.... In the regular season matchups. http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=olajuha01&p2=robinda01#stats_playoffs Hakeem only won 12 games?
tinman, you got this? This is what I got: <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hW4uXlRGAF0?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hW4uXlRGAF0?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>
David Robinson was a great player in his own right. People talk about him like a scrub due to what happened in the playoffs, but he was still one of the best centers to walk the NBA. He still did good in the NBA, it was simply that Hakeem elevated his game during the playoffs like any true superstars could do.
71 percent of the wins in the regular season in 42 games played is absolute domination. That shocked me. The rockets were owned by SAS back then.
I didn't know Robinson owned Olajuwon during those regular season matchups. In fact it looks like Robinson didn't lose a single game against Hakeem following that playoff series. But then I scroll down a little and see both of their playoff numbers, and that speaks for itself.
there's alot of games and seasons and teams. you can't just look at stats. there were injuries and other factors. For example, remember Hakeem's last years in Houston? who was his point guard? Steve Francis. That could explain his low amount of touches. Also toward the end, Dream wasn't the same guy as he was in his earlier career. This is like pointing out Michael Jordan with the Wizards lost to Iverson. The Spurs were one of our nemesis. But you know what everyone remembers is the playoffs. Think about the legends of the game, what do they talk about when they speak of them? Their playoff games.
Their regular season stats in their matchups are basically identical. But Hakeem OWNED Robinson in the playoffs. Case closed.
Actually we got screwed over on one game. this one, and it was the most important game for playoff positioning: http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1993_1125764 Drama, trauma as Rockets fall/Spurs eke out 119-117 win EDDIE SEFKO Staff MON 04/26/1993 HOUSTON CHRONICLE, Section Sports, Page 1, 2 STAR SAN ANTONIO -- In a game that refused to die against a team that had more lives than any cat, the Rockets were dealt a disheartening and controversial 119-117 overtime setback by the San Antonio Spurs in the regular-season finale Sunday night. The Rockets, who lost a chance to win the home-court advantage in the second round against Seattle because of the loss, fell behind 113-109 when David Robinson scored the first two baskets of overtime. They never fully recovered. The Rockets had a final chance to tie when, down 117-115, Scott Brooks missed an off-balance jumper from the corner with 10 seconds to go in OT. Avery Johnson hit two free throws for the Spurs with 2.5 seconds to go to clinch the win. The Rockets finished the season with a two-game losing streak, but how they lost Sunday's thriller will be discussed for days. Robinson tipped in a shot at the end of regulation to force overtime. The missed shot came from Dale Ellis and television replays showed Robinson's tip appeared to come after the buzzer. Rudy Tomjanovich was almost off the court running to the locker room. San Antonio coach John Lucas was pumping his arms and dancing. Matt Bullard, who had hit the 3-point shot that put the Rockets up 109-017 with 5.9 seconds to go, was kicking the scorer's table. To no avail, overtime beckoned. There might be more meaningful games in the playoffs, but they will have to go some to top Sunday's game for sheer excitement. The end of regulation was a breath-taking thrill show in itself. Brooks had hit a short bank shot with 25.8 seconds to go to put the Rockets ahead 106-104. The Spurs worked the ball to Robinson at the free-throw line. He had settled for jump shots much of the night against Olajuwon. This time, he drove down the left side of the lane. He was bumped hard by Olajuwon -- it was an obvious foul -- but Robinson somehow lifted a spinning, lefthanded layup to the glass and the ball trickled in. The free throw put San Antonio up by a point. The Rockets had 14.1 seconds with which to work and they didn't need that much. Bullard spotted up just beyond the 3-point arc and when Brooks fed him, Bullard pulled the trigger and hit nothing but net. But the Spurs were left with 5.9 seconds on the clock, which was enough time for one shot. Or two, depending on your viewpoint. Robinson's tip nevertheless counted and overtime was on. The Rockets had all the incentive they could ask for when Seattle lost at Golden State on Sunday. That left the Sonics with a final record of 55-27. To gain the second-round home-court advantage should they play Seattle, all the Rockets had to do was win against the Spurs. After a poor defensive half left the Rockets down 58-55 going into the third quarter, they rallied and when Olajuwon scored to start the fourth quarter, the battle was tied at 85. Moments later, Sleepy Floyd was shown no respect by the San Antonio defense and drained an open 20-footer for a 93-89 Rockets lead with 7:51 to play. The Spurs got a three-point play by Willie Anderson, but the Rockets then took control. Floyd hit a jumper and Brooks followed with a 3-pointer with 6:38 to go for a 98-92 Rockets lead. The Spurs could not narrow the gap below four points, primarily because of Olajuwon's defense. He made a clean steal of Robinson with 4:33 to play, then harassed Robinson on a drive to the bucket with just under three minutes to play. The result was a badly