NBA's 72 "Greatest" Moments: Hakeem Olajuwon Deconstructs Patrick Ewing

This qualifies as one of the 72 “Greatest” Moments in NBA History

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When the NBA and its media apparatus discuss the 1990s, it’s Michael Jordan this, Chicago Bulls that; heartbreaks here, heartbreaks there. Like MJ was the king of the world ruining everyone’s lives.

Well, I’m here to remind y’all that some of us in the ‘90s weren’t tortured by Jordan and the Bulls. Sure, some y’all living in Cleveland or Seattle or Utah or Phoenix or New York got the business from Jordan. But I don’t care.

I grew up a Rockets fan and got mine. Twice, baby.

John W. McDonough /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Yes, some of us were blessed to root for Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets. We didn’t get six titles, but we got two. And the first one came at the expense of Utah, Phoenix, and New York. None of whom could take advantage of Jordan’s absence to get their coveted title because they had so-called superstars unable to match the glory of Hakeem.

WOMPITY WOMP WOMP

I won’t touch too much on the Phoenix and Utah series, but it’s worth pointing out the hilarious cooking Olajuwon gave Charles Barkley and the Utah Jazz’s Sex Offender Starting at Power Forward.

Reaching the NBA Finals, the Rockets took on the grisly Knicks. Thanks to their rotation of burly forwards and Patrick Ewing, they did give Olajuwon a harder time than any other team in the playoffs.

Trouble for them was that the Dream continued to play remarkably efficient given the context of the slug fest series.

The highest point total either team got in the seven-game showdown was 93. Houston shot a sickly .426 FG% while New York was somehow worse with .407 FG%. Yet, Hakeem was marvelous shooting .500 from the field and an unexpected .860 from the free throw line. Olajuwon wasn’t a bad free-throw shooter during this period of his career, routinely bouncing around the mid-.700s. However, suddenly becoming a great foul shooter in the Finals was a windfall for Houston since every point was essential.

(Phil Huber /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

As Olajuwon was pulling up his team offensively, his opposing center was dragging his club down.

Ewing shot a horrific .363 FG% and an underwhelming .714 FT%. The FG% is absolutely stunning, but even the free throws are a bit surprising. Ewing was typically a better foul-line shooter than Olajuwon (.740 versus .712 career averages in favor of Ewing), so Hakeem zooming up to .860 while Patrick slumped slightly to .714 is super important in a tug-of-war seven-game finals.

Let’s also consider that each center was the hub of their teams’ respective offense. That means whatever they did carried extra weight, for better or worse. The numbers below show Olajuwon was better for Houston and Ewing was worse for New York.

And looking at the total context of the turnover situation makes it even worse.

Sure, Hakeem the Dream had 25 turnovers compared to Ewing’s 22. However, Ewing had just 12 assists compared to Olajuwon’s 25 dimes for the series. So they were just about even in coughing the ball up, but Olajuwon far exceeded Ewing in setting up teammates in addition to making his own shots and in converting free throws when he was fouled.

Defensively, Ewing showed out with 4.3 BPG and 1.3 SPG… but Hakeem had 3.9 BPG and 1.6 SPG, so on the raw numbers that’s a wash to me. Indeed, according to Basketball-Reference’s stats for the series, which I’ve been using all along, both men had 95 defensive ratings for the series.

The offensive difference again glorifies Olajuwon and besmirches Ewing. Hakeem had a 105 offensive rating while Patrick had an 85 rating. So despite the best efforts of Ewing, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, and Charles Smith, Olajuwon just could not be reasonably slowed down.