100: 066: There is no possibility of coexistence between them.
100: 066: There is no possibility of coexistence between them.
In 1982, the hottest topics in American college basketball were only two names: Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Both from overseas, they possessed terrifying physiques, came to basketball late, and dominated the paint with terrifying authority.
Despite their differing styles, people believed these two giants would rule the basketball world.
In 1984, these two giants met for the first time on the NCAA Finals stage.
That same year, Olajuwon was chosen first overall.
A year later, Patrick Ewing was also selected in the first position.
As people had expected, these two big men made their mark in the world of basketball.
Ten years later, Michael Jordan was absent, and it was supposed to be the perfect stage for them to continue their legendary story.
Olajuwon dressed up elaborately, and even though obstacles like the Flying Pig intervened, he still proceeded resolutely and arrived on time.
But who was waiting for him when he arrived?
Standing 198 cm tall in shoes, hardly robust, barely passing in defense, with dismal assist stats, and just 18 years old, was a first-year guard, Roger.
It was he who swept the stubbornly fierce look and the grand director of the theatrical plays, Pat Riley, out the door.
Let’s roll back to a year before, when Olajuwon first heard the name Roger.
He scored 58 points in a nationally televised state championship game, making the nation’s top high school player, Randy Livingston, look pale in comparison.
In the McDonald’s All-American Game, he scored 40 points, leaving Oak Hill Academy’s talented guard Jerry Stackhouse utterly disgraced.
At that time, Olajuwon felt much like everyone else: “Hmm, this kid is great, really great.
he’s only playing high school basketball, right?”
Yet a year later, he met this guy on the stage of the NBA Finals.
Magical, Olajuwon thought.
This was the most magical story in the world of basketball.
A year earlier, Roger’s dominance was confined to high school, and people even debated whether he could adapt to college basketball.
Now, however, he stood on a stage that most players could never reach in their lifetimes.
His rise was as rapid as a rocket.
Roger disrupted the “date” between Olajuwon and Ewing, intruding into their showdown.
The championship was within sight, yet the Zen Master was very pragmatic in an interview before the game began, “The results of the last round were delightful.
We played a great series.
But the Rockets and the Knicks are different; now we need to take each victory one at a time.”
Phil Jackson was right, the Rockets and the Knicks were different.
In the first game of the Finals, Dream Olajuwon made all his shots in the first quarter.
In the third quarter, the Bulls found themselves in a predicament of “no one but Roger could make that damn ball,” reminiscent of many instances in the Eastern Finals.
Each time the Bulls had managed to pull through during the East finals.
But in the Finals, the Rockets gave the Bulls no chance.
The guys from Space City outscored the Bulls 26-16 in the third quarter, opening up the lead decisively.
The reason was simple: the big man for the Rockets was Olajuwon.
On offense, he was even more dangerous than a rampant gorilla!
Roger still remembered a set of data comparisons, from the historical ’94 Finals between the Rockets and the Knicks, Dream had a 50% shooting average with 26.9 points per game, Ewing 36% with 18.9 points per game.
No need for further analysis, those numbers were already too superfluous, this set had already sufficiently illustrated the difference between them on offense.
In the East finals, when the Bulls’ offense was constipated, Phil would turn and look at Pat Riley with a chuckle: “Hey old pal, you can’t get it out either, huh.”
But now, as the Bulls’ offense struggled again, Phil turned to look at Tomjanovich, only to find him utterly unobstructed.
Roger typically supported the team’s offense in the third quarter, scoring 9 points, but he could not withstand Dream’s dominance in the paint.
The Rockets defeated the Bulls at home and took the first game of the series.
After playing that game, Phil Jackson was acutely aware of the disparity between the two teams.
The Bulls’ weak frontcourt, even Ewing couldn’t restrain, let alone restrain the Dream who could blow up the other three of the top four centers.
While the Rockets’ offense was stronger than the Knicks, their defense was not inferior either.
Tomjanovich’s defensive philosophy was not the overly aggressive muscle confrontation like the Knicks.
He preferred strict man-to-man defense, not too aggressive, not too relaxed.
Just stick to your man properly.
If you got beaten, no worries.
See that guy, number 34, behind you?
That guy could help you out of any trouble.
So game two was nearly a repeat of G1.
The difference was, today it wasn’t just Olajuwon scoring.
The Zen Master decided to aggressively double-team to try breaking down the Dream with a sea of players in the second game.
He was constantly shouting from the sidelines: “Double-team, double-team!
Surround that bastard, at least three defenders around him!”
Olajuwon struggled, but such defense also gave the Rockets’ other players opportunities.
The response capability of Rockets’ role players was clearly not on the same level as the Knicks’ role players.
Robert Horry scored 16 points, Vernon Maxwell 12 points, Sam “Market’s Most Handsome” Cassell 15 points.
Although Olajuwon’s passing was not as monstrous as Nikola Jokic’s would later be, it was formidable enough.
He often found his teammates amidst multiple defenders.