There's Magic In The Air

On the subject of comic-book superheroes, Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal knows whereof he speaks, which should not be surprising, since he is built along the lines of the Incredible Hulk. But O'Neal, who wears a Superman tattoo on his left biceps, identifies more closely with the Man of Steel, which begs an obvious question in light of the heroic performance of Houston Rocket center Hakeem Olajuwon so far in the NBA playoffs: If O'Neal is Superman, what does that make Olajuwon? "Hakeem is Aquaman," says O'Neal, "because he's so fluid."

That is precisely what Olajuwon is, his every move flowing gracefully into the next. The pump fake becomes a pirouette, which turns into a shoulder feint, which leads to a shot that softly nestles into the net. "Dream can make a guy look silly trying to stop all those moves," says Tree Rollins, the Magic's backup center and assistant coach. "It's almost better to get dunked on than to have him fake you out so badly that he's scoring while you're still looking in the other direction."

It is that fluidity that enables Olajuwon to make a mockery of the conventional wisdom that superstars cannot be stopped, only contained. Containing Olajuwon is like trying to grab the wind or capture a river in a bottle. The Magic's approach in the NBA Finals will be not so much to contain him but to interrupt his flow and give him as much to worry about as possible: Will he be guarded this time down the floor by the powerful O'Neal or the more agile Horace Grant, Orlando's power forward? When he is double-teamed, as he will be often, where will the second defender come from? It may be Grant or small forward Dennis Scott this time, but who will it be next time? And when will the second defender arrive? Will it be as soon as Olajuwon gets the ball, or will the Magic wait until he makes his move? "He has so many moves that he hardly ever does the same thing twice," says another Orlando assistant coach, Richie Adubato. "We have to think the same way, give him lots of different things to look at."

And, of course, the Magic will make sure that Olajuwon is kept busy at the other end of the floor, trying to stop O'Neal. By progressing to the Finals, the Rockets have vindicated their trade of power forward Otis Thorpe for guard Clyde Drexler, but the fact remains that Thorpe was able to guard opposing centers, allowing Olajuwon to conserve his energy and stay out of foul trouble. Without Thorpe, Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich cannot afford to take Olajuwon off O'Neal for long stretches. "Dream will be a challenge for Shaq to guard," says Rollins. "But he's got to guard Shaq, too, and the big fella will muscle Hakeem in as close to the basket as he can and try to rip the rim off."

Olajuwon is the league's only elite center for whom O'Neal's feelings go beyond respect, to admiration. None of the sarcasm or disdain that sometimes creeps into Shaq's comments about other big men is present when he talks about Olajuwon. "He's a great player, the best. In my mind he was the MVP this year," says O'Neal, who finished second to San Antonio Spur center David Robinson in the voting while Olajuwon was fifth. "I don't want to be compared to anybody but Hakeem."

As confident as the Orlando coaching staff is about O'Neal, Olajuwon's annihilation of Robinson in the Western Conference finals gave them pause. "He was incredible, absolutely incredible," says Magic coach Brian Hill. "He has put that team on his shoulders and carried it through the playoffs."

Olajuwon left Robinson not just beaten but demoralized, and Orlando knows there is an important psychological component to O'Neal's matchup with him. "I don't think we can afford to let Shaq get frustrated," says Adubato. "If Hakeem gets on the kind of roll he was on against the Spurs, we have to react to it quickly, whether it's by doubling him quicker or more often, or by trying a different matchup. But it's important to keep Shaq in the right frame of mind."

O'Neal is not as adept a shot blocker as Robinson, which the Magic staff feels may actually be to his advantage against Houston, because he is less likely to leave his feet on Olajuwon's fakes, a suicidal tendency against the Dream. Where Olajuwon's duel with Robinson was a matchup of similar styles, the Olajuwon-O'Neal confrontation is a study in contrasts—Olajuwon's experience and finesse against O'Neal's youth and power.

Although they differ stylistically in the middle, Orlando and Houston are built from much the same blueprint—each has a dominant center on whom it depends to score or to attract the double teams that create open shots for perimeter players. "The two teams might run into each other because we're such carbon copies," says Adubato. " Shaq and Hakeem will meet on the left block, because that's where they like to set up. We both like to go inside to our big man, and everything else is dependent on spacing, ball movement and three-point shooting."

Since O'Neal and Olajuwon have basically canceled each other out in their six career meetings—the Dream has averaged 23.8 points and 10.8 rebounds to Shaq's 20.7 and 12.8 rebounds—it is the cast of characters revolving around them who will probably decide the series. The Rockets' supporting players have blown hot and cold, which is why Houston has flirted with elimination so often in the playoffs. Drexler and forward Robert Horry have been the perfect complement to Olajuwon at times, and virtually invisible at others.