Has Rudy Tomjanovich compared Moses&Hakeem?

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Artest:

UNOFFICIAL SCORER - Artest acquisition spurs closer analysis

Houston Chronicle (TX) - Sunday, August 3, 2008
At the Rockets' core were two guys who'd been there for years, both tremendous talents, the faces of the franchise.

But after a season in which one of those players suffered a serious injury that cost him much of the season, the team was going nowhere.

Even with the duo for more than 20 points a game apiece the previous season, the team was stuck in a rut. They'd gone a decade without any real postseason success.

Scenario not unique

So in the offseason, the team goes out and adds another veteran who'd eclipsed the 20 point per game mark the season before. But they still hang on to the first two, the faces of the franchise, in an effort to win now with a team packed with veteran stars.

Sound familiar?

"Of course it does," you'll say. "Anyone with half an eye on Houston sports news knows that this just went down last week, as Ron Artest brought his 20 points per game to join Yao's 22 and Tracy McGrady's 22 and try to bring life to the successful but stagnant Rockets."

But then a quieter, older and wiser voice comes from the back of the room.

"Of course it does," says the voice.

"But it wasn't this week. It was 30 years ago."

"And one more thing," the voice continues. "It was the biggest one-year improvement in Rockets team history."

Once before in Rockets history has the team brought in a player coming off a 20 point per game season to join two others coming off the same. And yes the circumstances had some similarities.

No help on bottom line

Thirty years ago last season, they were Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich , who had been the top scorers at 25.6 and 21.5 points per game.

It was a Rockets team that, however, even with Moses Malone grabbing 15 boards per game to go with 19.4 points, went just 28-54, the second worst season in the team's history in Houston.

So that's not a similarity, as the Rockets of last year went 55-27, for their third best regular season.

But the Rockets are hoping that what happens when they bring in Ron Artest will be similar to what happened when the Rockets went out in the 1978 offseason and landed Rick Barry. Barry, 34, was coming off a full season of 82 games for the Warriors, averaging 22.6 points per game.

Better without Rudy T?

The Rockets had their best ever improvement in a one-season span, going from 28-54, when Tomjanovich missed much of the season when Kermit Washington punched him, to 47-35 with a playoff berth.

And it was the new guy who saw the biggest change in his role, as Barry settled into a role as the fourth offensive option behind Malone, Murphy and Tomjanovich , averaging just 13.5 points per game but playing a huge part in that playoff run.

How well Artest is able to blend in to a team with franchise players is yet to be seen.

But if he succeeds, there is definitely precedent for how well an addition to an established core can work for the Rockets.

Barkley's Retirement:

Call it quite a career Who needs a ring? Barkley's had a lot of fun

The Kansas City Star - Friday, December 10, 1999
Charles Barkley's NBA career really began with the Olympic tryouts in 1984, when the Round, 282-Pound, Mound of Rebound had such a great time terrorizing Bobby Knight and the whole deal.

He was the best player in the Olympic camp, since Michael Jordan was on cruise control, but Knight cut him anyway, on general principles, although he waited until the press corps left town.

Barkley reportedly precipitated it by asking His Highness why he was late for a meeting, insisting later he didn't care, he had already impressed the pro scouts, which was why he had come.

So we were off, on one of the more memorable NBA careers anyone ever had, with or without championship rings.

There were lots of embarrassments: The child Barkley spat on accidentally when he aimed at a heckler; the man he threw through a plate-glass window on purpose in a bar fight; the Angolan whose skinny chest he elbowed at the '92 Olympics, after which he claimed, ``I thought he had a spear.''

Mostly, however, he was fun, which made him a beloved throwback in the '90s when everyone got so rich and started taking themselves so seriously.

He was fun to the end, limping into his news conference Wednesday night after rupturing a tendon in his leg in Philadelphia - find me another superstar who attends a news conference hours after suffering a career-ending injury - and announcing: ``Well, guys, I guess sex is definitely out of the question tonight.''

Hundreds of schleppers have championship rings, but the man who just bade us farewell was irreplaceable.

We never saw anything like Barkley before, so it would be an upset to see another.

Wes Unseld was a 6-foot-7, 300-pound sumo wrestler who could hip-check an opposing player into the parking lot. Barkley was 6-4 1/2, he used to note proudly, and trimmed himself down to 255 in his early years.

Like Unseld, Barkley was immensely powerful. Unlike Unseld, or any other mortal with their body type, Barkley could fly. It's one thing to see a gazelle like Kobe Bryant jump, but when a human safe like Barkley boinged off the floor, jaws dropped.

Charlie could also handle the ball and make plays like a point guard. He did it all, tearing the ball off the board, dribbling it up, going in for a dunk. (People tended not to try to take charges on him.) From the beginning, Barkley had a thing about authority (his father abandoned the family when Charles was young) but he was also a prankster on a lifelong crusade. As a rookie, he would look at the stats sheet, clamoring to see if he had outrebounded center Moses Malone, knowing Malone hated the competition.

At Barkley's peak, some people thought he was, heresy of heresies, as good as Jordan, whom he idolized. But Jordan was a better shooter and winning was everything to him. Barkley didn't have a jump shot when he turned pro, and to him, a game was just a game.

Once it was over, there were other places to go and people to see.

If you stick around long enough, you'll see everything and sure enough, at the end, Barkley was complaining about young players' beepers, cell phones and lack of focus. Somewhere, Malone must have been laughing his head off.

Typically, Barkley played the string out in Houston because he liked it, rather than leave for a better team and a shot at a championship. It was a down-home place and Coach Rudy Tomjanovich ran a loose ship.

When the sportswriters asked, as they do when they can't think of anything else, if his career would be complete without a ring, Barkley would be incredulous.

What were they, nuts?

He was a poor boy from the dirt streets of Leeds, Ala., who became rich and famous. Not winning a championship was supposed to cancel that out?

``I have nothing but 16 years of great memories,'' he said Wednesday night.

TRIBUTE TO CHARLES Charles Barkley made the All-Star game nine times, and he made it with each of the three teams he played for.

Starting a Sixer The Philadelphia 76ers drafted Barkley out of Auburn with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1984 draft.

Season Rpg Ppg 1984-85 8.6 14.0 1985-86 12.8 20.0 1986-87 14.6 23.0 1987-88 11.9 28.3 1988-89 12.5 25.8 1989-90 11.5 25.2 1990-91 10.1 27.6 1991-92 11.1 23.1

Totals w/Sixers 1984-92 11.6 23.3

Rising with the Suns Barkley was the league's MVP in 1992-93 with the Suns, who made it to the NBA finals but lost to Chicago.

Season Rpg Ppg 1992-93 12.2 25.6 1993-94 11.2 21.6 1994-95 11.1 23.0 1995-96 11.6 23.2

Totals w/Suns 1992-94 11.5 23.4

Crash landing with Rockets Barkley moved on to Houston, hoping to finally win a title, but Wednesday's knee injury ended his last chance.

Season Rpg Ppg 1996-97 13.5 19.2 1997-98 11.7 15.2 1999 12.3 16.1 1999-00 10.9 15.1

Totals w/Rockets 1996-00 12.3 16.6

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Aging Rockets (3 more articles left after this):

Rockets fall in generation gap - Youngsters say world's changed

Houston Chronicle - Thursday, November 25, 1999
Meanwhile, over at the kiddie table. . . .

The older generation just doesn't get it. The world belongs to the young. The old folks in the dining room can't possibly understand.

