Despite the fact that Felton Spencer has been around the NBA for three years, introductions are probably still in order. A year ago he was as anonymous as an AT&T operator; on Friday night he was telling a crowd of reporters how he helped slow down Hakeem Olajuwon, the best basketball player on the planet who isn't playing baseball.
Forgive Spencer if he pinches himself once in a while. Maybe he's dreaming. Maybe he isn't really the starting center for the Utah Jazz, playing in the conference finals against the Houston Rockets. Maybe he really is still languishing on the bench in Minnesota, unwanted and unknown.With the Jazz down 2-0 in the playoffs on Friday, the 7-foot Spencer again faced the daunting task of stopping Olajuwon. With Spencer in his face, heading the latest Jazz strategy for stopping The Dream, Olajuwon missed his first eight shots, which allowed the Jazz enough time to make a getaway. Olajuwon finished with 29 points, making 10 of 23 shots, but the Rockets were never able to catch up, losing 95-86.
When Spencer fouled out (almost inevitably) in the fourth quarter, he was given a standing ovation - perhaps the only one ever given to a guy who just scored seven points. But, then, Spencer's job wasn't to score points; it was to stop the other team's All-Star center.
Which, by now, is becoming regular duty in the playoffs for Spencer. In three playoff series, against the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets, he has faced, in order, David Robinson, Dikembe Mutombo and Olajuwon, all 7-footers, all athletic and all explosive.
For Spencer, it's been a crash course in future Hall of Fame centers. It's been Spencer the Minnesota castoff against the superstars; Brand X against the brand names. He should get a merit badge for this, or class credit. Or autographs. Mostly, all he's gotten are bumps and bruises. In 14 playoff games, he's averaged 4.7 fouls (and only nine points).
Spencer has held his own much of the time, although that certainly wasn't the case in the first two games of the Houston series. Olajuwon did just about whatever he wanted to, which is to say he totaled 72 points. The Jazz tried to help Spencer by dropping a guard inside to double team Olajuwon when he caught the ball in the post. But it didn't work. Olajuwon still scored and, what's more, the Rocket guards, left free, buried a ton of three-point shots.
For Game 3, the Jazz tried a new plan. They double teamed The Dream with Spencer and the small forward, usually David Benoit. They also forced Olajuwon toward the baseline, farther away from the basket, where Benoit was within easy reach to help out. In the second quarter, Olajuwon, clearly frustrated, earned one of the team's four technical fouls.
"He never said anything to me," said Spencer. "He let's his game speak for itself. It speaks pretty well most of the time."
If nothing else, the 1993-94 season has revitalized Spencer's career. The sixth pick of the 1990 NBA draft, Spencer became a forgotten man in three seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. And riding the bench for the Wolves - one of the NBA's perennial losers - is like being unemployed in Greenland.
"My confidence was low," recalls Spencer. "I wasn't getting a chance. I wasn't playing, and they didn't seem to want me around."
The first clue was when they didn't play him much; the second was when they traded him to the Jazz during the off season. Spencer quickly made the most of his second chance. He moved to Salt Lake City immediately and played in a summer league. When a back injury sidelined the Jazz's longtime center, Mark Eaton, for the season, Spencer was forced into fulltime duty for the Jazz. He improved dramatically as the season wore on.
"I feel appreciated here," says Spencer.
Last year at this time his future was uncertain - and he was at home watching the playoffs on TV, like any fan. Now he's bumping and grinding with the likes of Robinson, Mutombo and Olajuwon.
"It won't get any easier, either," he was saying after Friday's game. "If we keep on winning, I'll face (Indiana's 7-foot-4) Rick Smits or (New York's) Patrick Ewing."
Not that he's complaining. He'll take Hall of Fame duty over pine time any time.