Now comes the real test for Shaquille O'Neal.
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 Hakeem Olajuwon and O'Neal will be the centerpiece of the series between the defending champions and the Magic that starts Wednesday.Simply put, O'Neal is in awe of Olajuwon, who's as agile as O'Neal is powerful.
"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.
"He's great - a first-team all-NBA, starting on the All-Star team," Houston swingman Mario Elie said of Hardaway. "He got a lot of flak with that big contract he signed. Now everybody knows he's worth it. He's worth every penny."
There's also the matter of home-court 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, play aggressive and we should be OK."
One thing there will be a lot of is 3-pointers. Both teams love to put it up from behind the arc.
The Magic made 77 in the conference finals and are shooting 41 percent for the playoffs. Houston has hit 152 of 391 treys for 39 percent, with Smith and Robert Horry doing most of the damage.
The Rockets are likely to go with the same small lineup they used with such effectiveness against San Antonio, with Robert Horry moving from small forward to power forward and Elie switching from a reserve role to the starting small forward spot.
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.
"I'm sure they're going to be the favorites," Hardaway said, "because they know how to win in situations like they did last year. We're really facing another challenge. The thing is, we just have to go out and play our game and not really worry about it."