Charles Barkley vented on Tuesday, describing the insolence of the new generation of NBA players and his frustration with what he has seen in the Rockets' locker room and practices as a means to release his burden.

On Wednesday, the cell-phone generation was not offended. But the younger Rockets also did not believe themselves exposed for a lack of priorities.

"Everybody was young at one time," Rockets second-year guard Cuttino Mobley said. "Some people forget they were young, forget the things they did when they were young.

"It didn't bother me," Mobley said of Barkley's criticism. "He wasn't talking about me."

Barkley did not say precisely whom he was talking about and did not list specific incidences. But he said cellular phones and pagers ring during meetings and that music videos instead of game tapes play before games.

"The only thing I'm frustrated by, I want these guys to understand there's a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things when I leave," Barkley said after Tuesday's win over the Mavericks. "I want them to know what's right and wrong so when I leave, at least I can sit at home and watch them."

By Wednesday, he said he said enough and hoped that the message was received even if he delivered it to alleviate his own frustration.

"I said what I had to say about that," Barkley said on Wednesday. "There's no need to rehash it. You only have to say something one time. They get it or they don't and it's over with.

"I said it because it was wearing me down. It's baggage I don't need. Wasted emotion is baggage. It just wears you down."

Teammates, however, said Barkley was upset needlessly. The omnipresent cellular phones, pagers and headphones, they said, are just a part of their generation and not a reflection on their attitude about their responsibilities.

"That's just normal type stuff," center Kelvin Cato said. "It's just part of technology. Sometimes some guys come in and don't cut them off before practice starts. I leave my phone in the car. I don't need it at practice. I don't think it represents a lack of focus. It's just somebody calling at the wrong time.

"When Chuck came in the league, I don't think there were pagers. Guys coming out of college now are so used to living the fast life more than when Chuck was young, though I think he lived the fast life, too, I guess.

"Chuck needs to look at it when he came into the league. He played with Julius Erving and Moses Malone. He had a lot of great figures ahead of him. He's trying to become the great figure for the guys that are here right now. I can imagine Dr. J and Moses Malone said the same thing about him when he came out of college. You got these other young guys coming from college trying to show what they can do. He's just trying to be the role model and father figure over this team that he needs to be."

Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich , meanwhile, celebrated his 51st birthday on Wednesday knowing he's been around long enough to know that every family has a little dysfunction, especially at the holidays.

Although assistant coach Jim Boylen had spoken with Barkley on Monday night and Tomjanovich met with him on Tuesday, Tomjanovich would say little about Barkley's discontent or his view of the latest generation of NBA players.

But he said his description of practices and meetings being disrupted by ringing cellular phones and pagers was overblown, and that he does not agree with the notion that there has been a lack of focus on the 3-10 team.

"One guy might have made a mistake and had one thing go off," Tomjanovich said. "He went and shut it off."

The problem, Tomjanovich said, is not unusual or insurmountable.

"There's always a generation gap," he said. "I mean, the rebels in that generation, their older generation looked at them and said, `What the heck do they know? And that music they're listening to.' But now, those guys who were rebels are looking down at these guys and saying, `What the heck is this?' It goes on and on. That's life.

"It keeps life interesting, the tolerance and acceptance of deals. Once we had a guy working here and he said, `Rudy, look at this guy with the earrings on. What do you think of that?' I said, I've got guys on my coaching staff that have earrings. The world has changed.' "

Barkley argued it has not changed for the better. There have been problems, Tomjanovich said, but they have not been atypical, or limited to the Rockets' youth.

But if anything, Tomjanovich said his team's work ethic has been excellent.

"It's one of the best we ever had," Tomjanovich said. "I've had things happen this year that never happened before with players opening up and asking for help and feeling they're going to get it here. On the day of the game, we have guys spending hours in hotel rooms with coaches trying to get better. They put in the tape work. We have guys come in early before practice and get in a workout. Players come here and meet coaches in the evening.

"There's going to be incidents. There's going to be frustration when people lose. Guys are going to act out of frustration and do some dumb things. I'm not going to say that hasn't happened. It has. But I had that in my championship years."

Finally, something the current and championship Rockets can share. But Tomjanovich said neither the isolated "incidents" nor typical clashes of generations can keep them from having more in common.

"Believe me, I'm not for negative behavior or lack of discipline things," Tomjanovich said. "Everybody's got different things. All these different personalities bonding together with a common goal, that's what it's all about."

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Prep to pros guys changing the draft:

GOING STRAIGHT FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO THE PROS WAS ONCE UNHEARD OF, BUT THE SUCCESS OF PLAYERS LIKE KOBE BRYANT AND KEVIN GARNETT HAS MORE AND MORE TEENS TRYING TO MAKE THE LEAP. KID STUFF

Houston Chronicle - Sunday, June 24, 2001
CHICAGO - Given the way things have been going, it is the age-old question whenever anyone starts discussing the annual NBA draft. Perhaps age-young question would be more appropriate.

Whatever, it seems that any discussion of the NBA draft begins with the same question - how young is too young? Should teen-agers be allowed to make themselves available for the NBA draft?

Depends on whom you ask. NBA commissioner David Stern says no.

"If these kids have the ability to get a little more maturity, a little more coaching, a little bit more life experience overall," Stern said, "that's good. Kids are now bouncing the ball in schoolyards saying, `Just get to be 17 and that's where I'm going.' The result of that is bad policy - bad for the kid's development, bad for the college game, bad for the business of the NBA."

The players involved would beg to differ. For them, the NBA is the realization of a dream. And if they can make a ton of money playing basketball, why bother going to college?

"I just wonder, why do people criticize us for leaving?" said Kwame Brown, an 18-year-old forward from Glynn (Ga.) High School. "If you're 18 years old, you can go to jail, you can go to the military, you can fight and die for your country. Why shouldn't you be able to go play basketball for money?"

Good question.

Suffice it to say that things have changed greatly since Moses Malone, then a raw 6-10 center from Petersburg, Va., pioneered the modern exodus from high school to professional basketball in 1974, when he was drafted by the ABA's Utah Stars. He was followed the next year by Darryl Dawkins (No. 5 by Philadelphia) and Bill Willoughby (second round, No. 19 overall by Atlanta), but the high school pipeline dried up until 1995, when Kevin Garnett left Chicago's Farragut Academy and was picked fifth overall by Minnesota.

Just like Malone two decades previously, Garnett's move was big news since it was assumed that his jump to the pros was an exception. After all, how many high school kids could possibly be ready to play in the NBA?

Plenty, it seems. Indeed, it's now big news when a player decides to go through all four years of college. And perhaps bigger news if a player decides to go to college at all.

The green room at the NBA draft is beginning to resemble the most high-profile day-care center in country, and this year's draft, which will be held Wednesday in New York, is no different, with six high schoolers making themselves available to be picked.

Almost sight unseen, mind you.

Dominating high school players are so physically superior to the competition, projecting and translating that performance to the NBA is extremely difficult, if not impossible.

"I almost never go to a (regular-season) high school game," said Sacramento scout Keith Drum. "Any guy who is good enough (to turn pro) is so much better than anyone on the other team."

And they weren't going to get much of a look during the annual pre-draft camp since much of the sideline discussions centered not on who was running the floor at Moody Bible Institute, where the camp is held, but rather who was not.

There was no Brown, no Tyson Chandler, no Eddy Curry and no DeSagana Diop - and the only "Big Dance" they've been to is the senior prom. Yep, they're all high schoolers, all 7-footers, and all are expected to be among the first names called by the talent-hungry teams in the lottery. Ousmanne Cisse, a 6-9 forward, is also expected to be a first-rounder, and Tony Key, a 6-10 center, will most likely be a second-rounder.

