Hakeem Olajuwon was all business the minute he stepped onto the basketball, and ‘The Dream’ as he was rightly called, was pretty much a nightmare for the Seattle SuperSonics on March 10, 1987.
Incredible performances in the NBA are a dime-a-dozen but roll back the years when Olajuwon was playing, his 5×5 stat line was one that will go down in history as a show of complete dominance — one that NBA fans recognized and debated about.
The Dream scored 38 points on 14-29 shooting. On top of his scoring, he added 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 7 steals, and an incredible 12 blocked shots. Unfortunately, the Rockets lost the game against the SuperSonics by a score of 136-127. But what stood out was Olajuwon’s masterclass.
[Please note that the comments have been edited for the sake of clarity]
One of the fans argued that Wilt Chamberlain had better numbers.
You must have never seen Wilt’s stats
Another believed that Wilt played in an era where pace was a crucial factor, and backed Olajuwon to do well in the 60s.
His stats don’t matter since he played in the 60s with the highest pace of all time teams were missing shots left and right and padding their stats. Put Hakeem in the 60s he’d put up similar numbers
David Robinson had some fan support.
No way! David Robinson was the GOAT!! Quit trying to make Hakeem more than he was!!!
Some fans just decided to focus on how great Hakeem truly was.
People forget how truly special Hakeem the dream Olajuwon was
Those who didn’t know couldn’t believe it.
This is one game right?
This was seconded by another.
Hakeem one of the most underrated players ever should be in the discussion of top 10 all time
Clearly, fans were in awe of what Olajuwon did during his time. His career average saw him prop up 21.8 points and 11.1 rebounds. The big man was a force to reckon with and proved that he was on an elite level in his prime.
Robert Horry Picked Hakeem Olajuwon As His Big Man Over Shaquille O’Neal And Tim Duncan
Robert Horry has the distinction of playing with Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, and Hakeem Olajuwon, winning seven championships in his illustrious career on teams with each of them.
In a recent appearance on ‘All The Smoke,’ with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, he picked Olajuwon as the best of the trio.
“In all the teams I played for, the one common thing was big men. Think about Shaq, Tim Duncan, and if you said right now, ‘Name the top five big men, I played with three of them. Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) is number one by far. Nobody wants to talk about it. I think you have these guys who are quiet, like Dream is a quiet guy, you can’t get him to do much, to say much.”
“Sometimes, we veer away from him, we don’t talk about him. But to me, if you look at what he put together. Defensive Player of the Year and MVP in one season, all-time shot blocker, those things that you look at his history and what he’s done for the game. This dude didn’t play basketball growing up. We all went to college where they teach you. In UoH, they rolled the ball out and let him get to work. His body of work was just incredible. He’s a good dude too.”
Unless Nikola Jokic brings home the silverware, the big men era in the NBA had to hit pause, but when it did run, there’s no denying that Olajuwon was one of the bonafide centers to dominate the league.
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