David Robinson (32p/7r) vs Hakeem Olajuwon (27p/10r) - highlights 1990/91 season

[Round Mound]

An early season battle between the young superstar centers. A close game throughout but its Rod Strickland with the miracle 3 point play at the end to give the Spurs a come from behind win...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFErN9DaiQw

Boxscore:http://www.basketball-reference.com/...011100SAS.html

[sportjames23]

Back when the NBA had real centers.

[Round Mound]

Back when the NBA had real centers.

True

[thefatmiral]

that crowd was so hyped for a regular season game.

[SsKSpurs21]

Its really a shame that David's legacy has been tarnished and degraded based on 1 playoffs series. There were many times where Dave got the best of Hakeem.

I would compare the two head to head matchups to modern day KG vs Duncan. KG being Dave and Duncan being Hakeem.

[LAZERUSS]

Its really a shame that David's legacy has been tarnished and degraded based on 1 playoffs series. There were many times where Dave got the best of Hakeem.

I would compare the two head to head matchups to modern day KG vs Duncan. KG being Dave and Duncan being Hakeem.

In their 42 other career H2H's, their numbers were nearly identical across the board (with Hakeem slightly outscoring D-Rob, and D-Rob outshooting Hakeem from the field by a solid margin.)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...1&p2=robinda01

[And1AllDay]

Two elite beasts, battling it out

[ClipperRevival]

Its really a shame that David's legacy has been tarnished and degraded based on 1 playoffs series. There were many times where Dave got the best of Hakeem.

I would compare the two head to head matchups to modern day KG vs Duncan. KG being Dave and Duncan being Hakeem.

Somewhat true. But fair or not, how you play when it matters most (playoffs) carries weight. There were several seasons where Robinson had the best team or teams considered good enough to go all the way and he never even made a finals as "the man". Hakeem's legacy gets boosted because he took his game to another level in the playoffs. But in terms of regular season impact, he was right there with Hakeem, possibly higher given his superior advanced stats. But like I said, how you perform in the playoffs matter for your legacy. But he was a dominant force and gets somewhat underrated.

[julizaver]

In their 42 other career H2H's, their numbers were nearly identical across the board (with Hakeem slightly outscoring D-Rob, and D-Rob outshooting Hakeem from the field by a solid margin.)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...1&p2=robinda01

When you looked at their H2Hs we could see that left handed very quick and explosive David Robinson cause some problems at first for right handed Hakeem. And as you know Hakeem had some health issues and contract disputs yearly '90s with Rockets management. After Rudy T became coach of the Rockets in 1993 Hakeem was having his career years and his ofensive game improved. So going into the 1995 WCF there were already some games during the regular season where Hakeem gave Robinson (MVP) quite a beating. And Robinson who had some "choking habits" in the postseasons really crumbled under pressure in the last two games of that WCF series. That's where Hakeem took it over.

And to support my thesis it seems that a young more quicker, athletic and explosive version of Robinson cause more troubles to finess and skillful player like Hakeem than his more bulkier, muscular and heavy '95 version.
And while it was good for Robinson to gain some extra pounds of muscles vs the rest of the league it was not good vs Hakeem who was always renown for not being power player. To defend Hakeem you need all your speed and quickness, you should be able to go outside of the lane and chalenged his mid range jump shots, you are late with part of the second and you are lost.