Hakeem's face up is not the the slashing guard like type that Robinson's was. Hakeem uses crossovers dribbles for jumpshots, not attacking the basket like the mermaid's game primarily was. This is essential to 1 on 1 basketball. (Unless you're shaq and that powerful) I've got to agree that it seems that you aren't too familiar with Hakeem's game. His first few years in the league, he had tremendous trouble with Mark Eaton. Hakeem's fake's did no good because Eaton didn't really leave the ground. Hakeem had a tough time trying to shoot over him. His eventual solution was to face up Eaton just beyond the free throw line and drive right past him. That allowed Hakeem to negate Eaton's height and to take advantage of his poor lateral movement and lack of foot speed. Hakeem could put the ball on the floor and go either right or left. He also took the ball all the way to the hole. I'd have to believe that Hakeems tremendous quickness would be impossible for Yao to deal with. No way could Yao change directions fast enough to even pretend to stop Hakeem from going to the hole. It would either be a layup drill for Olajuwon or Yao would have to back off and give up a 12 to 15 footer and Hakeem would nail that all day long. On offense, I'm not sure how Yao would get the ball into the paint. Olajuwon was not only a great post defender, but he had the quickest hands and feet for a big man ever. He routinely picked the pockets of guards. Once Yao put the ball on the floor, I don't know how he'd stop Hakeem from just running around him and taking the ball. If you think that Hakeem's game wasn't suited to 1 on 1, then you definitely never saw him warm up for a game. That's all he did prior to the game. He'd play 1 on 1 against the Rocket big men and then when they gave up, he'd play with a guard. A big part of Othella Harrington's development came from playing hours of 1 on 1 against Olajuwon. The knock on David Robinson was that he settled for jumpers. That was his game. Check out the Hakeem the Dream video and take note of how Olajuwon played his first few years. David Robinson never attacked the basket with the ferocity that Olajowon did. He tried to dunk everything.
I agree Yao will have major problems getting into his post position that he wants because of Cat like hands of Hakeem's. But I don't think Hakeem can pass up Yao by facing up as easy as people think here. I know Yao backs up on Amare, but look at him shutting out Amare facing up? But do you really think that Hakeem can score easily when facing up DRob with his lateral quickness? I think not.
that's bullcrap. the guy has been on this board alone three more years than you, long before yao and back when hakeem was still on the Rockets. i don't necessarily agree with his argument but he has a valid point. hakeem was great, but he wasn't god. and a one on one game is something no one can be conclusive about. i don't like how you are working on the pretext that you are a bigger fan so would know Hakeem better. how old were you exactly when Hakeem was in his prime... ten, twelve? I'm sure you had a great understanding of basketball then.
FYI, no, I'm a bit older than that. But anyway, anybody who watched the 1995 WCF and thinks that Robinson (and even more ridiculously, Yao) would have a chance of stopping Hakeem one on one, is delusional. Most Spurs fans admit this. Go back and watch the tapes if you don't believe me. Hell, even the few Spurs fans trying to salvage Robinson's honor generally resort to the "but he was trying to guard him one on one and it wasn't his fault" defense. That doesn't exactly bolster this theory. I don't know if one superstar player has so throughly demolished another superstar player (reigning MVP) no less, ever, in any sport, in my lifetime. Yes. He can and did. Watch the tapes.
I saw those. And yeah I've seen those highlights from NBA.com too, 10 times. No doubt. It was a schooling of a lifetime. Someone said that Robinson's ankles probably still hurt when he watches those tapes. However, I thought he brought up an interesting point that aside from those 6 meetings, career wise Robind and Olajuwon put up similar numbers head to head. Sure you can say Hakeem had another level, but that has to mean something. One on one is a little bit different than in the context of a team game. Centers are dependent on other people to get the ball. How either can take the other off the dribble as is necessary is anybody's guess. I mean it's not like either guy is going to start backing in from the three point line.
again, did you watch the 95 WCF? first you say drob's slashing would beat hakeem (it's not like robinson could just put it on the floor and get past hakeem, hakeem was fast too, you make it sound like drob would just get layups) and then you say yao might have a chance. if slashing is all that matters in your world of one-on-one (outside shots aren't important???*), then yao might as well not even play and just sit down and take some notes. hakeem crushed drob in 95. robinson could not stop him from scoring at all. drob got points on hakeem, but hakeem could stop him from scoring sometimes, even with all that amazing slashing he apparently has. so, lets see, can't stop from scoring versus can stop from scoring. hmmm, who would win one on one. * how exactly are you arguing outside shots don't help. how do you play one on one? having an outside shot just makes it that much easier to drive b/c you're guy has to be right up on you. if all you had was an outside shot and no other abilities it might work, but since hakeem could face up and take it past people and shoot, your idea is wrong. drob could shoot and he could drive, but not like hakeem. otherwise he would've won the 95 wcf and not been completely dominated. as for versus shaq, while he didn't dominate the overall matchup, he did win it no doubt about it. he took more shots, shaq took more free throws, hakeem one either rebounds or assists and then steals and blocks and turnovers i believe. plus we swept the series plus even the very egotistical o'neal to this day says hakeem dusted his butt. shaq holds hakeem in very high esteem and that series has a lot to do with it. and while he didn't shut down shaq (who can?) he scored on shaq waaaaayyyyy easier than yao does. no 3/15's in there. man, why am i even having to waste time arguing how good hakeem was to another rockets fan.
good question with an easy answer...hakeem. he's stronger, quicker, more physical, and overall more athletic.
i'm sure most people on this board has. you brought up a great point, and it's the only problem i had against his analysis too. Can DRob put it on the floor against Hakeem? Maybe. You just have to do that in 1 on 1 otherwise you won't win. But can Hakeem put it on the floor against DRob? I dunno... he's not really had to do that.
