1995 Hakeem Olajuwon vs 2012 LeBron James.

AMW27 · Post #1 » by **AMW27** » Thu Nov 7, 2019 5:00 pm

Who do you believe had the better playoff run in their respective playoffs. I started to give the advantage to Hakeem because of the adversity his team had to face. Having no homecourt advantage in any round and facing elimination multiple times. Along with possibly facing better competition.

But if you want to talk about performance vs performance then I think it could be LeBron. Both players had multiple memorable games in those playoff runs.

So who's your pick?

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No-more-rings · Post #2 » by **No-more-rings** » Thu Nov 7, 2019 5:12 pm

I’d pick Lebron, but don’t think Hakeem gets enough credit for how dominant his scoring was in those playoffs.

Sublime187 · Post #3 » by **Sublime187** » Thu Nov 7, 2019 6:21 pm

Some consider '12 as peak Lebron and he was outstanding in those playoffs. And I think Lebron is better at his peak.

Bidofo · Post #4 » by **Bidofo** » Thu Nov 7, 2019 8:10 pm

This is peak LeBron against imo Hakeems third best season, and I’d take peak LeBron over peak Hakeem anyway.

AMW27 · Post #5 » by **AMW27** » Thu Nov 7, 2019 9:04 pm

Bidofo wrote:This is peak LeBron against imo Hakeems third best season, and I’d take peak LeBron over peak Hakeem anyway.

Yeah but we're talking about just the performances in the playoffs. Not both regular season and playoffs combined.

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Odinn21 · Post #6 » by **Odinn21** » Thu Nov 7, 2019 10:36 pm

Hakeem went hotter in 1995 compared to 1994 in terms of scoring but his 1994 playoffs run was better overall and I think 1994 Hakeem vs. 2012 LeBron would be a tighter comparison. This one is LeBron rather clearly.

Homer38 · Post #7 » by **Homer38** » Thu Nov 7, 2019 10:48 pm

Hakeem was great, but in the 3 LBJ titles, it's probably the best playoffs run by LeBron .... From Game 4 against the Pacers in the second round until the end, LBJ had 25 points or more in every game in his last 15 games and for the entire playoffs run he had 30 PPG, 10 REB and he was great in defense (99 defensive rating for him).He was very consistent and when the games were crucial (as in game 4 in IND and game 6 in BOS) he had 2 of his best playoffs games of his career.His 2 games are probably in his top 10, which says a lot.

CodeBreaker · Post #8 » by **CodeBreaker** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 5:46 am

2012 LeBron

dreamshake · Post #9 » by **dreamshake** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 6:21 am

These are my 2 all-time favourite players. I have to go LeBron though. Carrying the team through the Indiana and Boston series with Bosh missing most of those games, the G6 in Boston, the clutch 3 after cramping up in G4 of the Finals. Good memories.

Hakeem was a beast though and is one of the most underrated of the GOATs in my opinion.

GSP · Post #10 » by **GSP** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 7:42 am

I dont know if any playoff run by anyone is better than 95 Hakeem

the average team he faced was a 60 win/6 Srs team......

1st round: 60win 7.76 Srs (#2) Stockton/Malone/Horny Jazz. #4 offense, #8 defense

2nd round: 59win 3.85 Srs (#6) Barkley/Kj/Dan Suns. #3 offense. Their Srs also severely underrates them b/c Kj and Chuck missed a combined 49 games and they were both healthy in their playoff run - Phoenix was also the preseason favorites to win it all both of the non Mj years and played Houston as close as u could both series

Wcf: 62win 5.9 srs (#4) Mvp Robinson. #5 offense and defense

Finals: 57win 6.44 Srs(#3) Shaq/Penny/Grant/3d/Nick. #1 offense

Hakeem basically went through 4 out of the 5 best non-Rockets teams in the league...........consecutively without homecourt and underdogs every round. As the 6th seed won the title. Was impossibly clutch on both ends. Outplayed alltime great competition ITO of big men (Malone/Chuck/Robinson/Shaq - all unanimously top 20 players ever as high as top 10 or fringes for a couple) every round......that level of competition faced round by round is literally untouchable and weve never seen anything close before or since

His best teammate was by far Clyde Drexler who was very good in the playoffs. But ppl forget he wasnt an allstar that season and wasnt looking so hot until the Rockets traded for him. Portland basically traded their franchise player for Otis Thorpe and a 1st round pick.........just shows how low his stock was at the time. 95 Rockets were a deep team but by no means anything special and certainly shouldnt have gone through the consistent competition they faced en route to a title. It simply never happens and might not ever happen again

The lockout hurts the strength of Lebrons season as well IMO

bledredwine · Post #11 » by **bledredwine** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 1:45 pm

I take 95 Hakeem. As for the tougher conference, that’s not even a debate.

