The 98-year-old Rockets Dream Flying Pig Pippen Luxury Triumvirate, aiming to win the championship, why was they eliminated in the first round?

There is no 24th in the rivers and lakes

2024-05-24 18:45Posted in Henan Sports Creator

Preface

After winning two consecutive championships in 1995, the Rockets also ushered in the heyday of the franchise's history, but the second-round sweep by the SuperSonics in 1996 made the team realize that they had to continue to strengthen if they wanted to win another championship, so they traded for former MVP Barkley that offseason, who also averaged 23.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game the previous season.

After forming the Big Dream triumvirate of Olajuwon, Fliggy Barkley, and Drexler the Glider, the Rockets failed to return to the championship ranks, and they fell in the Western Conference finals and the first round in the playoffs for the next two years. Midway through the 1997-1998 season, Drexler announced that he would retire at the end of the season and then coach his alma mater, the University of Houston.

However, even after losing Drexler, the Rockets still did not give up the idea of competing for the championship, so they targeted Pippen, who had just helped the Bulls win three consecutive championships, and in order to help Pippen join smoothly, Barkley also took the initiative to reduce his salary at that time, and his annual salary in the 1998-1999 season was only 1 million, and Pippen signed a five-year contract of 67.2 million with the Rockets.

But in the case of the paper "luxury triumvirate" of Olajuwon, Barkley, and Pippen, the Rockets fell in the first round for the second year in a row, and faced the Lakers who were swept by the Spurs in the second round, the Rockets were almost powerless, and finally were eliminated with a score of 1-3. So why did the rocket go home to "fish" in the first round at that time? Let's review it together!

Dressing room inconsistencies

The 1998-1999 season turned into a shortened season due to the 1998 NBA mired collective bargaining agreement, with only 50 games in the regular season, which was both good and bad for the Rockets. The good thing is that considering that the Rockets' Big Three are not young, reducing the regular season can just reduce the consumption of them in the early season, but the disadvantage is that the Rockets' lineup has changed significantly compared to the past, and the reduction of the regular season also means that there is less time left for them to run in.

Although the team looks like a Big Three, they are only fifth in the West after the regular season, and they are still the bottom half of the West. As the boss of the team, the 35-year-old Olajuwon averaged 18.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.

and Barkley, who is also 35 years old, although he only receives an annual salary of 1 million, he can average 16.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1 steal per game, and he is undoubtedly the second leader of the Rockets this season. On the other hand, Pippen, who signed a big contract with the Rockets, not only received a high salary, but also the youngest of the Big Three, but in the end he played the worst, averaging only 14.5 points per game in the regular season, and his shooting percentage was also a career-low 43.2%.

And because Pippen didn't meet expectations, Barkley was already dissatisfied with him from the beginning of the regular season, and he felt unworthy when he thought that he was taking a pay cut for a player who could only play at the level of a role player. It would be fine if the Rockets could win, but the key point was that they couldn't even get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, so this has become one of the hidden dangers of the team's subsequent elimination.

The core of the squad is seriously aging and cannot cope with the intensive schedule of the regular season

But then again, Pippen himself must also want to play better, but his strength just doesn't allow it, although he is the youngest, his level at his peak is really incomparable with the other two bigwigs, so it is not incomprehensible that he has fallen seriously. In addition, Pippen and Barkley's mentality is not the same, you must know that Pippen has won the championship six times before this, and his desire for the championship has long been less than it was at the beginning, it is estimated that this is also the reason why Barkley is dissatisfied with Pippen, seeing that he can "hug Jordan's thigh" and win so many championships, on the other hand, he can't win the cup no matter where he plays.

In addition, although the 1998-1999 regular season only had 50 games, it also meant that the schedule was more intensive, so the Rockets had a total of 15 back-to-backs in the regular season, including three consecutive days of games, and the most important thing is that two of those three games were on the road, and they just finished playing the Timberwolves in the West, and then they will play the Nets in the East. Many young people can't afford this kind of schedule, let alone a lineup like the Rockets that builds a team with an elderly core, so in the end, the consumption of the regular season on them is really not small.

In the playoffs, Barkley tried his best but could not hide the defeat

After the regular season ended in two back-to-back games, the Rockets didn't have time to rest, and they were going to Los Angeles to challenge the Lakers. In the series G1, the two sides can be said to be very anxious, and in the end, the Rockets only lost by 1 point. In this game, Barkley scored 25 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists on 11-of-19 shooting, in addition to 1 steal and 1 block.

Although Olajuwon did not play as well as Barkley, he also scored 22 points and 8 rebounds, and Pippen only scored 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting, but he was relatively comprehensive in this game, and also contributed 10 rebounds and 8 assists, but the opposite Lakers still won the victory with 3 points and 20+ points, of which the OK combination scored 56 points.

G2 Barkley is still the best player among the Big Three, with 19 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block on 6-of-13 shooting, including a game-high rebound. And this Olajuwon and Pippen are both lagging their feet, the former contributed 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 turnovers on 3-of-10 shooting, and Pippen only had 3 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists on 0-of-7 shooting.

In G3, Barkley continued to play steadily, finishing with 30 points, 23 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals on 12-of-23 shooting, including eight frontcourt rebounds. And Barkley finally waited for his teammates to break out this game, Pippen scored a game-high 37 points on 12-of-27 shooting, and also had 13 rebounds and 4 assists, under the outbreak of the two of them, the Rockets won a game with difficulty, it is worth mentioning that this Olajuwon was completely suppressed again, and he scored a single-digit 5 points and 6 rebounds on 2-of-12 shooting.

G4 Lakers no longer gave the Rockets a chance, O'Neal dominated the interior and scored 37 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks to lead the team to end the series, and finally the Lakers advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with a score of 3-1. In the final game of life and death, Barkley was the only player who was considered a decent loser, scoring a team-high 20 points, and also had 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.

Although Pippen was outstanding in other aspects, grabbing 17 rebounds (including 9 frontcourt rebounds) and dishing out 5 assists, he shot 23 crazy shots on the offensive side, but only 26.1% shooting, and Olajuwon, his performance was obviously not worthy of his salary, and in the end the team was eliminated, he still couldn't stand up, and finally got only 18 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-19 shooting.

Barkley can be said to be alone in the whole series, he can average 23.5 points (second in the series), 13.8 rebounds (first in the series), 3.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Pippen, on the other hand, averaged a team-high 18.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game, while Olajuwon had the worst performance, averaging 13.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Barkley himself didn't expect that he originally wanted to hug his thighs, but in the end he became the thickest thigh, but even then he couldn't drive the two "uncles".

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