THE DREAM IS AGAIN SWEET FOR THE ROCKETS

By Steve Wulf

When Shaquille O'Neal was little -- 6 ft. 11 in. or so -- he sneaked through a back door of the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio, Texas, to get the autograph of his favorite player, center Hakeem ("the Dream") Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets. It was the first time that the 16-year-old O'Neal had met Olajuwon, who was 26 at the time. "I was just a kid then," says Shaq, "with no money, no clothes, no car, no nothing." Olajuwon obliged, as he almost always does, and Shaq has kept the autograph to this day.

They met again last week, of course, in the N.B.A. Finals between the defending world champion Rockets and the tyros of the Orlando Magic. And again Olajuwon left his signature. By taking the first two games of the series in Orlando, the Dream's team not only set an N.B.A. playoff record for most consecutive victories on the road (seven) but also put the Magic in a deep hole out of which no team has ever climbed -- coming back to win the N.B.A. Finals after losing the first two games on its home court. The O in O-rena is supposed to stand for Orlando, or at least O'Neal. Last week it stood for both Olajuwon and the number of Magic victories.

For most of Game 1 on Wednesday, Shaq fought Hakeem to a standoff, but with just 0.3 sec. left in the first overtime, Olajuwon tipped in a shot to give himself 31 points and the Rockets a 120-118 win. In Friday's Game 2, the 32-year-old center outplayed his larger, younger counterpart for most of the game, which the Rockets took, 117-106. Olajuwon had 22 points in the first half alone, as Houston built an insurmountable lead, and he finished the night with 34 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.

The matchup between the Big Os was almost enough to block out all the dancing girls, jumping boys, fireworks, laser lights, eardrum-pounding music and halftime motocrosses that are part of the show in Orlando. The Dream vs. Shaq is the present vs. the future, bop vs. rap, ballet vs. the World Wrestling Federation, humility vs. bravado, Mecca vs. Madison Avenue. It is also a game, as O'Neal put it, of "Who's the Man?"

Despite the rivalry, Olajuwon and O'Neal maintain a mutual-admiration society that has almost nothing to do with the fact that they share the same agent (Leonard Armato). "Hakeem is the best center in the league," says O'Neal. "Shaquille is in a league by himself," says Olajuwon. As far as endorsements are concerned, O'Neal is in a league with only Michael Jordan. Olajuwon, on the other hand, is still waiting to be discovered. Shaq does Pepsi; Hakeem does Oshman's Sporting Goods in Houston.

Since their first brief meeting six years ago, the two centers have both grown-the 7-ft. 1-in., 305-lb. O'Neal physically, and Olajuwon spiritually. Hakeem, who went directly from Lagos, Nigeria, to the University of Houston in 1983, has always had a sweet, kind nature, but until a few years ago, he often vexed referees, teammates and management while living the N.B.A. life to the fullest. But in 1992 he made his first hajj to Mecca, renewed his faith in Islam and added the H to his first name. Since then he has carried a prayer rug and a compass with him wherever he goes, and he has been at peace with the Rockets, opponents and, most important, himself. "You try your best to please Him," Olajuwon has said of his religion. "So you be the best personality you can. When you meet people, you're polite. You get all this acclamation, but you're still humble. You make all this money-you're still humble. You are disciplined, and when you have that, you have peace of mind."

There was a time when Olajuwon would respond to cheap shots in kind. But now, he says, "I feel sorry for dirty players instead of get mad at them. I try to give them a word of advice to think about without getting emotional." Olajuwon is so serious about his social responsibility that he insists the Spalding basketball shoe he endorses-and wears-be sold at a relatively low price.

Olajuwon has taken his talent to progressively higher levels, adding a new dimension every year: better free-throw shooting, a base-line jumper, a new hook shot. The player who once said, "I like to dunk and dunk and dunk" now has a dozen shots in his arsenal. He is a center who plays with the work ethic of a point guard and the range of a small forward, and the evolution of his game has led to the revolution of the pivot position. Shaq is reminiscent of Wilt Chamberlain. Hakeem is, well, Hakeem.

Although he has been listed as 7 ft. ever since his days at the University of Houston, Olajuwon is really no taller than 6 ft. 10 in. -- an inch below the 16-year-old Shaq; 2 in. below the New York Knicks' Patrick Ewing, whom he beat in last year's N.B.A. Finals; and 3 in. below the San Antonio Spurs' David Robinson, the 1994-95 N.B.A. mvp, whom he beat like a drum in this year's Western Conference finals.

Olajuwon was so devastating in the series with the Spurs, averaging 35.3 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, that Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich proclaimed it a "legendary performance that people will be talking about for a long, long time." Even the normally modest Olajuwon admitted, "I don't think I realized [how well I played] until I saw the film, and then I said, 'Who's that?' "

If Olajuwon prevails against O'Neal and Orlando, he will move on to a higher league, namely Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell. Says Orlando's veteran power forward Horace Grant: "The way he plays, he belongs with those guys. He scores, blocks shots, plays defense and never gets tired. I've never seen anything like it in my days in basketball." Fans who are reluctant to elevate Olajuwon to that pantheon should realize that Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar and Russell all had better supporting casts with their championship teams than Olajuwon has with the Rockets. "I don't really like to be compared to them," says Olajuwon. "It's very difficult to say 'the best' because everybody has a style of play that is their own. Always someone seems better, taller, faster . As long as you are making your own opportunities, that is where I get my satisfaction."

The trademark Olajuwon shot is the fadeaway jumper. Somehow he keeps fading and fading until the shot becomes indefensible, and then, like a feather, it floats through the net. And every time he makes one this spring, Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar and Russell fade a little farther away.

--With reporting by Eddie Sefko/ Orlando

With reporting by EDDIE SEFKO/ORLANDO