None of those high school kids are about to risk their draft status by putting their skills - or lack thereof - on display at the draft's annual meat market. "You want to see me play? Then pick me," they seem to be saying.

Stern is trying to do something about that.

"Teams are now going to draft players based on their potential, or what they perceive their potential to be," he said. "And the thing that concerns me the most is they're going to cut veterans to hold a spot. We'll be able to adjust to the age (that players are allowed to be drafted), but I don't think it's particularly good for anybody."

Especially for the NBA, which is almost to the point where referees will be forced to card players before they enter games. Maybe that's why Stern, who once opposed any sort of age limitations on future NBA employees, is now almost evangelical in his efforts to get the National Basketball Players Association and its membership to approve his leaguewide minimum-age requirement for entry into the league, which is expected to be 20, the same baseline that will be used in the NBA's new developmental league.

"When I saw the multiple high school players and then what seemed to be entire college teams starting to come out, it seemed to have a cascading effect," Stern said. "I don't think (teen-agers entering the draft is) a good thing for anybody."

Stern's statutory rap rings a little hollow since it wasn't all that long ago that he was vigorously railing against critics who accused his league of athletic cradle-robbing.

Stern was quick to respond to such charges - didn't pro baseball and hockey draft high schoolers? Didn't professional tennis and ice skating start mining their talent at an even younger age?

But teams then began to gripe about the difficulties of scouting and evaluating high school talent, not to mention attempting to assimilate those too-young players into the worldly NBA, so Stern began to re-think his stance on the matter.

Another mind-altering experience could be the sight of all those empty seats around the league. Fans, tired of seeing coaches dumbing-down the game for more and more ill-prepared and inexperienced players, are refusing to pay to see players with tremendous athletic ability but little, if any, understanding of how the game is supposed to be played.

"The NBA would be stronger for it," Stern said of his minimum-age stance, "the college game would be stronger for it, and there would be better messages sent about the notion that, `All I have to do is practice basketball and I will play in the NBA.' It's all about drawing the line. High school is a little on the young side."

Thus far, high school has been too young in only one regard - the top pick. The closest yet was Darius Miles, who was taken last season by the Clippers with the third pick. Yet that threshold could be crossed this year.

"It would not surprise me if a high school player went No. 1," said New Jersey general manager Rod Thorn. "You have to be diligent and then project how good a player will be three years from now.

"There aren't many who will be real good players next year. (Kobe) Bryant and Garnett weren't terrific their first year in the league. (Tracy) McGrady hardly got off the bench his first year. And now those are three of the best players, probably in the top 10, in the league."

Which is why coaches and general managers continue to snap up the youngsters. It also detracts from Stern's attempt to get his minimum-age requirement to play in his sandbox, an effort many feel is not only wasted, but downright anti-American.

Needless to say, the NBPA and its membership certainly think so. Billy Hunter, president of the players' union, notes that last year all but two of the 29 NBA teams sent a representative to see Curry and Chandler play against each other in the finale of an eight-game prep basketball festival in St. Louis.

"The message is being sent - if they have the skill, there is no need to go to college or do something else as a prerequisite to come into the league," Hunter said. "The union's position is it's a right of choice.

"We see no reason why a kid should be barred if he has the skill to play in the league. And if the owners and administrators of the teams don't feel they have the maturity and growth, they shouldn't select them or encourage them to come."

Coaches around the league seem to be divided on the issue. Yes, experience and maturity are desirable, but talent is the most valuable raw material.

"I wish we would put an age limit on it, but that's just my opinion," said Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich . "As it is right now, it's an open situation for basketball players, and who's to say that somebody shouldn't make a living at it if he has the opportunity?

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continued...

"I think it's all where you're coming from. If you're a kid whose family needs money and you have an opportunity to make that money playing a sport that you dreamed about playing, it's the most beautiful thing in the world."

Life has certainly been beautiful for Bryant (drafted No. 13 in 1996), who is being sized for his second championship ring after helping the Lakers to back-to-back titles in 2000 and '01. And Garnett, who is enjoying the fruits of a $126 million deal. And McGrady (No. 9, 1997), who last year signed a $93 million free-agent deal with Orlando.

Despite those success stories, not to mention the emergence of former Elsik star Rashard Lewis (Seattle) and Jermaine O'Neal (Indiana), some coaches still have a hard time with teen-agers setting foot in what is supposed to be a man's league.

"If the moniker for this league, the NBA, is `No Boys Allowed,' then we shouldn't have immature men playing in the pro game that takes so much poise and direction," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "I've had this argument with Kobe and he talks about how many great players have come into the NBA from high school in the last four or five years.

"Yet innumerable (players) have not been able to marshal the talent of a Garnett or a McGrady and have not made it."

Like former Dallas Maverick Leon Smith, a first-rounder in 1999, who is usually brought up as the poster child for everything that can go wrong when it comes to drafting high schoolers.

That tag, however, is unfair. Smith, who endured numerous off-court problems, including assault charges and a suicide attempt, was emotionally crippled before he entered the draft, so making him the standard by which all teen-age prospects are measured is ridiculous.

Instead, names like Taj McDavid, who went undrafted in 1996; Korleone Young (a second-round pick by Detroit in 1998), who was out of the league after playing in only three games for two teams; or Jonathan Bender, the fifth pick in the 1999 draft (by Toronto, then traded to Indiana) who has since languished on the Pacers bench, would be better spokeschildren for the NBA's "Just Say Go (to School)" campaign.

Then again, Bender keeps cashing his guaranteed checks, which riles Isiah Thomas, who last year succeeded Larry Bird as Indiana's coach. Thomas, who entered the NBA at age 20 after his sophomore year at Indiana University, thinks the biggest problem with teen-aged players isn't as simple as age. No, Thomas feels the problem is money. Lots of it, and all guaranteed.

These days, being drafted is like making a comfortable landing in the middle of one of professional sports' most lush fairways - nothing but green as far as the eye can see. There are no parting gifts for kids who can't cut it in the NBA, just a three-year stream of guaranteed paychecks, almost like hitting the lottery.

And Thomas believes that guaranteed money, not the number of candles on the birthday cake, has created one of the league's biggest problems.

"I personally think that it's hard to determine maturity," Thomas said. "You can't say that just because this guy is 19 that he's not mature because we have some 30-year-olds in this league who are not mature.

"I think that when you look at the draft, one of the biggest problems you have is probably with the collective bargaining agreement. What we're saying to the young players now is, "It's not about how well you can play, it's all about getting drafted.' That's the only goal - do enough to get drafted.

"If you get drafted, you're guaranteed (three) years of income, and that's what the game is all about now for the young players coming out. It's not about, `Am I good enough to play?' or "Am I good enough to succeed?'

"It's about, `Am I good enough to get drafted?' And when you're drafted, you've cashed in."

And - for various reasons - most are eager to get in line at the pay window.

Some are being pushed by family members or "advisers," all of whom are wanting a free ride on the gravy train. Some feel that given the league's five-year rookie scale (a three-year contract, team option of a fourth year and the right to match any offer in fifth), it's better to get into the NBA as soon as possible and get the indentured servitude over with as soon as possible.

And while few will admit as much, others don't want to see their luster fade with time, a la Maryland's Terence Morris. The 6-9 small forward would have been a lottery pick after his sophomore and junior years but is now considered a mid-to-late first-rounder after a disappointing senior season.

