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Hakeem Olajuwon has the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award named after him because he protected the rim and chased down guards his entire career in the NBA.
The two-time NBA champion leads the league in blocked shots with 3,830, which is 541 more than Dikembe Mutombo. That record won't be touched soon as the most active NBA player who can still add to his block total is Serge Ibaka is placed 25th with a distant 1,759.
Prime Olajuwon was a menace in the paint and proof of that is how Shawn Kemp tried to dunk on him five times during the 1993 Western Conference Semi-Finals.
In his prime, 'The Reign Man' was a double-double machine who posterized and humiliated centers. He also owns a career of 48% field goal shooting.
But the swaggy dunker met his match. Hakeem Olajuwon was a force to be dealt with, and that was evident in Game 4 during their WCSF playoff matchup.
At this point, the Houston Rockets were down 0-2 against the Sonics after the first two games and would need to win Game 4 to tie the series. In order to stop the Sonics, Olajuwon needed to step up, which he did by denying Kemp five times getting near the rim.
The final score was the Rockets evening the series, 103-92. Olajuwon tallied 24 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and eight blocks on 57% field goal shooting.
On the other hand, Kemp shot 9-of-24 from the field, but was able to finish with 23 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and one steal during the loss.
Shawn Kemp gets the victory but Hakeem Olajuwon gets two rings and an Olmypic gold medal later
At the end of this game, the Seattle Supersonics showed that they are indeed a tough customer to deal with as their young core started to create damage in the league.
But with the setback, Hakeem Olajuwon stepped up the following year as he led the Houston Rockets to back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995 along with a gold medal in 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Meanwhile, Shawn Kemp was at his peak when he and Gary Payton helped the Seattle Supersonics to get to the NBA Finals in 1996, but fell to the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan.
Things did not end well for Kemp as he battled with weight issues and off-court legal problems.
Hakeem Olajuwon is now hailed as one of the best centers in the NBA. He has been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and also joined the NBA 75 and 50 greatest players of all-time list.
