If you do a casual search for O'Neal and Olajuwon, then you will get a whole bunch of photos of the two people hooking up, yes, the two superstars have always maintained a very good relationship, O'Neal once said that the people he admires the most are two and a half, half of himself, Michael Jordan in second place, and Hakeem Olajuwon in first place, it is the "big dream" that taught the young O'Neal how to be a true team leader.

The Rockets with Olajuwon and the Magic with O'Neal have met in the Finals in the 1994-1995 season, when the Magic, in addition to O'Neal, the big killer on the inside who leads the scoring list, also has the high hopes of young guard Tim Hardaway, the tough guy on the inside, Hores Grant, the two guns on the periphery, Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott, and of course, Brian Shaw on the bench, they always seize the opportunity to get an open spot on the outside by the double pack O'Neal.

The first game between the two teams set the tone for this series, in the first quarter, the Rockets didn't play like a defending team at all, scoring only 19 points in the whole quarter, while the Magic team was imposing, they scored 30 points, in the first half of the second quarter, the Magic stretched the score to 20 points at most, Hardaway burst inside, and the outside shot beat the opposing Drexler into a sieve, and at the critical moment, Kenny Smith suddenly broke out, he actually threw in five three-pointers in the third quarter, leading the team to a wave of 37: 19 attack wave, rocket 7 points ahead! The Magic began to fight back, they hit consecutive shots, and suppressed the Rockets to score, in the last minute, the Magic held a three-point advantage, thinking that the overall situation was decided, but at the critical moment, Nick Anderson missed both free throws, but the Rockets did not seize this opportunity, Grant desperately grabbed this frontcourt rebound and passed to Anderson again, and the Rockets had to foul Anderson again!

First Penalty Anderson slapped the ball, took a deep breath, and threw it hard!

"Dang!"

In the second penalty, Anderson was obviously nervous, his wrists trembled a little, and he threw the ball again!

"Dang!"

At the most critical moment of the game, the sharpshooter, who had a three-point shooting rate of 40%, missed four consecutive free throws! This can't but be said that God has pressed the winning chips on the side of Team Rocket!

Looking back, the Rockets attacked, and Kenny Smith, who felt hot in the second half, made a three-pointer 1.6 seconds before the end of the game, which was his ninth three-point shot of the game, and his seventh hit, becoming the man who made the most three-pointers in a single game in the Finals.

With 1.6 seconds left, the NBA is nothing short of miracles! Can the Magic team stage a counter-lore! But Robert Horry let that illusion come to naught when he blocked the Magic's shot and the game went into overtime.

In overtime, the two teams fought evenly again, and in the last 30 seconds, the Rockets trailed by three points 118:115, and then no one could have imagined that the magical script would repeat itself again! It's just a whole flip this time! Dennis Scott, who had previously hit just one shot from beyond the three-point line, hit a crucial three-pointer 5.5 seconds before the end of overtime, and the game was tied at 118 again! Do you want to play a second overtime?

What will happen in 5.5 seconds, no one can guess, the head coach of the Rockets arranged a blocking and dismantling tactic, Drex Rey did not share the ball with Olajuwon after blocking the latter, but went straight into the heart of the Magic team by himself, where can O'Neal allow him to go wild! roared and pounced, the "glider" had to raise the angle of the shot, the basketball knocked on the rebound, fell on the edge of the basket, and was about to fall out of the basket, at the critical moment Olajuwon reached out to make up the basket, and the ball was put into the basket, and the red light turned on at the same time, the game was over, the referee said that he could not determine whether the ball was effective or not, and he had to discuss with the two linesmen, the fans were silent, the players of the Rockets and Magic were very nervous, and the referee watched the replay and determined that Olajuwon made a basket at a quarter of a second before the end of the game! The goal works!

Olajuwon killed the Magic with a rebound! The Rockets led 1-0.

After the match, O'Neill gave Olajuwon a nickname, "The Diver Man", O'Neill complained to the media, "Olajuwon's TMD is too slippery, it's like wearing diving gear, and before you have time to react, he swoops into the sea." ”

On the offensive end, Olajuwon used his experience, his footsteps, and his ability to teach the second-year O'Neale not too much of a problem, even in the face of the Magic's entire double-man package, Olajuwon also played with ease, and the most headache for the Rockets was on the defensive end, O'Neal's strong body and domineering strength even Olajuwon couldn't bear it, and O'Neal frequently used his strength to beat Olajuwon to win.

But the Rockets are the defending division, and soon found a solution, that is, to keep pinching O'Neal and Hardaway, changing the method of pinching and only using a small pinch, at that time, O'Neal's skills were not perfect not long after entering the league, especially the inside and outside are almost not, and Hardaway's offensive ability is very strong, but the pass is not very stable, and it is not good to feed the big man inside, and the whole round of the series is down, O'Neal can pass an average of 6.3 assists per game, but the turnovers are 5.3 per game, while Hardaway's turnovers are 3.8, these two technical loopholes were seen at a glance by the old spicy Tang Shuai, and then kept sending a small one to harass O'Neal and Hardaway, as long as the ball was stolen, the quick defense and offense converted to a three-line fast attack, although O'Neal was physically strong, but he ran slowly, not as flexible as Olajuwon, and when he ran to his camp, the Rockets had successfully dunked, while celebrating, while returning to defense.

