WOW. He is getting it in Toronto. Where is Blinebury when you need him? The Dream is becoming tainted by a harsh reality By STEVE SIMMONS -- Toronto Sun You look at him now, after all he has done, and hope your eyes are hiding the truth. You look at him now, knowing who he is, knowing where he has been, knowing how much he has meant, and want to see something you just don't see. You look at Hakeem Olajuwon, with bandages on his knees, support hose on his legs, pads on his elbows, and want so desperately to believe there is game left in him. The Raptors want to believe this. The fans just hope what they see is more than a basketball movie in slow motion, and hope there will be better days and nights for a legend in his first season in Toronto. This was supposed to be a Dream night for Hakeem Olajuwon, the first time playing against his old Houston team, in those awful Rockets uniforms, and this was supposed to be a dream season for the Raptors. But promise, too often, is lost in words and optimism, even on winning nights like last night. Nights when Olajuwon is asked if he thought he could contribute more, and he answered wearing a crooked smile. "We won," he said softly. "The bigger one is in Houston. I look forward to that." He was brought to Toronto in the best season the Raptors have ever had, last summer's off-season. It was then the parade re-signed Vince Carter, Antonio Davis, Alvin Williams, Jerome Williams. And the big surprise, the solid piece, the credibility they never had before: Hakeem Olajuwon. Finally a centre. One of the greatest to play. It makes for wonderful headlines and a feel-good story for the city, but the reality seemed evident again last night, just as it has been evident through much of this jumpy season. The reality last night came with a game on the line and Olajuwon sitting on the bench. In the moments that mattered most, the most decorated of all Raptors was watching wearing warmups. Olajuwon finished with 31 minutes played, five rebounds, six points scored -- a night almost as silent as his voice. And this was a game that mattered to him, like few games this season will matter. Before the game, he met with Rudy Tomjanovich, the longtime Rockets coach who so admires him. Before the game, he met and greeted his friends and former teammates from Houston. To fully understand the attachment that exists between Houston and Olajuwon is to understand the relationship between Toronto and Wendel Clark. It doesn't matter where an athlete plays sometimes-- some are just made for uniforms. Olajuwon is, and always will be, a Houston Rocket. There is a player of the same name playing for the Raptors, but it is there the similarities end. Tomjanovich, standing almost the entire game, called his first coaching experience against Olajuwon, "eerie and strange ... I never thought that would happen." But then Tomjanovich saw something in Olajuwon, maybe from his memory bank, maybe from his own coaching optimism, maybe because he knows him better than anyone else does. A little bit of game left to contribute. "I think he can help this team," Tomjanovich said. "He has had some great games. He has blocked shots, rebounded. If you get him the ball where he wants it to be, he's going to score on you." That's hopeful and somewhat nostalgic. The final piece of Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald's puzzle has left behind more questions than answers in his first half season in Toronto. In some ways, by becoming the Raptors starting centre, by seeing Antonio Davis move to power forward, you can argue that the signing of Olajuwon has messed up two positions with the team. They were a better team when Davis played centre. They seemed more complete. Davis had an entirely different presence in the old position. And there were the Raptors last night, almost turning a foregone conclusion into defeat. With two minutes to play, it was a one-point game when Davis made a brisk offensive move, hit the two free throws, blocked a shot at the other end. All in a matter of 10 seconds. He did all that playing Olajuwon's position. The position that was going to complete this Raptors team, not confuse it. "Very strange," said Olajuwon, when asked about the experience of last night. "Very strange."
