Centers Of Attention The Dream Awaits Shaq

When Hakeem Olajuwon meets Shaquille O’Neal, a player with the serenity a championship brings will meet a player with all the promise of championships to come. Pure agility will meet pure power.

Stopping the best player in this postseason is the prize the Orlando Magic’s center wins for leading his team to the NBA Finals. The matchup between Olajuwon and O’Neal will be the centerpiece of the series between the defending champions and the Magic, which starts Wednesday.

Simply put, O’Neal is in awe of Olajuwon.

“He can do it all - left side, right side. He can dribble. He has a complete game,” O’Neal said.

In their two meetings this season, they had 49 points apiece, with O’Neal holding the edge in rebounds, 27-19. But the regular season has little to do with the playoffs, where Olajuwon has been all but unstoppable, O’Neal said.

“He’s on a roll,” O’Neal said. “He’s been making moves I’ve never seen before. Hakeem is a great player; the best. In my eyes, he’s the most valuable player this year.”

In the Western Conference finals against San Antonio, Olajuwon averaged 35.3 points in six games against David Robinson, an excellent defensive player and the league’s MVP as determined by a vote of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Except for the two games when foul trouble drastically limited his minutes, O’Neal dominated Pacers center Rik Smits, but Smits is a jump shooter without Olajuwon’s seemingly unlimited repertoire of low-post moves.

Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich likes Olajuwon against pretty much anybody but points out that Dream vs. Shaq isn’t the only story line in the series.

“There are going to be a lot of interesting subplots,” he said.

One of the most interesting - and potentially troubling for the Rockets - is the matchup at point guard, where 6-foot-3 Kenny Smith will try to guard 6-7 Anfernee Hardaway. Hardaway has raised his scoring average and shooting percentage in each round of the playoffs, averaging 19.6 points and shooting 53 percent against Indiana.

Tomjanovich said he has no choice but to put Smith on the Magic’s playmaker.

“I don’t see our point guard playing (Nick) Anderson or (Dennis) Scott,” he said.

“We’re going to try some different things.”

During the playoffs, Anderson has drawn defensive assignments that would keep most players up nights. So after guarding Michael Jordan in the conference semifinals and Reggie Miller in the conference finals, Anderson feels fully prepared to face the rejuvenated Clyde Drexler, averaging more than 20 points during the playoffs.

“This is just another step,” Anderson said. “I’m here at the big dance and I want to dance.”

There’s also the matter of homecourt advantage. Orlando has it, but Houston has gotten this far by rendering it all but meaningless.

The Rockets have won seven of their 10 road games on the way to the finals, and the Magic have only two postseason losses at the Orlando Arena, where they have claimed the last five games.

“We’re just going to come in and try to win all our games at home and try to steal some wins on the road,” O’Neal said. “We’re going to play hard … and we should be OK.”

The Rockets are likely to go with the same small lineup they used with such effectiveness against San Antonio. Robert Horry will move from small forward to power forward opposite Horace Grant, and Mario Elie will switch from a reserve role to starting small forward against Scott, like Elie a swingman who’s a perimeter threat.

Whoever Houston puts on the floor, the Magic realize they will need all the seasoning they’ve gained in their 20 previous postseason games - three last year and 17 this year - in order to beat the Rockets, who played 23 games a year ago to win the title.