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

In this game, the Magic once led to 20 points, but in the end they still lost, it is undeniable that this bad mood spread among the young Magic team, the whole team was filled with a sad mood, and the Magic team did not have a veteran with authority to press the lineup, unable to lead the team out of the quagmire, Nick Anderson was blamed for missing the last four free throws of the game, and finally he scored 11 points on only 4-of-13 shooting and 1-of-5 three-pointers in the second game.

The second game of the finals was a completely one-sided game, in the first half, Horry used a strong defense to suppress the Magic team, and repeatedly launched an attack from the opponent's direct steals in the backcourt, under Horry's defense, the Magic team did not have a fast break in the entire first half, he scored 11 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 7 steals and 2 blocks in the whole game, of which 7 steals in a single game is a new record in the finals!

In the first game, the Rockets' three-point shooting was very smooth, and in the second game, the Magic expanded the defensive range to strengthen the three-point shot, who knew that expanding the defense allowed Sam Cassel, who has a very accurate mid-range hand, to get a chance, he frequently hit mid-range shots, and finally he made 12 shots, hit 8 shots, and scored 31 points! Although O'Neal and Hardaway both combined for 65 points on more than 60 percent shooting, others were limited in their help to the Rockets, and in the end, the Rockets defeated the Magic again 117-106, with Olajuwon scoring 34 points and 11 rebounds on 14-of-30 shooting from the field.

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, and when the game ended with 35 seconds left, the Magic team was only 1 point behind and turned the tables? Don't even think about it, the big-hearted Horry raised his hand to hit a crucial three-pointer with 14 seconds left before the game ended, completely extinguishing the Heat's Magic counterattack!

The fourth game became the last game of the season, and the game was unusually stale, with the Rockets leading the Magic by only one point at 77:76 in the first three quarters, and O'Neal grabbed consecutive rebounds in the front court to make up for the basket! The score was about to go in the opposite direction of the Rockets, when another role player suddenly exploded!

He is Mario Alley who gave away the "kiss of death"!

Avery was hot in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, scoring 8 points in a row, scoring 22 points in the game, playing the best game in the finals, and Horry also began to explode, scoring 21 points and 13 rebounds in the game, led by these two role players, the Rockets actually played a wave of 22:9 scoring**! O'Neal did his best, scoring 25 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks on 11-of-19 shooting, Hardaway also scored 25 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists on 8-of-14 shooting, and Brian Shaw played a representative game, scoring 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists on 6-of-15 shooting! But none of this could win a victory for the team, Olajuwon hit 15 of 30 shots to cut 35 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists, the glider scored 15 points, Kassel scored 13 points, and finally the Rockets defeated the Magic 113-101 and swept the Magic 4-0 to win two consecutive championships! The FMVP was once again awarded to Olajuwon, who averaged 32.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks per game! Olajuwon became the first player since Jordan to win back-to-back FMVP!

At this time, the Rockets, and Olajuwon at this time have reached the peak of their careers!

If a dynasty is limited to three years, the Rockets, who won the NBA championship for two consecutive years, did not open up a dynasty of their own in the end, Jordan who resumed basketball training was unstoppable again, he averaged 30 points per game in the 1995-1996 season, and in the playoffs, the Heat, Knicks, Magic, and SuperSonics finally won the first championship in the second Bulls dynasty, and the Rockets, this year still maintained the original team of the championship team, Olajuwon averaged 26.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in the second round of the playoffs, but this was also his last season averaging more than 25 points per game. At the end of the season, Maxwell and Kenny Smith left the team at the same time, the former left Philadelphia, the latter moved to Detroit, and the latter announced his retirement after only one year of play.

So far, the total number of three-pointers in the history of the Rockets is still Maxwell's 730, and Kenny Smith's 521 goals are the sixth most in team history.

In the 1996-1997 season, the hard-pressed Rockets decided to introduce the Trident, and exchanged Sam Cassel, Matt Bryant, Robert Horry, and Chaggie Brown from the Suns for 34-year-old Charles Barkley, intending to let go and make a last-ditch effort! The trade proved to be one of the worst in Rockets history.

But at this time, Barkley has long been no longer the courage of the year, and his injury-ridden state has dropped significantly, replacing Kassel with the team's incompetent starting No. 1 position, and having to use Matt Maloney, who has handed over 6.9% three-point shooting rate in a single season, Olajuwon is carrying the team into the playoffs alone, this time Olajuwon swept the Timberwolves with an average of 18 points and 11 rebounds per game, In the Western Conference semifinals, Olajuwon handed over 21.7 points and 12.3 rebounds and finally won the game, and in the Western Conference Finals, facing the Jazz, Olajuwon averaged 27 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, six big games, and finally the Rockets fell under the Jazz sword, and from this time on, the Rockets began to go into a slump.

