The most amazing thing about The Dream is his playoff stats are eye popping especially until he was about 34 or so. Other than Shaq and Jordan, no one's playoff stats come even close in that era or the current. Plus the variance of his regular season to playoff stats is much greater than both Shaq and Jordan. He just dominated when it counted. It's annoying because people say in 95 Jordan did not get to put enough games under his belt, so that's why he wasn't the "real Jordan" His individual stats in the 95 playoffs were just as good as they were in the 96 playoffs. The big difference was adding Dennis Rodman to a contending team. He made them really tough to beat in 96. Also big things people forget are in 96 when we were defending our tittle again, we we not the same team either. Kenny Smith's(who was terrible by that time) career was coming to an end and Sam Cassell(stats are terrible in the playoffs in 96) was banged up and missed a month plus at the end of the season. We had no point gaurd who could consistently run the offense that year and take the pressure off Dream. Clyde Drextler was banged up too and missed many games at the end of the season and was hurting in the Seattle series. People say Seattle had our number, but our 95 team and Hakeem were playing at a much higher level than our 96 team. Plus that Seattle team was Seattle's best team of that era(67 wins in the west). Chicago was also fortunate that they did not have to face Seattle with Nate Mcmillan who missed the finals. I think then it would have been a 7 game series at the very least. In summary no one could have beaten the Rockets in 95, by the western conference finals they were playing at such a high level as a team and Dream was scoring at will, I wish that could have continued in 96. We should have replaced Kenny Smith with a stud in the off season. The 96 season, still in my eyes, had the best contending teams of all time in one season. 70 plus win Bulls, 64 win Sonics, The Magic coming back as the now experienced young stars although Nick Anderson when off the deep end, the usual great Jazz team, defending champ Rockets, Magic Johnson coming back to the Lakers, and the Spurs too. Stacked with great teams. Even though we got Barkley the following year, things were never the same. We still needed a point guard(nothing against Matt Maloney) and we needed to stay healthy. Pippen, Jordan, Stockton, and Malone never missed games but our big three missed plenty. It's important to stay healthy and it's important to have a solid point gaurd or gaurd play in general. Without a healthy Sam or Kenny being serviceable, we could not have won back to back tittles. It makes a huge difference.
Houston Rockets with the first overall pick of the 1984 NBA Draft select... The Greatest Rocket EVER!!
Here is a link to a Hassan Whiteside Interview: http://www.nbadraft.net/hassan-whiteside-interview He's been practicing with the Dream in Houston. Maybe Jordan Hill has trained with him as well since Hill is at the Gym most days. Hakeem is the best, he is still helping anyone he can even people who arent in the NBA yet.
video I made for clutchfans' 13 birthday <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/luF-e5oPi5k&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/luF-e5oPi5k&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FwtTBK0cCnk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FwtTBK0cCnk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccbJw_7Y830"> This is probably my favorite video on YouTube for obvious reasons. </a> Sorry can't figure out how to embed. My favorite part is Dream starting at about the 4:13 mark. Everyone in the stands is going ape****, players are hugging each other and their family members, and Calvin is frantically running around with his freaking baton (This absolutely slays me every time I see it for some reason). All regular things you see when a team wins a championship. Then it gets to Hakeem at the 4:13 mark. This may sound kinda gay, but its one of the most powerful images I've ever seen. He looks like he just walked through hell and, for all intents and purposes, that's exactly what he did. I love the sheer exhaustion on his face and the foresight to actually soak in a moment like that.. It cuts away for a few seconds, then goes back to a couple of boners trying to shake his hand which he quickly shoos away (also kills me). A great video all the way around. <object width="425" height="344"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccbJw_7Y830"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccbJw_7Y830" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"> </embed> </object>
I forgot about this, nice yoyo... btw where did you get most of your footage from, just browsing through the internet? I've been trying to make various Rockets videos but I still am a bit of a newb to these things...
all the footage for that was taken from the Hakeem the Dream Hardwood Classics DVD and from the 94 championship dvd boxset
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pk0MPyiJBbc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pk0MPyiJBbc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
The other day, after game 4 of the Magic vs. Celts series, ESPN interviewed Hakeem by phone during Sports Center talking about his talk with Dwight Howard. In a very touching sign of respect, after the interview the Sportscenter broadcaster (I forget which one) said something like: "Wow, talking with Hakeem, just wow, what an honor" or something like that, I forget the exact words. I was actually a little touched that talking to Hakeem was such a highlight to the guy since he talks to superstars all the time.
I found the Hakeem the Dream Hardwood Classic DVD at the Half Price in Rice Village tonight, best $5 I'll ever spend.
these dunks were semi-decent???? the dunks in this vid were vince carter in his prime compared to the dunks i see in the nba today.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hW4uXlRGAF0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hW4uXlRGAF0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
