Originally posted by TheSixthRing:Originally posted by LA9erFan:Originally posted by TheSixthRing:Originally posted by LA9erFan:Originally posted by TX9R:
I dont' see any way Shaq is ahead of Hakeem, seeing as how Hakeem owned him and he didn't have to come out at the end of games. Hakeem was the one who dominated centers in the time of centers. By the time Shaq was in his prime, there weren't any left (that weren't old and hobbled).
I've never understood why people always say that Olajuwon dominated Shaq in that series. They pretty much played to a draw.
But the Magic got swept, so the perception will always be that Hakeem destroyed him.
It's also that there are certain guys that are remembered more fondly than others, and Olajuwon's one of those guys. Just like Duncan, no one has a bad thing to say about the guy, and that translates into how he's remembered as a player.
Olajuwon's my favorite non-Laker of all time, and I can't stand Shaq, but Shaq's gotta be the only person to put up 28ppg, 12.5rpg, 6.3assts, & 2.5blks on 54% from the field and still manage to get "owned". You know I'm not a big stats guy, but Shaq was a monster in that series just like Olajuwon was.
Though it could be argued Hakeem had the slightly better numbers (Shaq turned the ball over a lot; 5.25 per), it wasn't by such a margin that he had the clear advantage over Shaq - the Rockets as a team just had more experience on their side.
Yeah, I do think Olajuwon outplayed him, but by a pretty small margin. I remember that series vividly. Olajuwon was great, but he also took a LOT of shots, especially for a center. But history ended up remembering it as Olajuwon destroying Shaq, for some reason.