"It's like you're being penalized for staying longer in school," said North Carolina senior center Brendan Haywood. "The longer the NBA takes high school seniors before college seniors, then players are going to leave early. The longer you stay, the more they're going to criticize your game. The shorter you stay, the more they'll draft on potential."

Shane Battier, who this season led Duke to the NCAA championship and captured just about every Player of the Year award along the way, believes there is room for growth in his game even though he stayed in school all four years.

"I think it is pretty ridiculous to think at 22 I've reached my maximum potential as a basketball player," Battier said. "One of the great things about basketball, anyone will tell you, is you can learn something new about it every single day. Michael Jordan kept improving to his very last day.

"Any great player improved every single day. By no means have I arrived - I have a lot of room for growth and development."

Can the same be said about basketball, both at the college and professional level? Probably not.

One staff member from a Western Conference team, watching the NBA wannabes at the pre-draft camp, just shook his head at the crop, most of whom could generously be called "limited."

"If we were game wardens and this was a pond, then we'd probably be saying that it was fished out," he said. "We'd have to close it down for a year, allow no fishing and let it get restocked.

"It's almost to the point where you have to look at the NBA draft the same way - close it down for a year and let the talent level rise to acceptable levels before we start drafting players again."

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2007 LeBron article:

LeBron's challenge: Be good enough to carry 'bad' team

Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA) - Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Well, we're fully immersed in The LeBronorama. His 48-point Game 5 is being compared to the great playoff performances of all time.

That means pundits are trotting out everything from Michael Jordan's flu game in 1996 to Isiah Thomas' ankle-sprain game in '88 to Magic Johnson's 42-and-17 game in Philly in '80 to Bob Pettit's 50 sometime back before I was born. And that's too long ago to count anymore.

So now, we're getting the backlash stuff: LeBron James can't possibly win an NBA finals by himself against a foe as seasoned and talented as the San Antonio Spurs. And by himself is pretty much what he's been doing, excepting the 31 poured in by rookie point Daniel Gibson in the clinching Game 6 against the Pistons.

That's an easy case to make and it's probably correct. You can't find an NBA champion as long as I've been alive with as few quality players as the Cavaliers. Really, you can go back through the annals and not find even many finals participants as lean as the Cavs.

You could mention the '01 Sixers with Allen Iverson and a cluster of meshed role players whose best attribute was knowing what they each individually couldn't do and refraining from the attempt. One of them was the Cavs' own Eric Snow. They lost to the Lakers in five.

A must in the debate is the '81 Rockets, who went 40-42 in the regular season with dominant center Moses Malone and a kennel full of mutts, the best of whom were Rudy Tomjanovich , tiny, half-crazy, baton-twirling point man Calvin Murphy, Robert Reid (not Mike Brady) and Allen Leavell. They lost to the Celtics in six (the Bird-McHale-Parish group's first ring).

I also tend to stick on the '78 and '79 editions between the Bullets and Sonics -- one won by each -- when looking for finals teams with less star power. But both those groups had a breadth of skill, ensemble casts much like the '04 Pistons, that filled in the rosters and compensated for their lack of one terrific player.

While none was quite a superstar -- Elvin Hayes was close -- Dennis Johnson, John Johnson, Paul Silas, Downtown Freddie Brown, Wes Unseld and Bobby Dandridge were very good players. They were far superior to the hit-n-miss role guys we see on the Cavs.

Don't mention the '77 Blazers. Yes, Bill Walton was the superstar but Maurice Lucas was an All-Star who never got the cred. You could quibble about the '76 Suns (another ensemble with Paul Westphal, Alvan Adams, Gar Heard, Dick Van Arsdale and Curtis Perry. Or the '75 Warriors (Rick Barry and Jamaal Wilkes and a bunch of ham-n-eggers).

After all is examined, you could conclude maybe only those '81 Rockets were as lopsided a group as these Cavs and had maybe even less business in the finals.

So, it's easy to argue against Cleveland having any kind of chance starting Thursday night.

But what's the point? Everyone knows their chances aren't great. Better to examine the top limit of help LeBron could be expected to get and whether that can possibly be enough against the Spurs.

The fact is, any team with a player as physically imposing as James has a shot, if slim. It's chance is not that he can do what he did against Detroit. He can't; San Antonio simply won't allow it.

That, and the chances of him making even half of the combination of shots he did against the Pistons in any one game are close to impossible. The Game 5 performance is simply something out of another universe that cannot ever be recaptured.

The chance comes from what he did against Detroit allowing opportunities for the other Cavaliers. Though they aren't an accomplished support group by any measure, a few have singular talents that can be tapped if the Spurs decide to gang-guard James too often.

Gibson, the Texas rookie, has the pizzazz to catch fire. He's a streaky shooter who is playing with a ton of confidence all of a sudden after finally getting a shot from the Cavs' none-too-impressive second-year coach Mike Brown.

Larry Hughes was a lottery pick years ago who's always thought he was better than he is. Hurt in Game 5, if he also gets it going, suddenly the Cavs have an outside-in attack to work with.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas turns 32 today and is aging rapidly. But he's been a solid 16-and-8 type big man much of his career and has the savvy and toughness to maybe reach for his peak one more time in the biggest spotlight he's ever had. He can't consistently guard Tim Duncan. But if he can simply be a marginal force inside, well, that's another check mark the Cavs need.

Drew Gooden? I know. Look, he just has to board his butt off, be an energy guy and run like Roy Williams taught him, put those puppies one in front of the other. He can't be pretty; he can be inspired.

Of course, all of these things have to happen for the Cavaliers to have a shot. But they turned the key on that chance when LeBron entered never-never land or wherever he was last week.

And one final point: Being from Ohio and a rabid Cavaliers fan in high school and college (the Jim Cleamons, Dick Snyder, Jim Chones, Jim Brewer, Bobby "Bingo" Smith team that barely lost to the aforementioned '76 Celtics in the Eastern finals), I know something about the city of Cleveland.

People in Philadelphia whine and moan about their pro title drought since 1983. Hey, try 1964 on. I'm old enough to remember that black-and-white moment -- the Browns, before there was a Super Bowl. If this town gets even a sniff of magic in the air, the crowds in Quicken Loans Arena could carry the Cavs.

So, fine, it's not probable.

Just don't tell me it's not possible.

SHANE SHINES

If nothing else, the Phillies are at least loading up on a few good guys in the clubhouse and one of them is outfielder Shane Victorino. He never takes himself too seriously, buzzes around right field like a madman -- a refreshing switch from Bobby Abreu -- and generally seems to fill the dugout with plus signs.

And when he swatted a walk-off Hawaiian punch to left on Sunday, his first opposite field home run since A-ball, Victorino capped off his own bobblehead day. The Phillies had dispensed figurines depicting him in a grass skirt with ukulele and flashing the wagging "hang loose" sign - that thing with the middle three fingers in a fist, the thumb and pinkie extended.

With big, young Jayson Werth looking consistently dangerous at the plate, his platoon in left with Pat Burrell seems like a temporary way station until Burrell can finally be unloaded. Slowly but surely, the bad blood is being transfused out.

Wild-card contender? I didn't say that. The bullpen is a daily tragicomedy. Debatable, by the way, whether Charlie Manuel can use Antonio Alfonseca for the next several days. From the looks of it, he just swallowed an entire small mammal and could be sunning and digesting for up to a week.

