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

I pity the OP and other fans that were too young to watch Dream. There is just no way to describe it.

The run the Rockets made in 1995 to the title is the most magical moment that has ever happened in Houston sports history.

 

RENT?

you need to own something like this

 

Dream was a hero...how could you hate the guy. Anyone against him was the bad guy.

 

because the newer fans love the regular season stuff so much like Tmac's orlando regular season games, the Dream had some monsterous regular season games too. you know, quadruple doubles.

 

Dream with his defensive and offensive game was always exciting to watch. Unlike today, he was one guy on the Rockets I knew going down the stretch could always deliver. If the game was close, I always felt the Rockets could pull it out with his shake and bake, blocks, and even steals.

 

Imagine a 2-guard in a center's body. And watch All the 1995 western conference finals games, even the losses.

 

Such a bad*ss

Man, watching Dream on ESPN Classic gives me chills. I forced my wife to watch that Hardwood Classics show on him just so she could see HOW great he was.

Yeah, that 3 at the end of the Orlando series was so amazing.

I would take a bullet for the man and I only drank his H2O water when it was out.

 

you know what was great?

we loved the guy not because he was from another Country or not because he threw up big stats on horrible teams and can dunk pretty, we love him cause he represented the city from college all the way through the pros.

and he gave us CHAMPIONSHIPS. Something that you or me or anyone one who experienced what that was like, will always remember and cherish.

And yeah.. we'll protect those memories against all haters too.

 

the best Hakeem highlight vid you will ever find.

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yes! And Unlike Doc Rivers and Greg Popovich, Dream trusted Horry and Cassell.

 

Yup. An attack on Hakeem is an attack on Houston as far as I am concerned.

Those two championships were still the highligh of my sports life. It was the only thing that ever brought this city together...everyone on Richmond just parking their cars in the street and feelin' the love.

Unbelievable.

 

Hakeem or Akeem take your pick. He changed the center position, actually started out by changing the forward position since he and Sampson traded positions all the time. Boston finals, we lost that series, but watching him thrash McHale and Parish apart was classic. I remember the first time I saw the spin move, Parish never moved when Akeem was dunking. He is a big man who steals the ball from the guards and takes it all the way for a dunk. No one will every be like Dream.

 

Looking back, I think if we didn't lose that Boston series we never would have won in 94 and 95. It's a trade off, beat the unbeatable Celtics or win 2? That loss, compound with the NCAA stuff of dream really put a fire in him, the guy dominated, and it's just weird going back and watching this stuff. A lot of people are adamant in that Dream would have wiped the floor with Jordan, while I don't want to start that all up again (because I'm not so sure), there is no doubt in my mind that a seven game series of those two would be my dream match-up. Watching him play on both sides of the court was a thing of beauty. I don't get that feeling anymore from any center in the league. Don't get me wrong, I think Yao is amazing at what he does, but he doesn't really make you stop and say "what the hell just happened" in a good way. Dream had this innate ability to make all those around him better, like MJ. The one difference between Dream and MJ is the fact that at a 1/2 guard position it's easy to make the guys around you look good, but at center it's damn near impossible because you don't control the game in the same way. Maybe I've romanticized my memories of him, but honestly he is hands down one of the greatest player to grace the court.

 

I am old enough to have watched most of what are considered the greatest of all time. Wilt, Kareem, Jordan, Bird, Magic, Barkley. Not so much Oscar or Russell.

IMO, Hakeem was the most entertaining center of all-time. His cat-like quickness on shot blocking and his incredible array of offensive moves were awesome to watch.

Early in his career, it was a bit frustrating as too often he would not pass out of double and triple teams. Because he was more finesse like Yao as opposed to a Shaq or Wilt, he was often victimized by the refs. He did get away with a lot of traveling because his footwork was so quick the refs couldn't keep up with his pivot foot.

I said he was the most entertaining, but I think Shaq has been the most dominant big man of all-time and has 4 titles to show for it. Hakeem outplayed Shaq in Shaq's rookie year, but I think if they had been concurrent in their careers, Shaq probably would have gotten the best of Hakeem, because Olujawan often struggled against really huge centers like that stiff in Utah.

When discussing centers I usually discount Wilt's and Russell's accomplishments, because of the lack of size in the league during their hayday. Wilt was an extremely limited offensive player believe it or not. In the days when he scored a 100 points in a game, he could simply stand under the basket and lay it in. It was akin to an adult playing basketball with an 8 year old. He need just hold the ball over his head and they couldn't even jump up and touch it. Wilt is the reason they had to invent the 3 second rule. When players got bigger, Wilt's offensive weaknesses were exposed. Russell would not be huge in today's game, but he was behometh in his era and like Wilt took advantage of it. He also had much better supporting casts around him than Wilt.

Hakeem was epic in all ways and he more than anyone in the history of basketball carried his team to the championship. Everyone else, including Jordan, had much more help. It was very frustrating that we never could get to the finals during the Jordan years, because the Rockets were by far the worst matchup for the bulls who had absolutely no answer for Hakeem.

 

For a long time it felt like you were watching the league's (and maybe all of pro sports') best kept secret. When he was throwing up a quadruple-double, it felt like no one was noticing anywhere else. That started to change A BIT around 1993. But didn't really change substantively until after he won rings.

He was poetry. So different from other centers you'd seen before. So ridiculously graceful with that size. I always say Magic Johnson is the greatest player I've ever seen, and a big part of that was how unique Magic was. There's really no one else like him. And Olajuwon is that way, as well.

Plus....the whole University of Houston connection....watching him grow up and mature here in this city. It's an unusual collection of circumstances that endeared him so closely to the city. I feel really fortunate to have been able to see him play as much as I did.

 

There is no doubting this. It was truly so remarkable...I think if you saw it played out on a movie screen you wouldn't believe it. You'd chalk it up to the dramatics of Hollywood. So happy when they won it all...but kinda sad, too, because you felt like you'd never see anything like that ever again.

 

Well, let me try to understand the logic. He hates on a player because 20 years ago there was another player on the same team who played the same position and is possibly the greatest player who had ever played that position. But then he defends another player because those players on the same team who played the same position before sucked (comparatively). Is that the logic that he used to make his posts? If yes, all I can say is 'WOW'.

 

Watch the entire 1995 Playoffs, including the Jazz and Phoenix series. It was like Hoosiers, Major League, Karate Kid, and Mighty Ducks rolled into one but in real life. Hakeem was the best athlete to ever play his position bar none. It wasn't about strength or speed, but agility when it counted, and you never knew what was going to happen once he got the ball except it was going to most likely be good and potentially incredible.

Kinda like now when Yao gets the ball if you removed Yao's 25% to turn the ball over and 25% to get fouled (of which only 10% will get calls) and make this face:



See Hakeem never let it get to that point. He was too quick even when people were out to get him. He's the reason the cheap-fouling Jazz got no championships; we beat them both years Jordan was out.

 

It was the best. Seeing MJ in action is a true blessing as well. Hakeem made it even better since he played for this city.

I got spoiled. I thought that the basketball was easy because of the Dream. Then we had those years where Francis, Mobley, Drew, Cato, etc. were running the team...very hard years.

 

1995 gets more pub.

1994 was Hollywood also.

1. Dream wins MVP
2. Down 0-2, Choke City against Phoenix, Clutch City born, 4-3 win
3. 7 game series, dramatic block by Dream against Starks
4. Car Chases - White Ford Bronco