What he provided on the defensive end is paralleled by only Russell and he did as much of a carry job as anyone as well.

He did everything that you could ask of a center. Lebron has always had a large gap in his game which prevented him from winning many close games - the ability to consistently hit midrange and outside shots.

Prokorov · Post #12 » by **Prokorov** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 5:30 pm

Lebron by light years. hakeem was overated and carried by his teammates

No-more-rings · Post #13 » by **No-more-rings** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 5:49 pm

Prokorov wrote:Lebron by light years. hakeem was overated and carried by his teammates

The guy averaging 33 ppg on 56 ts% was carried, lol. Troll.

Prokorov · Post #14 » by **Prokorov** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 5:58 pm

No-more-rings wrote:
Prokorov wrote:Lebron by light years. hakeem was overated and carried by his teammates

The guy averaging 33 ppg on 56 ts% was carried, lol. Troll.

empty-ish stats... cassell and elie where the heart and soul of those teams and horry and cassell hit the clutch shots.

Hakeem is an all time great, but he is the most overrated all time great

70sFan · Post #15 » by **70sFan** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 6:22 pm

No-more-rings wrote:
Prokorov wrote:Lebron by light years. hakeem was overated and carried by his teammates

The guy averaging 33 ppg on 56 ts% was carried, lol. Troll.

Don't even bother, he never backed up his full of hate Hakeem claims. Saying that Hakeem was carried by his teammates in any of his prime years is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard here.

70sFan · Post #16 » by **70sFan** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 6:24 pm

As to the point of this thread - it's so close that I'd have to rewatch both postseason runs to have clear view here. I'm very high on Miami LeBron, but Hakeem was out of this world in this short mid-90s period.

AMW27 · Post #17 » by **AMW27** » Fri Nov 8, 2019 11:37 pm

I forgot to mention how LeBron faced adversity also. Fighting for his reputation in that post season after a disappoint the previous playoffs. Also not having Bosh for a good amount of games.

Also the regular season has nothing to do with playoff performance. The 2012 lockout is irrelevant to what went down in the playoffs.

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euroleague · Post #18 » by **euroleague** » Sat Nov 9, 2019 1:31 am

The 2012 lockout obviously kept lbj fresh.

I have to go Hakeem. All time great on both ends. LBJ was better offensively, but Hakeem did work on near peak Shaq on the defensive end, and dominated DRob on both ends.

Lbj didn’t replicate what Hakeem did vs Paul George or Durant. Wade was arguably better than Drexler in the chosen seasons, so I’d have Hakeem’s team very slightly better without Bosh.... but, the Rockets annihilated far better competition than the Heat struggled with when Bosh was gone.

Lbj did dominate when it counted, but in total I’d have Hakeem as clearly better and I’d consider 17/18 seasons of lbj as well (didn’t see 16)

Cavsfansince84 · Post #19 » by **Cavsfansince84** » Sat Nov 9, 2019 1:45 am

euroleague wrote:The 2012 lockout obviously kept lbj fresh.

I have to go Hakeem. All time great on both ends. LBJ was better offensively, but Hakeem did work on near peak Shaq on the defensive end, and dominated DRob on both ends.

Lbj didn’t replicate what Hakeem did vs Paul George or Durant. Wade was arguably better than Drexler in the chosen seasons, so I’d have Hakeem’s team very slightly better without Bosh.... but, the Rockets annihilated far better competition than the Heat struggled with when Bosh was gone.

Lbj did dominate when it counted, but in total I’d have Hakeem as clearly better and I’d consider 17/18 seasons of lbj as well (didn’t see 16)

I don't mind you picking Hakeem here and think its fairly close but I wouldn't say that was near peak Shaq and he also put up 28/13/6 on 60% shooting in that finals on Hakeem.

Homer38 · Post #20 » by **Homer38** » Sat Nov 9, 2019 1:46 am

euroleague wrote:The 2012 lockout obviously kept lbj fresh.

I have to go Hakeem. All time great on both ends. LBJ was better offensively, but Hakeem did work on near peak Shaq on the defensive end, and dominated DRob on both ends.

Lbj didn’t replicate what Hakeem did vs Paul George or Durant. Wade was arguably better than Drexler in the chosen seasons, so I’d have Hakeem’s team very slightly better without Bosh.... but, the Rockets annihilated far better competition than the Heat struggled with when Bosh was gone.

Lbj did dominate when it counted, but in total I’d have Hakeem as clearly better and I’d consider 17/18 seasons of lbj as well (didn’t see 16)

The lockout had helped keep LBJ fresh?

It's ridiculous, LeBron played like 62 regular season games from Christmas, it was very demanding ... At one point, the heat(and others teams) even played 3 games in 3 night at one point during the season!

Who had the better playoff run?