[fpliii]

Rudy T stepping down as Lakers HC (last one):

COACHES MUST ASK "IS IT WORTH IT?" - TOMJANOVICH 'S ABRUPT RETIREMENT FROM THE LAKERS HAS THEM THINKING ABOUT THEIR OWN STRESS LEVELS

Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA) - Sunday, February 6, 2005
THIS RUDY TOMJANOVICH situation has coaches across the league thinking.

Tomjanovich became so worried about his health that he walked away from a $30 million head coaching job with the Los Angeles Lakers. Mr. Passion himself, a legendary coach known for his sideline aerobics, has burned out.

"I started to feel my resistance going down," Tomjanovich told the Los Angeles Times. "I went from this energetic, pumped-up guy to being sapped of my energy. ... Maybe I'm an old general who needs to get his butt off the front line and do something else."

Tomjanovich 's meltdown has his colleagues talking about just how stressful and consuming their job is. Some even questioned whether it's worth it.

"The stress part of our game is an absolute issue," Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers told the Boston Herald. "I deal with it in my own way. I yell at my wife more. That's why it's probably good she's in Orlando because it's long distance. But it's a stressful job."

"I don't think it's all that surprising," Miami Heat coach Stan Van Gundy told the Miami Herald. "A guy that's been at it this long, I think it's a very, very difficult job and I don't know how people do it for the number of years that a guy like him has done it for."

Several coaches said the stress is more intense than what it used to be. The expectations, the pressure, the media, the money -- it all has made the job into a life-sucking beast.

That's why Larry Brown has threatened to retire 10 times. That's why Phil Jackson needs to retreat to Montana every so often. That's why Jeff Van Gundy looks like he does.

"If you lose you're devastated," Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni told the East Valley (Phoenix) Tribune. "If you win, you worry about the next game. You don't have an off day. It's easy to get in that fetal position and not get up. You get beat up like a dog."

"This thing can wear you down," Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "What I wonder, it seems like a lot of the basketball purists are the guys that are leaving. Whether it's Lenny Wilkens, Hubie Brown, the guys you consider purists, teachers. ... When you're a coach and that's all you've done, you're in it for the camaraderie, the teaching, all those factors. And that's what makes it all worthwhile. When some of those things start to be compromised, you lose a little bit of your passion."

Still, the job is too appealing to let go. The compensation is too good, the reward is too fulfilling.

Tomjanovich 's ability to walk away from it all, to choose life and health, has his colleagues singing his praises.

"I give him a lot of credit for following his heart, doing what he thought was right for his health and himself," the Houston Rockets' Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle. "I don't think Rudy's thoughts are far from a lot of coaches' minds, mine included. Is it worth it? I applaud his courage to do it his way, not to worry about what is going to be talked about. Man's greatest right is the right to change his mind. The courage to step forward and do what he thinks is right is even more of a reason to admire him."

WINNERS AND LOSERS: The Elden Campbell-Carlos Arroyo trade worked out well for the Utah Jazz. When New Jersey claimed Campbell off waivers, it relieved the Jazz of the $2.2 million he's still owed this season. In the end, the Jazz unloaded a problem in Arroyo, got a first-round pick and saved some money.

The deal didn't work out so well for Jiffy Lube. According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, Jiffy Lube gave away Carlos Arroyo Thermos bottles at a Jan. 15 home game, Arroyo's last with Utah before being shipped to Detroit, and was scheduled to give away Carlos Arroyo lunchboxes. Jiffy Lube has now apparently decided to donate the 6,800 lunchboxes to Boys and Girls clubs in Utah.

Campbell didn't make out so well either. He had his plans to return to the Pistons stolen when the Nets picked him up off waivers, using part of their $5-plus million trade exception. Though he was rumored to be contemplating retirement in part because he didn't want to leave his three children in Detroit, Campbell eventually decided to report to New Jersey.

"I'm a professional," Campbell told the Detroit News. "I'm going to do what I've got to do.

"Once I got over the initial shock and anger, I came back to reality and thought, 'This is what I do. This is part of the job.' I'm just going to go ahead and get back to work."

PULLING RANK: Orlando Magic Grant Hill said he's going to pass off the more difficult defensive assignment to the New Jersey Nets' Vince Carter, the other starting forward for the Eastern Conference All Stars. As Scottie Pippen did him years ago, Hill said he's going to use seniority to send either San Antonio's Tim Duncan or Minnesota's Kevin Garnett Carter's way.

"When I was young and Scottie and I were both the forwards and in the West the starters were Shawn Kemp and (Charles Barkley)," Hill told Florida Today. "Neither of us wanted to guard Kemp because he was a beast, and Barkley was usually hung over. So Scottie would stick me on Kemp.

"I'm the veteran now and I'm going to put Vince on the other man I don't want."

INTERESTING FACT: Just three players in NBA history have scored 10,000 points without ever being drafted: Moses Malone, John Starks and David Wesley, who scored his 10,000th point last season.

"I guess it means I'm coachable," Wesley told the Boston Herald.

CHEAP SHOTS: Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal got one in on Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson and center Erick Dampier. O'Neal said earlier this year that Nelson would never get the best of him because he has five rings and Nelson has none. When told before Tuesday's game that Nelson wanted to remind O'Neal that he won five rings as a player with Boston, O'Neal told the Dallas Morning News: "He did win five? I didn't know that. He's the Jack Haley of his era." Then after Dampier got 10 points and nine rebounds in the second half Tuesday, compared with O'Neal's 10 points and seven rebounds, O'Neal told the News: "Dampier is soft. Quote it. Underline it. Tape it. Send it to him."

CLUTCH

Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets

He averaged 28.3 points, on 50.6 percent shooting, and 7.5 assists in four games. The first three were victories at the Los Angeles Lakers, at the Utah Jazz and vs. the Chicago Bulls. Carter scored 30, 30 and 31 respectively.

CLANG

Carlos Boozer, Utah Jazz

He made 12 of 32 shots and totaled 27 points, 18 rebounds and 11 turnovers in three games last week -- averaging 28.6 minutes. He had just nine points on 3-for-11 shooting and four rebounds in a home loss to Charlotte.
Caption: Photo, RUDY TOMJANOVICH , who abruptly resigned as the Lakers' head coach last week, could no longer sustain the stress of the job. (Reed Saxon/ AP)

[fpliii]

Odinn - Sorry for taking this thread a little OT, but I found a bunch of good articles when looking for resources on Moses.

[NugzHeat3]

Great job fpliii. The article where Dawson, Drexler, Rudy T, Eddie and Hakeem pay tribute to Moses was a great read focusing on his strengths and what made him special as a player. Some good reads on the 1981 Rockets' road to the finals as well.

I have one more request if you are able to do so, is there any way you can post a Chron archive from 1994 with Bill Walton and Bob Lanier breaking down the 1994 finals? I remember them being fairly in-depth with their analysis and I think there was a statistical breakdown as well (not sure though) but unfortunately I didn't save it.

[fpliii]

Great job fpliii. The article where Dawson, Drexler, Rudy T, Eddie and Hakeem pay tribute to Moses was a great read focusing on his strengths and what made him special as a player. Some good reads on the 1981 Rockets' road to the finals as well.

I have one more request if you are able to do so, is there any way you can post a Chron archive from 1994 with Bill Walton and Bob Lanier breaking down the 1994 finals? I remember them being fairly in-depth with their analysis and I think there was a statistical breakdown as well (not sure though) but unfortunately I didn't save it.

Is this it, perhaps?

