On March 29, 1990, Hakeem Olajuwon made NBA history by achieving a rare performance against the Milwaukee Bucks: a quadruple-double!
We no longer present the Dream, aka Hakeem Olajuwon. First choice in the 1984 Draft (that of Michael Jordan), double NBA champion, Olympic champion with Team USA, best blocker in NBA history, regular season MVP, double NBA Finals MVP, not to mention two Defender titles of the year. In short, a monument of NBA basketball and one of the best pivots in the history of the orange ball.
If the Rockets legend’s track record speaks for itself, it is also his performances that have forged his reputation around the world. Hakeem Olajuwon is the very definition of a complete player. The guy who not only crushes your defense but will also give nightmares to the opposing interiors with sick footwork, “freakesque” athletic qualities, real intelligence of the game and a magnificent touch of the ball.
Double-double machine, Hakeem the Dream knew how to use his long arms to get a few triple-doubles with the counterattacks. But on March 29, 1990, the American-Nigerian will do even better against the Milwaukee Bucks by becoming the third player in NBA history to reach 10 units in four statistical categories: the quadruple-double. 18 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 blocks!
We’re talking about Hakeem’s prime. He was only 27 years old and the best was yet to come for him. The funny thing is that the Dream had already achieved a quadruple-double a month earlier. Well almost… Author of 29 points, 18 rebounds, 11 blocks and 10 assists against the Warriors, the interior had seen an assist withdrawn from the League. It was only a postponement. Olajuwon thus joined Nate Thurmond and Alvin Robertson in a very exclusive club before David Robinson imitated them four years later with Spurs. From ? Nothing. This shows the difficulty of reaching this famous but complex mark.
Logical since we would need a sufficiently strong interior in circle protection (blocks) but also a good distributor or an exterior who plays pickpocket (interceptions) while being capable of collecting sufficient rebounds. In short, a nice puzzle. Will we ever see such a performance again?
2024-03-29 08:56:00
#Hakeem #Olajuwons #quadrupledouble
