GeorgeMarcus wrote:Jamaaliver wrote:jdzimme3 wrote:
24/12/3/3 in the playoffs pre Duncan. Acting like robinson was some kinda bum in the playoffs is totally overblown.
It's hard to be especially efficient when you are constantly double teamed and carrying the load on defense.
Yeah, I'm fairly certain the poster above, like most current Real GMers, isn't old enough to remember how bad
those Spurs rosters were pre-Tim Duncan.
If you think the Denver Nuggets are failing prime Jokic by failing to put a competitive group around him...Spurs were arguably even worse than that in the early to mid-90s.And they still averaged more than 50 wins per season during that stretch. Because David Robinson was just that dominant..
D Rob was an impact legend. The series against Houston probably did more damage to his reputation than any playoff series has to any player. It's unfortunate because his style of play differed from Olajuwon's in that he wasn't as much of a 'give him the ball and let him work' type nor was his defensive impact captured as a ball stopper/man defender. He was a GOAT level roll man with a good enough shot to attract defenders away from the basket, and a GOAT level rim protector/help defender. Arguably the most imposing physical specimen the league has seen.
In that sense, Olajuwon scoring more head to head should have come as no surprise. We fans have a tendency to downplay the complexity of the game and latch onto narratives as if the Dream-Admiral spectacle occurred in a vacuum. It's a shame the Spurs couldn't build a better supporting cast to highlight prime D Rob's uniquely awesome skillset. A skillset that was once again overlooked when Duncan took on the role of offensive alpha, despite providing superstar impact on a Championship team.
#JusticeForDRob
I was 19 watching this series, born and raised in SA.
I have rewatched the series a few times over the years, this was the most painful series for me for a long time because we really had a chance to win the title for the first time. It ranks up there with the 2004 Lakers series, the 2006 Dallas series and obviously the 2013 Finals for biggest missed opportunity.
i know Hakeem torched him. None of this is to denigrate what the Rockets did, because they absolutely punched us in the mouth and took our lunch money that series.
i think what gets missed is the context of what was going on with the Spurs during that series - especially Dennis Rodman, widely recognized as one of the greatest defenders of all time. The year before, he was flying out to party with Madonna between playoff games vs. the Jazz. In 1995, he was rebelling against Bob Hill by ignoring defensive assignments to chase rebounds and removing his shoes and socks when he subbed out. When Hill tried to sub him back in, he'd take 5 minutes to put his socks and shoes back on.
If he was such a great defender - and he was - why didn't he do anything about Olajuwon? Hakeem was maybe 2 inches taller than him, and we would later see him defending Shawn Kemp, Karl Malone and even Shaq in high leverage situations.
You can't change the past, but David was getting swarmed with virtually no help on offense, and on defense he was guarding Hakeem one-on-one with no help.