Chen, if you have ever played 1 on 1 bball, u would know, the 2 most important things when you are playing a good defensive player is to create space, and fake the opponent. Hakeem had the ability to not only 'slash', but also fake the **** out of D. Robinson. I'll tell u this. If Hakeem played D. Robinson 1 on 1, with <b>no </b> other players on the court. Make it take it to 21, Hakeem would not only win, but embarass poor David......no matter how good or better D.Rob apparantly is at 'slashing'........
Yes, he did. I have and watch all the tapes regularly of Hakeem in the 94 and 95 championships. TRUST me, Hamkeem could put the ball on the floor against <b>any </b> big man. He truely was a small forward in a center's body!
I know that Hakeem really killed Robinson that series. I've seen it with my very own eyes and enjoyed it throughly. BUT do you think Hakeem would play that way if he didn't have that MVP award motivation? What if Hakeem won the MVP and the mermaid has the motivation to show up Hakeem? My point is that it's just one series. With the exception of that series, how come it was so even between them throughout? Even though that sounds bogus to many of you, that series was irrelevant from what we are talking about here. The bottom line : <b>Here, we are talking about a 1 on 1 game.</b> Do you agree that it's complete different than a team game? You are ignorant if you say no. Since you can't really get your position like a team game, you would have to dribble your back to get in that position yourself (Like CB4's classic post ups). Is that easy to do with DRob's strengh and quickness and given Hakeem's type of post up game? Hakeem is not the type that backs down players while dribbling the ball in the low post. This is not 2 on 2 where you have somebody feed you the ball down low, you will have to get it yourself WHILE dribbling the ball. Option 2 for Hakeem against DRob : Facing up and shooting or dribble penetration against the Mermaid. Hakeem cannot pass the mermaid on dribble penetration, you've got to admit. He's going to eventually rely on his jump shot. Robinson would have better opportunities to score because of the type of game he has. He's a great penetrator for a center and have a great shot when left open. You've just got to admit that Robinson is a better face up shooter and penetrator than Hakeem when he's at his prime. That's what it will boil down to if they play 1 on 1. Again, sorry for drifting off to the DRob vs. Hakeem 1 on 1 comparision. It's impossible to predict how people play 1 on 1 with each other if it never happened before. IMO, all you can do is base it on the type of game that they have and PREDICT what MIGHT probably will happen.
If double and triple teams couldn't stop hakeem. What makes you think a single man playing 1 on 1 could? I think it would be close but Hakeem would come out on top more times than not. Best out of 7? Hakeem would win 4-2
no one is saying Hakeem's not a better player. But he'd have to take Robinson off the dribble from the 3 point line, every time. He didn't really do that a lot. One of Robinson's more famous moves is the face up, ball fake, strong drive. So in his career I think he might have put the ball on the floor more. But then again, it's not like I had to watch that many Spurs games.
I agree Yao will have major problems getting into his post position that he wants because of Cat like hands of Hakeem's. But I don't think Hakeem can pass up Yao by facing up as easy as people think here. I know Yao backs up on Amare, but look at him shutting out Amare facing up? Amare? Amare doesn't handle the ball all that well. He's pretty much a one or two dribble guy, then he picks the ball up and tries to dunk. Olajuwon, on the other hand, was great with the ball. That's apples and orange. The question isn't IF Olajuwon would have gone buy Yao, it would have been "Did he go right or did he go left". Most likely it would have taken Yao a few seconds to figure out which way he had gone. <i>But do you really think that Hakeem can score easily when facing up DRob with his lateral quickness? I think not.</i> He did it repeatedly throughout his career. That's one of the ways that he attacked shot blockers. He'd take them out on the perimeter and use his quickness to go around them. Take a look at those highlights for the WCFs. Hakeem wasn't shooting jumpers, he was taking the ball straight to the hole and shooting at point blank range. Now, on the other hand if you look at Robinson's game. He had little success trying to drive on Olajuwon...nobody did. He shot jumpers. The bulk of Robinson's shots were always jumpers, but vs. Hakeem, even a higher percentage of his shots were jumpers. Of course possibly the biggest advantage that Olajuwon would have had in 1 on 1 is his quickness in getting to loose balls. Can you imagine Hakeem and Yao both going for a missed shot?
Oh come on. Amare is so much better slashing and getting to the hoop with his dribbling compared to Hakeem. Hakeem isn't that quick dribbling the ball man, quit exaggerating. He does it repeatedly against slower centers, but he never dribble drive effectively against somebody as fast as Robinson. Robinson's drew so many fouls on Hakeem because he can pass him up on the drive (with his wussy calls to us).
What kind of planet do you live on to claim that Stoudemire is/was better at anything than Hakeem....maybe he has a more comprehensible accent. That's it Well, he did't really draw too many fouls in 95 when they were both at their peak did he? The closest thing empirical test of your thesis already exists, the 95 WCF. Again, I question whether or not you actually watched. Robinson attempted to guard Dream one on one almost all series. He couldn't guard him in the post, couldn't guard him in the perimeter. Watch Hakeem break his ankles. Watch him get to the hoop at will. The result was universally acknowledged one of the great performances in a playoff series ever in any sport. What is this silliness about David Robinson stopping him at the 3 point line? As if David Robinson is a 7 foot tall Gary Payton on the perimeter. He has no better chance stopping him there than he would 15 feet away, all alone...which was none. Watch the video link posted. There is footage of him facing up robinson and taking him to the rack. What more evidence do you need? Honestly, this is absurd. You're bordering onto straight up trolling.
I picked Dream, but I dunno. He always had problems with the taller guys. Shoot, Shawn Bradley would sometimes give Dream fits.
