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

if you started watching in 98, you haven't seen a guy block shots and play defense like he did. not ben wallace, not dwight howard, not anyone. any classic game you catch on nbatv or espn classic '95 and older will give you a since of what it was like every freakin night. a menance on the defensive end.

and that doesn't even get into the offense, its kind of hard to describe that since his game evolved. but one misconception, he always had a baseline jumpshot off the spin. don't let people tell you he was raw skill wise. he was raw, but he had skills.

 

Complete BS. I see this repeated every now and then, and I can't take it anymore.

In 85-86 the team was close to a championship team in Hakeem 2nd year. They made it to the NBA finals beating a legendary Lakers team along the way. The lineup was:

Starters
-----------------
Hakeem Olajuwon
Ralph Sampson
Lewis Lloyd
John Lucas sr.
Rodney Mccray

Bench
-----------------
Robert Reid
Mitchell Wiggins
Jim Petersen

That team was destroyed by injuries and drugs.
In 88-89, just 3 years later, only Olajuwon was in the rotation. With the exception of Thorpe and Olajuwon, this is not a good team. The lineup was:

Starters
-----------------
Hakeem Olajuwon
Otis Thorpe
Sleepy Floyd
Mike Woodson
Buck Johnson

Bench
-----------------
Derrick Chievous
Walter Berry
Tim Mccormick

93-94 was the championship team we know and love. 5 years later and only 2 guys from the previous rotation - Hakeem and Thorpe. The lineup:

Starters
-----------------
Hakeem Olajuwon
Otis Thorpe
Vernon Maxwell
Kenny Smith
Robert Horry

Bench
-----------------
Mario Elie
Sam Cassell
Carl Herrera

In summary it was not a ball hogging Hakeem leaning to trust his team. It just took 8 years to rebuild from the disasters that struck the team in 85-86 and 86-87.

A big piece of the puzzle was finally getting Buck Johnson out of the starting lineup when we drafted Robert Horry, and that did not occur until 92-93.

 

LOL I remember watching that game. I was 9 and pissed off that they were minimizing the Rockets broadcast for some stupid reason.

 

this about sums it up. i remember going to new york in 96 and seeing guys wearing Dream Jerseys. Before 93 you kids in Houston didn't wear Dream jerseys. We had the best kept secret in the NBA.

 

True, but you are not comparing apples to apples, Hakeem was not the focus of that team, later when he was the main man, he did NOT trust his teamates, and took on double and triple teams....it was when the team went on a 15 game winning streak with him out that he came back and realized that the team was greater as a whole and he began to pass out, and they took off.

DD

 

I think he trusted his teammates off the court too. Maxwell said his best friend on the team was Dream. Rudy and Dream were close too.

 

he was awesome and he overdelivered. basically as a guy at home watching the NBA watchin olajuwon was xmas morning every time.

as an out of market guy (not living in houston) you expected houston to lose every series based on hype, and I'm not just talking about the "choke city" series versus barkley and the suns. ewing had beat olujawon at georgetown for the college title and was generally considered the superior center. everyone expected the knicks to finally win a chip and expected ewing to lead them, instead it was hakeem who was MVP and brought houston the title

the next year shaq was all over the media. there's really no comparable thing today to what shaq was in 1995. he was starring in pepsi commercials and movies, ****ing cindy crawford, and not just tearing down rims, he was tearing down the ENTIRE RIGS. everyone thought shaq was IT, and that houston had ridden the emotion of that clutch city performance to the title the previous year. but again hakeem outplayed shaq finally established himself as the best center in the league

watching dream live was a special experience. it's not just a guy playing a world-class game of basketball, it's a guy proving all these other people wrong, tearing down false idols and doing it with class and grace.

a lot of the dudes who today aren't considered winners like barkley and ewing... it was dream who helped crush their spirits and made them into losers. barkley is a loser but he was in his prime and they probably would have made it to the finals at least, and ewing and the knicks really felt it was finally their year. afterwards barkley was soon to leave phoenix and for ewing his career was downhill from there. in san antonio if not for duncan, david robinson would have shared that same fate and shaq's time in orlando and his partnership with penny hardaway was pretty much fully soured by the beating Dream administered them. all these guys were HEAVILY hyped by the league and by shoe companies and hakeem backed by no nothing but his talent crushed them all. Imagine a guy, basically coming from NOWHERE as far as the national media is concerned and schooling all these overhyped ****ers with a type of game you've never seen before. it was awesome, as fan haven't experienced anything like that really since

