrick Ewing.
Hakeem ‘The Dream’ Olajuwon finished his career as the NBA’s all-time leader in blocks with a whopping 3,830 of them. For comparison, Dikembe Mutombo is second on that list with 3,289.
The gap is big, and it’s a testament to how big Hakeem really was as a rim protector. So if you’re going to compare someone to him when it comes to defense, you better have something concrete to back it up.
However, Hakeem was also a talented scorer. He mastered the art of scoring in the low post, using his feet to make defenders bite into fakes and trick them. The ‘dream punch’ became synonymous with seven footers.
Hakeem Olajuwon's ULTIMATE "Dream Shake" Mixtape! pic.twitter.com/3MneUqOoIv
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Hakeem Olajuwon edged out Shaquille O’Neal and Patrick Ewing in the finals
When Jordan retired from the NBA for the first time, he created shock waves in the league. Someone of his caliber who retired so early raised questions. After all, he had just come off a hat-trick and seemed to be in the best position of his career.
Jordan’s retirement also created a window of opportunity for other teams to sneak in and fight for the NBA championship.
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The Rockets were one of those teams.
Houston reached the Finals in both seasons Jordan was out and, led by Hakeem, they also won both titles. buy rybelsus online
In the 1993-94 season, they faced the Patrick Ewing-led Knicks and Olajuwon absolutely dominated.
He averaged 26.9 points per game to Ewing’s 18.9 points per game. Houston won the series 4-3. Then in the 1994-95 season, Hakeem and the Rockets made history by being the lowest seed to win a championship when they won as the sixth seed.
That year, Hakeem faced Shaquille O’Neal and, once again, showed that he was leagues above. He averaged 32.8 points per game to Shaq’s 29.5. The Rockets swept the Magic 4-0. buy antabuse online
In fact, in all 11 games in the final, Hakeem was the top scorer.
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