The China Power of NBA

If you search for O’Neal and Olajuwon casually, you will get a lot of photos of the two people hooking up shoulder to shoulder. Yes, the two have always maintained a very harmonious relationship. O’Neal once said that he admires the most There are two and a half people, half themselves, Michael Jordan ranked second, and Hakeem Olajuwon ranked first. It was the "big dream" that taught the young O'Neal how to do one. A true team leader.

The Rockets with Olajuwon and the Magic with O'Neal have met since the 1994-1995 season finals. At that time, the Magic, in addition to O'Neal, who led the scoring inside, also had a young guard with high expectations. Tim Hardaway, inside tough guy Horace Grant, there are two cannonballs Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott on the outside, and of course Brian Shaw on the bench. The opportunity obtained by pinching O'Neill.

The first game of the two teams set the tone for this round of the series. In the first quarter, the Rockets played nothing like a defending team, scoring only 19 points in the whole quarter, while the Magic They scored 30 points. In the first half of the second quarter, the Magic opened up the score to 20 points at most. Hardaway made a breakthrough from the inside. , Kenny Smith suddenly broke out. He even threw in five three-pointers in the third quarter, leading the team to a wave of attacks at 37:19, and the Rockets overtook by 7 points!The Magic started a Jedi counterattack. They hit consecutive shots and suppressed the Rockets to score. In the last minute, the Magic held a three-point advantage. They thought the overall situation was settled. Unexpectedly, at the critical moment, Nick Anderson missed two free throws, but the Rockets missed. This time, Grant desperately grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it to Anderson again. The Rockets had to foul Anderson again!

First penalty!Anderson patted the ball, took a deep breath, and threw it hard!

"when!"

In the second free throw, Anderson visibly became nervous, his wrists trembled a little, and he threw the ball again!
"when!"

At the most critical moment of the game, the sharpshooter who hit [-]% of his three-pointers missed four free throws in a row!It can't be said that God put the chips of victory on the Rockets' side!

Looking back, the Rockets attacked, and Kenny Smith, who was hot and smoking in the second half, made a 1.6-pointer to tie the game with [-] seconds left, his ninth three-pointer of the game He took the ball and hit it for the seventh time, becoming the person who made the most three-pointers in a single game in the finals.

There are 1.6 seconds left in the clock, what the NBA lacks most is a miracle!Can the Magic stage a counter lore!But Robert Horry made that fantasy come to naught when he blocked the Magic's shot and the game went into overtime.

In overtime, the two teams fought evenly again. In the last 30 seconds, the Rockets trailed by three points 118:115. Then no one could have imagined that the magical script was repeated again!But this time it's turned upside down!Dennis Scott, the guy who had made just one of six shots from beyond the arc, hit a crucial 5.5-pointer with 118 seconds left in overtime and the game was on again. It was tied at [-]!Is it necessary to play a second overtime?
What will happen in 5.5 seconds, no one can guess, the Rockets head coach arranged a pick-and-roll tactic, Drexley did not give the ball to Olajuwon after the pick-and-roll, but went straight to the kill Entering the hinterland of the Magic, how can O'Neal allow him to act wild!Roaring and pounced, "Glider" had to increase the angle of the shot, the basketball hit the backboard, fell to the edge of the basket, and was about to fall out of the basket. Going into the basket, the red light came on at the same time, and the game was over. The referee said that he could not judge whether the ball was valid or not. He had to discuss with the two line referees. The referee watched the replay and determined that Olajuwon made a tip-up with a third of a second before the end of the game!The goal is valid!

Olajuwon beat the Magic with a tip-up!The Rockets lead 1:0.

After playing this game, O'Neal gave Olajuwon a nickname, "Scuba Man", O'Neal complained to the media, "Olajuwon's TMD is too slippery, just like wearing diving equipment, you haven't had time yet He reacted, and he swished into the sea."

On the offensive end, it is not a big problem for Olajuwon to use his experience, his footwork, and his ability to teach the second-year O'Neal a lesson. Wang also played with ease. The most troublesome thing for the Rockets was on the defensive end. O'Neal's strong body and domineering strength could not even hold Olajuwon. O'Neal frequently used his strength to beat Olajuwon.