 

I expect tinman to report me for this post but I stand by what I said. If I remember correctly, he got his points on like 48FG%. For a center, that's not that impressive. Also, recognized as one of the best defensive players of all time, he couldn't really handle Shaq on defense. Shaq shot around 53%. (Going by memory on the %. May very well be wrong, disregard if so)

I think it was a case of expecting too much before I watched the series. I had heard so much about Hakeem's amazing footwork and everything that I was expecting a thorough destruction. I was expecting him to use his quickness to run circles around Shaq but that didn't happen. Hakeem played mostly a Garnett type of game - shooting fade aways and face up jumpers. Again, mostly. He did mix in some great post moves and I will always remember how he did that crossover then pull up jumper on the perimeter against Shaq in game two. I had never seen (and never have since) such a beautiful move from a center. But watching all the post moves in the highlights from the Robinson series, I was expecting more.

 

Nope. It was not until 92-93 and 93-94 that he had a team capable of making it far in the playoffs. I wouldn't throw it to Sleepy Floyd and Buck Johnson either. What else happened the year they won 15 in a row? They picked up Kenny Smith. You think that might have made a difference?

In consecutive years they pick up Kenny Smith, Robert Horry and Mario Elie (91, 92, 93). All three guys could hit threes. All three guys improved the team. They went from bad shooters to guys who could shoot and spread the floor. Hakeem passed out of the double teams because he finally had guys who could hit shots. Which goes back to my previous statement, that the team needed to improve.

By the way Hakeem became the focus of the 85-86 team in the playoffs. It was his coming out party. He was a monster in the playoffs that year.

He are his averages. Not a huge difference.
85-86 26.9 pt 53%, 11.8 rbs, 3.4 blks, 2.0 asts per game
93-94 28.9 pt 52%, 11.0 rbs, 4.0 blks, 4.3 asts per game

Apples to Apples.

 

It was watching a player redefine their position and the game itself. He could do things that other big men simply couldn't do. He also smashed open the door for foreign born players.

 

words can't explain what he did for our city

 

Dream is still my all-time favorite player. My brother gave me his rookie card, which I still have, as a present when I was in elementary school... and I've been following him ever since.

Every time I see highlights of the Dream, I still get a little teary eyed...........

 

that's exactly how i feel...i fell in love with the game when jordan played the jazz, but i heard that there will never be anyone like him..

 

all I can say is imagine something new every game...

 

I remember feeling sorta sick when Brad Daugherty was all NBA 3rd team in 91-92 and Dream was nowhere to be found. I was new to Houston and new to being a full fledged Rocket fan but that was so sad it was funny but still more sad.

 

Well said, feel the same way. He is the reason why I started watching NBA games....

 

Following the Rockets when Hakeem was at his height gave me a feeling of total confidence that somehow, some way he was going to get the job done. We just *knew* Hakeem was going to get the key rebound, blocked shot, or hit the dreamshake. I love Yao and McGrady, but I don't have that supreme confidence with them.

 

Like a dream from beginning to the end! The team played the BIG mans game and the BIG man was the star of the team for several generations of Rocket teams. We had shooters and we had court generals who specialized in getting the ball to the big man at the righ position and at the right time.
Hakeem benifitted much from being surrounded with just the right complementary players. They enabled him to use his gifts in a way that no player before or after has been able to do. Hakeem was great both at playing up high- his blocked shots and down low- his steals, his footwok combined with speed and a body of athletic muscle enabled him to turn other great players like David Robinson inside out. Besides the physical gifts from God Hakem had spirit, determination and a belief in himself. He was a joy to behold!

 

it was amazing....... and watching it now and remembering how i used to feel back in the day gives me goosebumps. Cuz hakeem was the man and we had a real sick squad back then

 

best thing that ever happened for hakeem was the fact he played soccer for all of those years. That is the reason he was so light on his feet and his foot work was nice. We will never see another Dream. David Robinson was probaly the closes thing to him.