For guys that watched the Dream..... how did it feel?

It was great! Each game was an adventure! It was like watching Kobe, but a whole lot better.

 

Just imagine a blender (Hakeem) and a banana (Robinson). Drop the banana into the blender and watch it get spun around and destroyed.

 

I wouldn't be a basketball fan if it were not for Hakeem Olajuwon. Watching him play basketball was simply beautiful. It wasn't sports, it was art. He was so creative and innovative around the basket and his moves were so athletic and graceful... I really don't think most people outside of Houston truly grasp how amazing he was. Michael Jordan seems to understand. Charles Barkley once called Dream 'the best player on the planet'. He seems to understand. Robert Horry obviously understands because (he played with him) and he has since said that Dream was better than both Shaq and Duncan.

So how did it feel? It felt f***ing amazing.

 

I echo the sentiments of the OP. When people say that, for example, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Wilt and Kareem are the best ever, I can't really take part in the discussion because out of these 5, I've only watched Jordan(>>>Kobe). The only time I've watched Hakeem was the finals against Orlando and the first game against the Knicks. He struggled against Shaq - he outplayed him in the series overall, but barely. Too little of a sample size to judge him against the Knicks.

 

I think the best way to describe it is you never know what you got until it is gone.

His brilliance day to day, game to game made it easy to take for granted.

He was astonishing in his consistency, and so many times he did AMAZING things on the basketball court.

Ironically it took an injury for him to realize that he could trust his teamates and pass out of those triple teams, and it is then he became a complete player and the team a complete team.

2 championships followed.

Dream was simply the best.

DD

 

I watched dream in college and pros and his evolution was amazing. It was also knowing that the big fella was going to put his fingerprints on every game on both ends of the court. As a youth he was a amazing rebounder,shot blocker and finisher. As he matured and stop whipping cage and polynice ass, he was mentally tougher and had poised. Maybe that's why i m so hard on yao becuz watching moses then dream and now yao, its like going from a bmw to a benz to a volkswagon. All 3 are german cars, but the other 2 are just better cars by a long shot.

 

Moses Malone helped make dream, those off season Fonde games must have been amazing.

DD

 

Do you play video games? It was like creating a player. For me, it wasn't just the dream shake or the insane blocks. I was more impressed that he was good at everything. When you think of what you want a big man to do, he had it all. Of course all around game was alot more common back then.

Players just don't do that anymore...

 

I first started watching basketball in 1993. I just always assumed that the Rockets would always be great and that Hakeem was the greatest player ever. I was so fortunate to be able to watch one of the greatest in his prime, but it made the lean years all the tougher as you just weren't prepared for life without him. Basketball was so much better back then.

 

He was like a very tall futbol player, that just happened to play basketball at a legendary level. He made the game look so easy, so pure. The opposition feared him, the people adored him.
He was a liberator, that led houston to its only titles. Evil men attempted to develop evil schemes to stop him, but they failed to realize that the dream was unbeeetable.

 

And your hate on Yao make you use any chance to bash him, even in a thread which has absolutely nothing to do with him.

I think you have also watched Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird play before. Do you have the same feeling that it's like going from a BMW to a Benz to a Volkswagon when you are watching Tmac now? What did you say about it before? Can you provide a link because I really want to read it. Or you have never said anything because you would give a pass to Tmac but you have to bash Yao every single time? Where is the hate from?

 

The Rocket two championships in 1990s are the best ever Cinderalla Story in NBA. The first one is all about the rocky Sam I am. The second is more amazing. Rockets beat top four teams and comeback from behind and elimination many times. Hakeem destroyed Shaq and MVP DR. Anderson choked to miss four FT in a throw. It's just amazing.

 

it was like a dream.

 

We must have been in alternate universes when that series happened. Shaq himself admits to being dominated by Hakeem in that series. The Rockets swept the Magic in that series and Hakeem averaged 27.8 ppg and 10.8 rpg in the playoffs that year but he averaged 32.8 ppg against the Magic. Shaq, on the other hand, averaged 28 ppg. Impressive, but not nearly so impressive as Dream. Regardless, nearly 33 ppg is not what I'd call struggling.

Actually:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_NBA_Finals

 

you need to rent this

 

Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird weren't on the Rockets. Completely invalid argument.

 

You've never seen a big man move the way he did. Spins, hooks, pump fakes...best footwork I have ever seen.

Could hit about any shot on the court, and defensively he was a beast. No shot wasn't contested when Dream was under the basket. No one tried to drive on him, and the ones that did paid for it (except Kevin Johnson...ONCE)

Best basketball player that I have ever seen...especially a big man.

He was amazing and I am so glad that I was able to see him play. (I was 17 during the first championship run)

The most complete center to ever play the game. Did everything well.

He would DESTROY today's centers.

 

Yeah Dream struggled to a 4-0 sweep of the Magic and his second consecutive Finals MVP.

And he struggled so much he dropped a corner 3 pointer swish in game 4 just to show much struggle he had to go through.

 

I was at that game. Watching Dream hit that 3 was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was like "MY GOD! HE CAN DO ANYTHING!"

There will never be another.