Hall of Fame centers declare stars' war to be draw

Houston Chronicle - Sunday, June 19, 1994
The NBA Finals were immediately billed as the "Battle of the Big Men," the league's return to the power and the glory of agile giants Hakeem Olajuwon of the Rockets and Patrick Ewing of the Knicks.

And no matter which player has had the better of the duel -- and no matter who among the many Knicks defenders has been assigned to vie with Olajuwon -- the inside play has been worth watching, artistically or for its impact on the outcome of the games.

The Chronicle sought insight into the duel on center stage from members of a most exclusive club.

Before Game 5 in New York, Hall of Famers Bob Lanier , a former Detroit and Milwaukee star, and Bill Walton , formerly a star center for Portland and Boston, discussed the centers, the series and what they would do differently.

Lanier has covered the NBA Finals for NBA Radio, Walton as one of "The Insiders" for NBC.

Q: As centers from a time when the NBA revered its big men, you guys must be getting a kick out of seeing these guys go at it?

Lanier : "I don't know if I get a special kick out of it, but I enjoy watching two warriors going at it playing good solid basketball. I don't know if we've seen great basketball out of either of these centers, though. I truly believe with two very, very solid people going at it against each other, one might get more points, one will get more assists, one will get more rebounds, but by and large, they will balance each other off.

Walton : "Hakeem is a better player, but Ewing has played tremendous even though his statistics are down. Hakeem had one magnificent performance, the second half of Game 4, but he still didn't dominate the flow of the game. Bob and I played basketball before the centers lost control of the game. and it went to smaller guys, Magic (Johnson) and (Larry) Bird and (Michael) Jordan and Isiah (Thomas). And now these centers are trying to get it back.

"The hardest thing to do is control the flow of the game. It's one thing to put up the numbers. You think of Bob Lanier , he was a basketball player. He wasn't just a jump shooter. He'd sit back and figure out how to win the game. Neither of these players grew up with the game and they're still learning how to win."

Lanier : "More importantly, neither grew up on the playgrounds."

Walton : "To me, you learn on the playground how to control the flow and win the games. Don't get me wrong. These guys are great. And they're the two best centers in their conferences. Their teams deserve to be in the Finals."

Q: Going back to the first question then, Bill, it sounds like you really are enjoying this.

Walton : "I love this. I'm having a great time. Ewing's doing a tremendous job, because the hardest thing to do is beat somebody better than you are. Hakeem is the Most Valuable Player in the league. But the great thing is, Ewing thinks he is and he needs to think that."

Q: So, what should Ewing and Olajuwon be doing differently to throw off the balance Bob mentioned?

Walton : "You have to try to be a really creative passer. The game of basketball has changed, guys are bigger, they're stronger. Not only are the centers bigger ... "

Lanier : "I don't think guys are bigger, they're taller. When I played guys were bigger, more powerful. Today, guys are much more athletically inclined. They have long, slender bodies."

Walton : "That's right. But the thing is, everyone now plays a position down from where they used to play. Power forwards were centers. Small forwards were power forwards. Guards were forwards. And I don't think either of these teams, New York definitely doesn't play with a small forward. I played with very creative small forwards that made it easier for me.

"And the Rockets have not used (Robert) Horry the way they used him in the regular season. Horry was the guy who always had the ball and always got the ball to Hakeem. Now, they're trying to feed the post with the guards."

Q: So why has Ewing struggled?

Lanier : "I'm mad at Patrick, watching him play. He's a smarter player than he's shown. He's gotten into the routine of trying to shoot jumpers, and he's shooting jumpers against the best center in the league at defending jumpers. That would be like me trying to shoot jumpers on Bill Walton all day. He's going to make me eat most of them, and the ones he doesn't make me eat, he's going to make me adjust. What you've got to do is get it on the box, take it to the hole, and then you can step back and shoot J's because he's got to respect your game. He's not doing that well."

Walton : "All Olajuwon is doing is staying on that shoulder and contesting jump shots. I too would like Patrick Ewing to post up. I think he can effectively post up on Hakeem."

Lanier : "Or hook. Or hook. He's shot four hooks that I've noticed and three went in and he was fouled on the other. I mean ... "

Walton : "But the other thing, in Patrick's defense, his jump shot is a huge part of the Knicks' offense. When (Derek) Harper or (John) Starks penetrate, it gives you a wide-open 15-foot shot, and it creates opportunities on the offensive glass."

Q: Could centers have relied on their jump shots so much when you guys played? Would they have been permitted to roam so far from the paint?

Walton : "Bob was a great outside shooter, and Bob McAdoo. Ewing has more range than those guys, but that doesn't make him a better player."

Lanier : "That's what I'm saying. I think he has to change repertoire. He can shoot that many shots, if he starts playing above his shoulders. For Hakeem, it's more a team thing. I think their execution has been horrendous. Horrendous.

Walton : "For both teams."

Lanier : "Yeah, but at least you see some fairly well-oiled execution on the Knicks' part. Houston, those guys are looking at each other. They can't even make a dump in pass, it's crazy."

Walton : "Horry is the guy. He has it. He's a tremendous post feeder. They need to use him that way. Now they have him on the weak side with no cutting."

Lanier : "I have a feeling we have not seen the best Knicks team and we definitely have not seen the best Houston Rockets team. I was expecting a hell of a lot more execution out of a team that won 58 games. The guards have done a horrible job. Harper has imposed his will on Kenny (Smith.)"

Walton : "Kenny can't play against Harper."

Lanier : "Then get him out of there. Derek knows he's got him. And Kenny knows he's got him."

Walton : "I agree. I agree, wholeheartedly."

[fpliii]

continued...

Q: Leaving Smith, for a moment, how would you guys defend Olajuwon.

Lanier : "He'd crush me. He'd kill me. He's too quick for me. Better ask Bill."

Walton : "I'd play him the way Ewing did in Game 4. Ewing and Chris Dudley are the guys that have given Hakeem the most trouble. They're tall, very tall, much taller than Hakeem. Hakeem is probably about 6-10?"

Lanier : "But, he has long arms."

Walton : "Yes, he has a 7-footer's arms. But I think Hakeem plays like Elvin Hayes used to play, very rhythmic. He loves to hitch one way and go the other. You have to study the films and study him live, that's when you use your quickness and mobility and your height. What Hakeem has to do then, is turn and face the basket and use his quickness. Hakeem's game is not power. But the strength of his hands is just mind-boggling. If he gets near the ball, it's his. The way he just pulls in rebound s and scoops up loose balls is phenomenal.

"I'd like to see the Rockets get him the ball even more. Ewing as talented as he is, he's just not in the same class in terms of quickness."

Lanier : "I'd like to see him have it more, when they switch off. When they come in with a big strong guy like (Anthony) Mason I'd like to see them get (Olajuwon) the ball more and let him use that quickness."

Walton : "But that's where the Rockets have not seen this defense before. They're just passing the ball around the perimeter. Unless you're a very, very complete player and used to that defense, it's tough."

Q: Speaking of Mason, Bob, are Olajuwon's battles with Mason similar to your own games against some of those thicker centers of your time, such as Wes Unseld, shorter men with great strength?

Lanier : "As big as I was ... "

Walton : "Nobody moved Bob."

Lanier : "I was fortunate to have strength and quickness. But against Unseld, because he was so huge, I would try to use quickness to loosen things up, take him in and out."

Walton : "For Hakeem against someone like Mason, when they bring over the other guy, the forward, you relax. Hakeem has geared his whole life to playing against Ewing in the championship."

Q: OK, so who won when you guys played each other?