But the Rockets are the defending champions, and they quickly found a solution, which is to constantly flank O'Neal and Hardaway, changing the method of flanking and only using small flanks. At that time, O'Neal, who had just entered the league not long ago The technology is not perfect, especially the inside and outside, and Hardaway's offensive ability is very strong, but the passing is not very stable, and it is not good to feed the big inside. After the whole round of the series, O'Neal played They were able to send out 6.3 assists, but their turnovers averaged 5.3 times per game, while Hardaway’s turnovers were 3.8 times. These two technical loopholes were seen by the old hot Tang Shuai at a glance, and then kept sending people Shaquille O'Neal and Hardaway, as long as they steal the ball, they will quickly switch to the third-line fast break. Although O'Neal is physically strong, he runs slowly and is not as flexible as Olajuwon. When he runs into his own camp, the Rockets have successfully dunked. , made a celebratory gesture.

In the first game of the finals, Olajuwon made 26 of 13 shots, scored 31 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks. Robert Horry once again showed the characteristics of "Mr. Key," Of his 19 points, 14 came in the second half and overtime. For the Magic, O'Neal made 16 of 10 shots and scored 26 points, 16 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 blocks and 7 turnovers. , In the first game, the Rockets trailed the Magic a lot in rebounds, 41:57, a full 16 rebounds behind!

In this game, the Magic once led by 20 points, but they still lost in the end. It is undeniable that this bad influence has spread in the young Magic team. The whole team is full of a kind of sadness. Nick - Anderson, who was blamed for missing four free throws late in the game, finished just 13-for-4 from the field and 5-for-1 from 11-point range for [-] points in Game [-].

The second game of the finals was a completely one-sided game. In the first half, Horry suppressed the Magic with a strong defense, and made many direct steals from the opponent's backcourt to attack. Without a fast break in the half, he scored 11 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 7 steals and 2 blocks. Among them, 7 steals in a single game is a new record in the finals!
In the first game, the Rockets shot a three-pointer very smoothly. In the second game, the Magic expanded their defensive range to strengthen the restrictions on the three-pointer. Who knew that the expansion of the defense also allowed Sam, who has a very accurate mid-range shot. -Cassel got a chance, he frequently hit mid-range shots, and finally he made 12 shots, hit 8 goals, and scored 31 points!Although O'Neal and Hardaway both scored 65 points with more than 117% shooting percentage, the help given to them by others was limited. In the end, the Rockets defeated the Magic again at 106:30. Olajuwon made 14 shots in the game. Hit 34 balls to get 11 points and [-] rebounds.

In the third game, the cloud of defeat still hung over the heads of the Magic players, but this group of young people still played very hard. When the game was over with 35 seconds left, the Magic were only 1 point behind and came back. ?Don't even think about it, Horry hit a crucial three-pointer with 14 seconds left before the end of the game, completely extinguishing the heat of the Magic's counterattack!

The fourth game became the last game of the season. The game was extremely stalemate. In the first three quarters, the Rockets only led the Magic by one point 77:76. O'Neal grabbed consecutive offensive rebounds and made tip-ups!The score was about to go in the opposite direction of the Rockets, when another role player suddenly broke out!
He is the Mario Avery who sent the "kiss of death"!

艾利在第四节的前4分钟手感火热，连续拿下8分，全场则拿下22分，打出总决赛状态最好的一战，霍里也开始爆发，全场砍下21分和13个篮板球，在这两位角色球员的带领下，火箭竟然打出一波22:9的得分高潮！奥尼尔拼尽全力，19投11中拿下25分12个篮板3次助攻和4次封盖，哈达威14中8也拿下25分6篮板5助攻，布莱恩-肖打出代表性一战，15投6中，砍下17分4篮板4助攻！但是这统统不能共为球队赢得一场胜利，奥拉朱旺30次投篮出手命中了15球砍下35分15个篮板和6次助攻，滑翔机拿下15分，卡塞尔拿下13分，最终火箭113：101战胜了魔术同时大比分4:0横扫魔术获得了两连冠！FMVP再度颁给了场均能够轰下32.8分11.5个篮板球5.5次助攻2次抢断2次封盖的奥拉朱旺！奥拉朱旺成为了自乔丹以后获得连桩FMVP的球员！
The Rockets at this time, Olajuwon at this time reached the peak of his career!