Ask and ye shall receive... <i>Olajuwon trying to fit in By FRAN BLINEBURY Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle TORONTO -- As class reunions go, it wasn't exactly like finding out that the math club geek you used to hit with wads of paper grew up into Bill Gates. In fact, if he were being paid by the minute at crunch time these days, Hakeem Olajuwon would more closely resemble Enron than Microsoft. After being replaced by Antonio Davis five minutes into the fourth quarter, Olajuwon merely watched. He watched the Raptors almost blow a 16-point lead before taking a 109-103 win over the Rockets. He watched his new team beat his old team. He watched his old friends and his new running buddies. He watched a 19-year-old Houston rookie, Eddie Griffin, step up with the kind of confidence and make the big plays that he himself did so many years ago. He watched the Rockets continue to dance with misery, losing Walt Williams to a sprained right ankle in the third quarter and having to make their 18th start of the year without Steve Francis, who keeps suffering from severe headaches. Olajuwon's only minor headache comes from not being able to contribute when games are in the balance. On Wednesday, he played 31 minutes with a team that does not seem to know what to do with a low-post center. "Six points, five rebounds and two blocked shots," Olajuwon said. "I know I can do a lot more for this team." For those kinds of numbers, the Raptors could have gone after Kelvin Cato. Except, of course, he'd have cost a lot more. "They all have to get comfortable with me," Olajuwon said. "My time, I think, will come." More than any of that, this was a night for the past to meet with the present, for lingering hurt to be soothed by the balm of warm memories, for the possibilities of the future to be embraced before moving on. A night when you finally had to accept that the greatest player in the history of the franchise now wears purple on his jersey rather than the dark blue, white-striped, cartoon-bearing, classically dignified uniform of the Rockets. "It's strange, eerie, to see him on the other side," said Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. "I never thought it would happen. Never. "I've watched him a few times on TV, and he doesn't look right in that uniform. He is still the guy who put us all on the map as a franchise, as champions, and I think when people around the world think of Hakeem Olajuwon, they identify him with Houston. It's like Babe Ruth-Yankees. There will always be a connection. "But I understand why he wanted to move on. The guy wants to go for one more championship. This is a team that was one shot away from the Eastern Conference Finals last season and is closer than we are. I can't fault the guy for being so competitive." Tomjanovich and Olajuwon met at midcourt about an hour before the opening tip in what became a hug-a-thon. There were embraces with Cuttino Mobley, Moochie Norris, Kenny Thomas, virtually every member of the Rockets' traveling party. "I told him I hope he gets his dream, another shot at it," Rudy T said. Olajuwon had been looking forward to the meeting, to finally bury any leftover feelings from the breakup. "I've expressed my opinions," he said. "Now we move on, and everybody tries to do their job. "It was very strange though to see the guys, to play against them. It will be harder (March 5) in Houston, to go back. But this was difficult, too. It was good to see Rudy, to let him know that everything that happened has been for the best. I'm very, very happy now in Toronto, and there are no hard feelings. "The biggest problems I had during the game were talking and joking with the guys and then remembering that they were on the other side. And it was hard not to pass the ball to the wrong team sometimes." If there were flashbacks to the past, they were provided by the teenager Griffin, who dropped in three 3-pointers in the space of 2 1/2 minutes and nearly brought the Rockets all the way back. They were shots born of the poise that says you know you belong. Different shots, longer shots, but crucial shots once taken by a rookie named Olajuwon. "He's a different player than Dream, does different things," Tomjanovich said. "But he reminds me of him because each night you watch him and say, `Oh, now he's adding this and that to his game.' That's the way it is with the great ones. They keep taking it to the next level." Olajuwon nodded. "I see great potential in him," he said. "The difference from my time is that when you were the No. 1 draft pick, you were expected to come right in and dominate. Charles (Barkley), (Michael) Jordan, myself -- we did that. It's why they drafted you, why they paid you." Now the Rockets continue paying dues with their string of misfortune, lack of health and growing mountain of missed chances, while the Raptors pay Olajuwon to be a spectator with games on the line. A team on the way up that keeps stumbling met a legend on the way down who won't concede. It was, like all reunions, bittersweet.</i>
I hadn't read the Chronicle yet. Typical Blinebury. Now Blineburry is going to kiss Griffins ass. The torch has been passed.....