Lanier : "Tell him about the time in Portland, we had you guys by 11 with nine seconds left and you beat us on that 33-game streak."

Walton : "Forty-four game streak. We had the most consecutive home-court victories. And we had two games in that streak, Detroit ... "

Lanier : "Ugh."

Walton : "And Chicago ... "

Lanier : "Ugh. I still don't know how ya'll won that game."

Walton : "You know Bob, there was one time in the fourth quarter, Bobby Gross and I were standing with the ball with both feet out of bounds."

Lanier : "I'm still trying to figure out what happened."

( Walton leaves)

Q: "What about the first time you played?"

Lanier : "I don't remember. It's a long time ago."

Q: But it was games like those, like with all the greats, that let the best players really show themselves. Is that what we're seeing here? Will this be remembered that way?

Lanier : "These guys are great, great players. But to get to that next level, you have do it up here (pointing to his temple.) You have to know how, when you go against a player just as talented, to use all your abilities."

Q: Have these guys reached that next level?

Lanier : "I don't know. Ewing is close, but he has to bring more of his game around. Olajuwon, it's more of a team thing."

Q: He doesn't seem to get many automatic points on dunks or open jumpers off someone else's penetration, does he?

Lanier : "No, they're all hard points. At the end of my career, I had Sidney Moncrief, Junior Bridgeman, Brian Winters, guys that could fill it up. I wish I had that around me when I was young."

Q: If you did, you might have gotten a championship. If one of these centers never does win it all, will they feel unfulfilled despite all they have accomplished?

Lanier : "Yes. Of course. There's no doubt about that."

( Walton returns)

Q: Bob said he doesn't remember the first time you played each other.

Walton : "He does. He remembers. You see, Bob is a very humble, modest man. He knows he whipped me that night. We've talked about it. It was my second NBA game. Opening night we played a four-overtime against Cleveland and they were in Portland waiting. We were exhausted. Bob walks out, walks over to where I was ready to jump it up, and steps right on my foot, puts his big foot on mine and pushes me, and says, "That's my space. I'm standing there.' And they killed us. He just strapped me down, pushed me around all night."

Q: So 10 years from now, will Patrick or Hakeem talk about the '94 series, about how one whipped the other?

Walton : "Oh yeah. C'mon. If it comes down to the last five minutes of the last game, you will have a winner and a loser, and the winners will go on and their legend will grow and the quality of their game will improve and the reputations will sky-rocket. The losers will have to start all over again. That's why I love sports so much. You have winners and losers and there's reasons why.

[NugzHeat3]

Thanks a lot, that's it I think. I guess the statistical breakdown was on another piece.

Your contributions are greatly appreciated.

[fpliii]

Thanks a lot, that's it I think. I guess the statistical breakdown was on another piece.

Your contributions are greatly appreciated.

No problem. Do you remember what the topic was? Was it a comparison of the teams as a whole, Ewing/Hakeem, or something else?

[fpliii]

Assuming it's Ewing/Hakeem, it's probably this:

'94 NBA FINALS/CENTER STAGE/Olajuwon, Ewing spotlighted combatants in the battle for NBA's crown

Houston Chronicle - Wednesday, June 8, 1994
And so, we meet again . . ."

In a script that could double as a James Bond remake, Hakeem Olajuwon is back in a starring role on the brink of a basketball championship.

And the same old archrival is right there in his way, playing the role of villain. Again. Patrick Ewing vs. Hakeem Olajuwon. Ten years after. Perhaps it was meant to be.

It has been a long decade since these two giants met in a winner-take-all situation as less-refined college players. Olajuwon was leading the Houston Cougars in their third consecutive Final Four and their second NCAA championship game. All Ewing 's Georgetown team did was upstage Olajuwon in a one-game showdown.

Ewing earned the title, and Olajuwon has been left to search for it ever since.

"The championship is at stake," Olajuwon said. "All you can say is that we are both big men who played for a championship in college.

"Then we went to the pros, and 10 years later, we meet again."

Yes, they do. The 1994 NBA Finals open tonight with Game 1 between Olajuwon's Houston Rockets and Ewing 's New York Knicks at The Summit.

And there will be a different ending to this sequel, Olajuwon hopes. In 1984, Ewing and the Hoyas edged the Cougars for the NCAA title when both were juniors. Later that spring, Olajuwon turned professional while Ewing waited another season.

So much has happened since. So much has changed. Yet the two dominant big men in the NBA -- even as they were joined by the David Robinsons and Shaquille O'Neals -- remain unaltered. They are ready to remind fans over the next two weeks that, by the way, this is a big man's game.

"By the time this series is finished, we will know each other's game so very well," Olajuwon said. "This is a team game, but when you get in a long series, you learn all about the other guy.

"Obviously, any time you have two guys like us going against each other, it should be a classic."

That this is a best-of-seven series is why Olajuwon is upbeat about his chances of earning that elusive championship ring.

"This is different than it was in 1984," Olajuwon said. "That was one game. There was no room for error. This is a long series. It is a great challenge."

It also could end up as one of the classic big-man matchups of all time.

Like a heavyweight boxing match, two future Hall-of-Fame centers meeting in a championship situation is one of the most exhilarating moments in sports. Fans, the media, even the players, live for these moments.

It's different than Michael Jordan against Charles Barkley or Magic Johnson against Larry Bird. But it's every bit as intriguing.

"Any time you have two great teams whose key players play the same position, what a clash it is," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "You look back through history at some of the centers who have met, and there are some great battles.

"Wilt (Chamberlain) and Willis (Reed). Wilt and (Kareem) Abdul-Jabbar. Wilt and (Bill) Russell.Moses Malone and Dave Cowens. Elvin Hayes and Lew Alcindor. There's something special about it."

Indeed there is. Going back as far as the legendary Russell-Chamberlain matchups when Russell was leading the Boston Celtics to NBA title after NBA title, progressing through the greatest college battle of all time when Houston's Hayes and UCLA's Alcindor packed the Astrodome in prime time. Alcindor became Abdul-Jabbar and matched up with Chamberlain in the early '70s. Hayes and Moses Malone grabbed their share of attention in the late '70s and early '80s.

And then came Olajuwon vs. Ewing .

You get the feeling this grudge match was destined to happen.

"Patrick and I have always been compared," Olajuwon said. "We have the same qualities -- shot blocker, rebounder, scorer, key player on his team. So we have this long career comparison.

"We never really get to spend much time together in the offseason, but when we do, it's so natural. You can see the mutual respect we have for one another's games. We talk very complimentary of one another."

An interesting aspect of the match between Olajuwon and Ewing is that they represent the evolution of centers. No longer tied to a whipping post in the paint, Ewing and Olajuwon flow all over the court and take their shots from the perimeter as well as from the interior.

They are not reliant on the slow, mechanical moves that centers before them practiced. If Abdul-Jabbar introduced the idea of the mobile, active center, Ewing and Olajuwon refined it.

Ewing , in fact, has been called the best jump-shooting center ever, a tag that Olajuwon and Abdul-Jabbar could contest. Remember, even though it was a hook shot, Abdul-Jabbar could make the 16-footer as consistently as Olajuwon or Ewing .

"Why would it make me mad that people say Patrick is the best jump-shooting center?" Olajuwon said. "That's one person's opinion. What's important to me is now big men can shoot from the outside. David (Robinson) can shoot from the outside; he led the league in scoring. Give me a shot, even from the 3-point line, I will take it.

"So big men can play outside."

