From Houston Chronicle ------- After sitting out the entire fourth quarter of many games recently, Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon played 11 fourth-quarter minutes Tuesday, seeming to grow stronger as the game progressed. He was not surprised. "I've been telling you guys all along," he said. "This is a marathon. I'm a seasoned player. I know the season. It should get easier. You should get stronger. I'm not like the new guys who run out of gas in the middle. When you get to the playoffs, you should get to a higher level. This is how I have always trained for a season. "Now I hear I'm only good for 20 minutes. If you're going to give me that role, I'll play it. I know I can do more. It is as if they are saying, `I know you can do more, but do less.' " ------------------
"I'm a seasoned player." Look at his moves and spins and shakes. You can taste it! Go Rockets!!! [This message has been edited by Rocketability (edited December 21, 2000).]
I read somewhere in one of those Chronicle articles that Hakeem doesn't shoot the hook shot any more because he has to push off his bad leg. Damn. That was one of his best moves was to drain the hook shot. Now, he doesn't do it out of some kind of fear of injuring the leg or something. This takes his game down a notch in my opinion if he has to rely on his turnaround jumpers as these tend to be fallaways and sporadic at best. If he could only regain his form on the hook shot, he would be an unstoppable force again. Plus, that is a high percentage shot if I ever saw one. Play Dream 35 - 40 minutes a game. He says he can hack it. Cato sucks and whines. Dream is a winner....even if he can't hit the hook any more. Surf ------------------