If a dynasty is limited to three years, the Rockets, which won the NBA championship for two consecutive years, did not create a dynasty of their own in the end. Jordan, who resumed basketball training, was once again unstoppable. Able to score 1995 points per game. In the playoffs, the Heat, Knicks, Magic, and Supersonics finally won the first championship in the second Bulls dynasty. The Rockets still maintained the championship team this year. Olajuwon's original team fell under the Seattle Supersonics' trident in the second round of the playoffs. This year, Olajuwon averaged 1996 points and 30 rebounds per game, and he is still the league's top insider. It was also his last season in which he averaged more than 26.9 points per game.

In the 1996-1997 season, the Rockets decided to introduce the Trident after learning from the pain. They traded Sam Cassell, Matt Bryant, Robert Horry, and Chucky Brown for Barkley from the Suns, intending to let go. Make a last stand!
But at this time, Barkley was no longer as brave as before, and his injury-ridden state declined sharply. The replacement of Cassel left the team without a competent starting No. Matt Maloney, who shot from the field, Olajuwon carried the team into the playoffs alone. This time Olajuwon swept the Timberwolves with an average of 6.9 points and 18 rebounds per game. In the Western Conference semifinals, Olajuwon handed over 11 points and 21.7 rebounds and finally won the game in the tiebreaker. In the Western Conference Finals, facing the Jazz, Olajuwon averaged 12.3 points and 27 rebounds per game. In the war, the Rockets finally fell under the sword of the Jazz. From this time on, the Rockets began to enter a trough.

In the 1997-1998 season, under the leadership of Olajuwon, the Rockets entered the playoffs again, but in the first round of the playoffs, they were eliminated by their old opponent Jazz 3:2. In this round of the series, Olajuwon Wang can still contribute 20+10 per game, but his shooting percentage is less than [-]%. After the season, "Glider" Drexler announced his retirement.

In the 1998-1999 season, Jordan announced his second retirement, and the Bulls dynasty fell apart. The Bulls' second master, Scottie Pippen, joined the Rockets as a free agent. Entering the playoffs, the opponent in the first round is the Los Angeles Lakers. The O'Neal in the team is no longer the young boy who was teased by Olajuwon back then, but has transformed into the true league's No. 31 center. In Saili, O'Neal averaged 30 points and 11 rebounds per game. In addition to O'Neal, there are veteran shooters Glenn Rice and Kobe Bryant, who has already emerged on the back line. On the other hand, Olajuwon averaged only Able to score 13 points and 7.5 rebounds, the Rockets lost four games against the Lakers.After the season ended, Pippen was traded to the Trail Blazers.

In the 1999 draft, the Grizzlies selected a point guard named Steve Francis with the second pick in the first round, but he was unwilling to play for the Grizzlies, and the Grizzlies had to trade him to the Rockets In the future, the arrival of Francis and the rise of Mobley have made Olajuwon and Barkley both seniors who have relegated to the second line. This season, Olajuwon can only score 10 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. The Rockets The team gradually became the world of guards. In the end, the Rockets only won 34 games this season and missed the playoffs. Charles announced his retirement after this season.

In the 2000-2001 season, Olajuwon averaged 11.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. The Rockets won 45 games, but missed the playoffs again. Wang was traded to the Raptors. The next season, Olajuwon played 61 games for the Raptors, averaging only 7.1 points and 6 rebounds per game. After the season ended, the 39-year-old Olajuwon announced his retirement , a generation of superstars, finally withdrew from the stage of history.

Those dry and uninteresting data will not be listed anymore. Olajuwon is the greatest center of his era, perhaps none of them. His offense and defense are impeccable. He is also the only single player in the Jordan era. The player who led the team to win the championship, this is the great Olajuwon, a great 18-year career.