Can they ever. Fans will be treated to a steady dose of same in the Finals.

"The key is to still find a way to score," Olajuwon said. "They take one thing away, you still find a way to get the job done. A scorer should find enough ways to score. If you have one way to score, that can be stopped. You've got to find other ways.

"I know that when I get the ball around the basket, you have to respect that. It's the same with Patrick. When I get it around the jump-shooting area, you have to respect that. They don't give you the jumper, because they know you can make it. It's the same with Patrick.

"I know I can practice and do the same move as some guards without looking awkward. I have the agility to do the same thing without playing out of my comfort zone."

Added Tomjanovich: "Both of the guys have a variety of inside shots, and both can go outside and hit the jumper. They're good defensive players, and they make a high percentage of their free throws. It should be a great matchup."

Still, Olajuwon is not one to overlook the basic function of a center.

"You know, the center's game is more like blue-collar," he said. "Most of the centers, their game is not fancy, stylish, acrobatic. Centers are more like blocked shots, rebounds and basic dunks. So it's not like an exciting game.

"When you have guards who can create opportunities, very fancy, people like to see the different moves. So the role of the center becomes something only the coaching staff can appreciate. Because when you have a good center, individually, that's the foundation of a team. From there, you can work around.

"Other people overlook that role. They say, "Well, you don't really need a center to win a championship.' But if you don't have a center, you have to have Michael Jordan."

Or Bird. Or Magic. Or Isiah Thomas.

Like the Knicks because of Ewing , the Rockets are on the threshold of an NBA championship because of Olajuwon. His MVP season has coincided with the Rockets' arrival as a truly elite team.

"We're there right at the doorstep of a championship," Tomjanovich said. "We've worked real hard to put ourselves in this position. Everybody else was talking about this when the season started. But now we're here.

"It's the result of a lot of hard work and it's not over yet."

Olajuwon vs. Ewing . It's like deja vu all over again. Well, not quite, Olajuwon hopes.

"What will make it sweeter," he said, "is to finish it."

Ten years later, it's his turn. So much has happened. So much has changed.

And yet, they meet again.

[fpliii]

continued...

____________

The matchup

Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing have gone head-to-head 16 times as NBA players. Here are the results of those meetings:

Category....Olajuwon.... Ewing .

W-L..........10-6........6-10.

FGA-M.......173-318.....137-294.

FG Pct.......541.........46.6.

Rebounds.....13.8.........9.4.

Assists......2.7..........1.3.

Blocks.......3.0..........2.2.

Steals.......2.5..........1.1.

Points......26.1.........21.9.

_________

Rating the centers

How seven of basketball's all-time great centers compare with each other statistically:

Scoring average

1. Wilt Chamberlain ........... 30.1.

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ........ 24.6.

3. Patrick Ewing .............. 23.8.

4. Hakeem Olajuwon ............ 23.7.

5. Moses Malone ............... 21.1.

6. Elvin Hayes ................ 21.0.

7. Bill Russell ............... 15.1.

Rebounds

1. Wilt Chamberlain ......... 23,924.

2. Bill Russell ............. 21,620.

3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ...... 17,440.

4. Elvin Hayes .............. 16,279.

5. Moses Malone ............. 15,940.

6. Hakeem Olajuwon ........... 9,464.

7. Patrick Ewing ............. 7,006.

Blocked shots

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar........ 3,189.

2. Hakeem Olajuwon ........... 2,741.

3. Patrick Ewing ............. 1,984.

4. Elvin Hayes ............... 1,771.

5. Moses Malone .............. 1,713.

Note: blocked shots not kept as a statistic before 1973.

Assists

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ...... 5,660.

2. Wilt Chamberlain ......... 4,643.

3. Bill Russell ............. 4,100.

4. Elvin Hayes .............. 2,398.

5. Hakeem Olajuwon .......... 1,880.

6. Moses Malone ............. 1,756.

7. Patrick Ewing ............ 1,252.

Championships

1. Bill Russell ............... 11.

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ......... 6.

3. Wilt Chamberlain ............ 2.

4. Moses Malone ................ 1.

5. Elvin Hayes ................. 1.

6. Hakeem Olajuwon ............. 0.

7. Patrick Ewing ............... 0

Another cool piece on them:

'94 NBA FINALS/TEN-YEAR REUNION/'84 NCAA final first Olajuwon- Ewing meeting

Houston Chronicle - Wednesday, June 8, 1994
Since that April 1984 evening in Seattle, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing have faced each other many times on the basketball court. As things worked out, the first encounter didn't provide a true picture

When Olajuwon's University of Houston Cougars and Ewing 's Georgetown Hoyas met in the '84 NCAA Tournament final, neither player dominated the game, witnessed by a Kingdome crowd of 38,471.

Olajuwon was saddled with three first-half fouls, then drew No. 4 just 23 seconds into the second half with Georgetown ahead 40-30.

"That's what I remember first," former UH coach Guy V. Lewis said. "The same official called all three fouls. Walking off at the half, I told the guy, "All these fans didn't come here to watch you; they came here to watch these great players.'

"Then the same guy calls the fourth one on Hakeem . No way we could beat them without Hakeem ."

Olajuwon was drawn into his third personal 42 seconds before halftime when David Wingate's pump fake baited him into a hacking call. After No. 4, Lewis was compelled to put him on the bench for six minutes.

Lewis doesn't remember his exact advice to Olajuwon at halftime. "I usually told anybody in foul trouble to play hard and don't do anything foolish," Lewis said. "I imagine I told Hakeem the same thing.

"I remember on the bus to Texas A&M the year before, I told him not to go for any blocks the first five or six minutes because the officials were going to be looking at him. The first four or five times A&M had the ball, he blocked every shot they took, and we got an easy layup after each one. So much for coaching."

By the end of Georgetown's 84-75 victory, Olajuwon had 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in 32 minutes. Ewing finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists and four blocks in 30 minutes.

Guard Reid Gettys, now a Houston attorney, basically agrees with Lewis' assessment.

"With the exception of Michael Young's outside shooting, we had climbed on Hakeem 's back and we rode his broad shoulders," Gettys said. " Hakeem got more defensive attention from them than we were able to give Ewing on defense. Hakeem was carrying us, and they had a lot of weapons."

The Cougars had lost starters Clyde Drexler, who passed up his senior year to go to the NBA, and Larry Micheaux. Forward Rickie Winslow and point guard Alvin Franklin, both starters, were freshmen. So was Olajuwon's backup, Greg "Cadillac" Anderson.

During Olajuwon's second-half absence, Franklin scored nine of UH's 11 points as the Cougars closed within 51-47. When it was 57-54 Georgetown with 10:29 to play, Franklin had accounted for 14 of his team's last 19 points.

But the Cougars got no closer. Georgetown's spread offense forced UH into fouls, and the Hoyas scored their final 10 points on free throws in the closing 3:18. UH, just 13-of-22 on free throws, missed the front end of five one-and-ones in the game.

"There's no doubt in my mind if we'd had Hakeem the whole game, we would have won," Lewis said, "even though Ewing is a great player and a great competitor.

"I knew both would be superstars in the NBA. I knew Hakeem would be improving for the next seven years. Now, he's had steady improvement for 14 years (since arriving at UH). He may be even better next year.

[NugzHeat3]

I think it was a shooting breakdown of how well the starters had done in the 1994 finals from all spots on the floor against the defenders they faced.

That'll be a bit hard to track especially since I can't remember any specific details from the article so I'm not sure what 'keywords' you can search with.