For Houston's Hakeem, Season Has Been a Dream

HOUSTON, Texas -- For Hakeem Olajuwon, there was little time to savor the Houston Rockets' first National Basketball Association title. He was up before the crack of dawn Thursday, making the rounds of the morning talk shows. And then there was the business of accepting his NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award trophy. "It's been a dream season," Olajuwon said. The dream season for Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon was capped Wednesday with the NBA crown, a seventh game 90-84 win over the New York Knicks. It was the first championship in franchise history and the first major title for the city of Houston -- or at least since the Houston Oilers won the American Football League championship in 1960 and 1961. Rockets fans celebrated by packing the Astrodome on Thursday after The Summit proved too small for the massive show of affection for Olajuwon and his fellow champions. Olajuwon became just the sixth person to win both the regular-season and NBA Finals MVP awards, joining Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The 7-foot center from Nigeria also won the league's Defensive Player of the Year Award this season. "In my era, there have been only two players who have made everyone around them better," Rocket guard Kenny Smith said. "I was able to play with both of them -- Michael Jordan (at North Carolina) and Hakeem." The 1993-94 Finals was billed as a classic battle of the centers, pitting Olajuwon against Patrick Ewing. Both centers had their moments, but Olajuwon had more of them. Olajuwon averaged 26.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.9 blocks. He was the leading scorer in all seven games, and in Game 7 had 25 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks. Ewing ended the series averaging 18.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 30 blocked shots -- an NBA Finals record. But Ewing averaged just 1.7 assists, and shot only 33.1 percent in seven games. "I have a lot of respect for Hakeem," a dejected Ewing said. "He is a hard worker, like myself, and he is a great player." While Houston got an MVP performance from its most senior Rocket (10 years), it also got a tremendous lift from its most recent addition -- rookie point guard Sam Cassell. Passed over in last year's NBA draft until the Rockets made him the 24th pick in the first round, Cassell displayed tremendous poise and confidence during the playoffs. And he's the reason the Rockets even got to a seventh game. If Cassell doesn't hit the big three-pointer at the end of Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, the Rockets don't take a 2-1 advantage in the series and perhaps lose in five games. "I don't feel like a rookie now. I've played 105 games," Cassell said.