missed layup. When Robinson missed on a spinning layup with 2:10 to go, he looked frustrated by Olajuwon's defense. But at that point the Rockets went cold offensively. They were up 104-98, but went three possessions without scoring. When Johnson hit two free throws with 1:33 to play, the Spurs were back within four. The Rockets got the ball to Olajuwon, but he tried to force a pass to Brooks, which was deflected by Robinson and led to an Antoine Carr slam with 1:08 to play. Olajuwon (38 points) again was the point man offensively for the Rockets, but his baseline jumper -- a shot he has made time and again all season -- was off the mark and Ellis was fouled as the Spurs went out on the fast break. His free throws tied the game at 104 with 45.9 seconds to go. Brooks came through with a dynamite drive down the lane to put the Rockets back ahead, but Mr. Robinson was waiting. The Rockets had embarrassed themselves by giving up at least 30 points in every quarter of a 128-123 loss to lowly Dallas on Saturday at The Summit. When they surrendered 30 points to the Spurs in the first 12 minutes Sunday, the Rockets had a disgraceful streak of 30-plus quarters. They finally stopped the string at five by allowing a mere 28 points in the second period. Still, a 58-point half is totally unacceptable by Tomjanovich's standards. That the Rockets were down 58-55 was appropriate. They didn't deserve to be ahead after allowing the Spurs to shoot 59 percent in the half. And yet, the Rockets almost were tied. Bullard swished a 35-foot jumper that appeared to beat the halftime buzzer. But referee Ronnie Nunn waved off the basket before it went in. Not that the Rockets could complain. They had bungled enough chances and were playing the kind of defense that makes for entertaining, high-scoring basketball and, usually, a loss for the Rockets. The Rockets were being victimized by the Spurs' bigger guards -- a dead giveaway that Vernon Maxwell's absence poses a problem for Tomjanovich on the defensive end. Anderson, 6-7, came off the bench to hit 12 points in 11 minutes in the first half. He constantly posted up on Winston Garland, among others. Ellis, also 6-7, scored 12 first-half points as well, neutralizing the textbook job Olajuwon was doing defensively against Robinson. A sense of normalcy returned in the third quarter, when the game became more tense with every possession and the refs -- getting into playoff form -- began allowing all manner of pushing and shoving. The Rockets were behind 70-65 after Robinson slammed on a lob pass with 6:50 to go in the third quarter. The Rockets rallied and when Kenny Smith nailed a 3-pointer with 3:58 left, the Spurs were up just 76-75. They scored twice, and the Rockets came back with a pair of 3-pointers leading the way. First Smith bombed one in, then Floyd stole the ball and went in for a dunk on Anderson to tie the score at 80. After a free throw by Anderson, Bullard knocked in a 3-pointer for an 83-81 Rockets lead. The Spurs got back ahead going into the final 12 minutes when Johnson hit two free throws, then Terry Cummings grabbed an Elliott miss one-handed and flipped it back into the basket from six feet with 0.3 seconds left in the third period for an 85-83 San Antonio lead.
Dream went to another level for a couple of years that very few players have ever reached but before that he and Robinson were basically equal. In fact, the common perception outside of Houston was that Robinson was the better player (although I attribute most of that to media hype). Their stats are very similar as were their athletics gifts (Robinson had a lightning fast first step for a big guy and a nice jumper while Dream was more agile and had the better all-around offensive game). The bottom line is Dream is a top five center of all time but Robinson is probably only a slot or two behind him.
The Spurs (tanked) picked up additional lotto picks while Robinson was serving the Navy, and by the time he entered the league, their roster was stacked. It's not indicative of the Admiral owning the Dream, tho Robinson did more than hold his own against Olajuwon from their initial game on. The Spurs had a superior roster for a long stretch while the Rockets were slowly rebuilding from their Twin Towers era.
#1. David Robinson was an elite player, he would be the best center in the NBA if he played today, and would be one of the top 2-3 players in the league year-in-and-out. #2. You have to look at the supporting casts and how often the players actually played and defended each other head-to-head. #3. I just looked back at the playoff match ups against one another.... Olajuwon just dominated him, not even close. I forget that Dream was a top 5 player all time sometimes... amazing.
This is a stupidly titled thread. As most of us older types know, the Spurs were a better team for much of the time Dream and Robinson were in the NBA. If you look at the cumulative individual stats for the 42 games, you get this: Robinson: 19.6 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, 2.2 spg, 3.3 bpg Olajuwon: 21.9 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.9 spg, 3.4 bpg That's hardly ownage. 10 of those 42 meetings came after Duncan joined the Spurs (and Dream was in decline) and the Spurs went 9-1 over those 10. In the playoffs, Dream was 4-2 against Robinson. Here are the playoff numbers: Robinson: 23.8 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.5 spg, 2.2 bpg Olajuwon: 35.3 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.3 spg, 4.2 bpg That, on the other hand, is ownage.
