This was a video I found accidentally. I've never seen it before. It reminds how good Olajuwon was from the get go. This was his second year in the league and he was dominating the best players in the league. He also reminds me of how good McHale was. He was putting up ridiculous numbers as the second option on that team. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z1bZGZkcryY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z1bZGZkcryY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
man watching these just brings up memories of how great sampson could have been. we would own the L with the real twin towers if he was to stay healthy.
well that's the series where he got THE injury that ruined his career. modern medicine would have shut down Sampson after his injury in Boston for a whole year, but back in the day, its no pain no gain league.
If the Rockets had won that series the Dream would be considered Top 5 of All time . He's Number one player of all time if you ask me. If I could pick any one player to start my Franchise it would be the Dream. I'm 28 and Olajuwon is the reason I started following the Rockets, well that and I'm Nigerian. I realized his greatness when I was Like 10. Rockets Fan For Life!
What post moves, damn! I think nobody even in today's NBA don't have that kind of footwork in the low post, that's amazing. 7ft tall and that quick, with that agility and power? That's the thing you won't see probably for the rest of your life. It's too bad Rockets didn't win that year, we would have had three championships by now.
Yeah it amazing to watch those games. Hakeem was amazing. A couple of years ago R2K (IIRC) shared game 1 and 2 of the finals of 1986. Amazing games.
A lot of people mentioned how big men wont be successful in today's NBA and point to Yao's trouble with fronting as why Hakeem might be limited. But if you look at the two positions at around the 3:20 mark, you see why Hakeem would still dominate today. Hakeem's speed, ball handling, agility and foot work are just insane for a big man. The first play where he got the offensive rebound over Walton, one second he's sealed off, the next second he shuffles in front of Walton. The next play where he post up McHale, he did two quick hops to full McHale and got himself a much deeper position in the post before receiving the ball. At the 7 minute mark, the Celtics doubles and Hakeem just splits it like Deron Williams. We might have zone defenses today, but Hakeem is just so good at dancing around the defense before establishing the post that he's probably the best big men to bust a zone.
I think Dream would still dominate in today's game, but Yao probably would benefit a lot if the big man game was called like in the 80s.
My brother, you could boldface 'or a lot of them' as a glaring disclaimer. If McHale is at the 4 vice Scola, the current series is over, and the Lakers have no answer for play at the 4 and 5. Gasol/McHale? HAHA. Emu-boy would go fetal on the floor. Bynum/Yao? Young fella, thanks for coming- enjoy the game. McHale was longer, faster, could score better on quick touches, and most importantly, could get his own shot. In no way does this denigrate the Gaucho Warrior, but it would certainly clear up the current dilemma the team has with second-option points. RonRon could just stick to being Rodney McCray (staying relevant to the thread) where hard fouls on the NBA's Obama would be of more value than his offensive production. And wouldn't Scola look great as McHale Lite coming off the bench?
And in his second year. Except for the championship seasons, 1985-86 was the most fun I've ever had as a Rockets fan and certainly the most exciting. Just damn glad I was an adult, married without children (lol!), when it happened. My only regret is that I had already moved to Austin. You hear people carry on about how Akeem didn't have a jumpshot early in his NBA career. That simply isn't true. He developed one as that season progressed and you saw it a lot during the playoffs. The guy was such an incredible natural talent that he "got" stuff and used it. The hardest thing for him to get, and it was because he lost most of the team from that season as his career progressed, IMO, was to trust his teammates. Rudy got him to do that and the rest is history. Minus the white powder and Ralph's injury, that would have evolved during the course of that team's development and we'd have more banners and more trophies to admire. And I don't consider that my opinion, but a fact, and sad to contemplate. Fate had something else in store.
Olajuwon was so quick, so slippery. It would have been really interesting to see how he would have dealt with this Portland defense in his second year.
Shipping some salad your way for a very nice post. Couldn't agree more. I'm a huge fan of Scola and he's probably my favorite current player on the Rockets, but he is definitely "McHale Lite," which is no slam at all. McHale was unreal. It wasn't just Bird, of course, who made that Celtics team of '85-'86 arguably the best in league history.