In the 1997-1998 season, the Rockets entered the playoffs again under the leadership of Olajuwon, but in the first round of the playoffs, they were eliminated by the old rival Jazz 3:2, in this round of the series, Olajuwon still averaged 20+10 per game, but the shooting percentage was less than forty percent, after the end of the season, "Glider" Drexler announced his retirement.

After sixteen seasons, Drexler gave the last four years of his career to the Rockets, but the physical "Glider" has a very good career continuity, and even in his final season, he is still averaging 18.4 points, 5.5 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game, which may be a stat that some players will never get in their lifetime.

In the 1998 draft, the Rockets added two new bloods, taking Michael Dixon with the 14th pick in the first round and Cardinol Mobley with the 41st pick in this round.

In the 1998-1999 season, Jordan announced his retirement for the second time, the Bulls dynasty collapsed, and Scott Pippen, the second leader of the Bulls, joined the Rockets with a super contract of 5 years and 73 million US dollars, this year, Pippen was exactly 33 years old, and Pippen, who held the team's second highest salary, performed this season? He averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game, shooting 43.2 percent from the field, ranking seventh among the eight players on the team who averaged more than 20 points per game, just above rookie Mobley, and the worst three-point shooting percentage of the eight other than Olajuwon and Barkley...... Kindness...... Have you ever seen Olajuwon hit a three-pointer? …… Kindness...... Barkley's three-point ...... Well, Pippen's years playing with the Rockets can be said to be a stain on Pippen's life (it can also be said to be a stain on the Rockets) When Pippen came, the whole team welcomed him, and Barkley even expected himself to take a salary cut to make room for Pippen's signing, you must know that Barkley only got $1 million this year, but after this season, Pippen and the team completely broke up, and Pippen wanted to be the second Jordan after coming to the Rockets, But the team's style of play still revolves around Olajuwon and Barkley's interior offense, Pippen's role is exactly the same as that of the Bulls, which makes Pippen very unhappy, so he began to work hard, causing other players to be dissatisfied, Barkley is the first to bear the brunt, Duke Charles's hot temper is what to say, unhappy scolding, naturally the two of them are not less chattering, in April, the Rockets are in the most important period of competing for the playoff rankings, but at this time, Pippen was arrested for drunk driving, This incident became the fuse for Barkley's complete outburst, and what happened afterwards was that Pippen and Barkley completely tore their faces and scolded each other on social tools......

In this shrunken season, the Rockets won a total of 31 games and entered the playoffs, the opponent in the first round was the Los Angeles Lakers, the O'Neal in the team was no longer the young boy who was played by Olajuwon, but transformed into a real league's No. 1 center, in this series, O'Neal averaged 30 points and 11 rebounds per game, in addition to O'Neal, there is also the old shooter Glenn Rice, and Kobe Bryant, who has emerged on the guard line, on the other hand, the Rockets, Olajuwon averaged only 13 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, and after the Rockets fought the Lakers in four games, they were defeated, and Pippen, who was expected to do so, averaged 18.3 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game in these four games, what? Playing well? Well, then I'll tell you that Pippen's shooting percentage is a staggering 32.9%, note that, it's the shooting percentage and not the three-point shooting percentage, and his three-point shooting percentage is 27.3! At this shooting rate, Pippen averaged more than 17.5 shots per game, the highest number of shots on the team! And he also averaged 3.3 turnovers per game, a team-high ......

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, while the Rockets took Dixon, who averaged 11 points per game last season and shot more than 43% from three-point range. Olajuwon averaged only 10 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this season, and the Rockets gradually became the world of guards, and finally the Rockets only won 34 games this season, missing the playoffs, and Charles Barkley announced his retirement after this season.

2000-2001 season, Olajuwon averaged 11.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, the Rockets won 45 games, but missed the playoffs again, after this season, the Rockets in order to cultivate Francis's leadership, Olajuwon was traded to the Raptors, (about this deal, there are also different opinions in the circle, one is because the Rockets are unwilling to provide Olajuwon with a high retirement contract, causing Olajuwon to leave Toronto) Next season, Olajuwon played 61 games for the Raptors, averaging only 7.1 points and 6 rebounds per game, after the end of the season, the 39-year-old Olajuwon announced his retirement, a generation of superstars, and finally withdrew from the stage of history.

The dry and boring stats are no longer listed, Olajuwon was the greatest center of his era, maybe not one of them, his offense, his defense is impeccable, he is also the only player in the Jordan era to lead the team to a championship alone, this is the great Olajuwon, a great 18-year career.

To this day, Olajuwon's 26,511 points with the Rockets still rank first in team history, tenth in NBA history, first in team history with 13,382 rebounds, thirteenth in NBA history, third in team history with 2,992 assists, first in team history with 2,088 steals, first in team history with 3,740 blocks, first in the league, first in team history with 10,555 shots, eighth in NBA history, and first in team history with 5,376 free throws. 1,177 appearances are also the first in team history, and the Raptors' 61 games are the seventh most appearances in NBA history!