“If I had to go alone against him he might have a quintuple-double” – Mychal Thompson explains how tough it was to contain prime Hakeem Olajuwon

The 1989-90 NBA season was a critical stage for the Los Angeles Lakers . Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was no longer around, retiring after the 1989 Finals. Hence, the task of leading the purple and gold fell on the hands of Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Regarding filling in the center position, the task was assigned to Mychal Thompson and the rookie Vlade Divac.

Thompson knew he had big shoes to fill. He was Cap's primary backup in the previous seasons and started only nine regular-season games.

Seeing how the Lakers still managed to win the Pacific Division with a 63-19 record, it seemed Thompson was holding up. However, his regular-season effort is meaningless unless he can help the Lakers in the postseason.

Stopping 'The Dream'

In the Lakers' first-round assignment, they had to hurdle the Houston Rockets. A key to doing that is figuring out how to contain Hakeem Olajuwon . Hakeem was tough to stop that year. In the regular season, Olajuwon averaged 24.3 points, 14.0 rebounds, 4.6 blocks, 2.9 assists and 2.1 steals.

The Lakers knew that getting past the Rockets would hinge on how they could defend Hakeem. It would take more than one player to do that, and Thompson was very aware of that.

"Akeem is too much for one guy to stop," Thompson stated as the Lakers prepared to face the Rockets in the first round via UPI.com . "If I had to go it alone against him he might have a quintuple-double," he added.

When both teams previously faced each other on April 15, 1990, Thompson did an excellent defensive job on Olajuwon. Thompson was able to limit the top pick of the 1984 NBA Draft to just 12 points, allowing the purple and gold to come out with a 113-102 win.

Moreover, Olajuwon did not score until the 3:47 mark of the first half of that matchup. The Nigerian even admitted that he had a tough time against the Lakers' defense at the time.

"Their trap in the post was excellent. They were very aggressive. They were coming from every angle. I couldn't even see the open man," Akeem said.

Adjusting trajectory

Aware that they needed to adjust against the Lakers, Rockets coach Don Chaney knew he needed to come up with something against LA's low-post defense. One option was to have players such as Eric "Sleepy Floyd," Mitchell Wiggins, Otis Thorpe, and Vernon Maxwell help in the scoring department.

The Nightmare

In the first round of their Western Conference matchup, Los Angeles defeated Houston in four games.

In those four games, James Worthy and Magic Johnson led the purple and gold, averaging 28.0 points and 19.0 points, respectively. But the big difference was that four role players averaged 10 points or more – Byron Scott (13.8), A.C. Green (12.5), Orlando Woolridge (12.0), and Vlade Divac (10.0).

Olajuwon's numbers were solid, although they were far from his regular season. He averaged 18.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in those four games. Thorpe and Maxwell carried the scoring load with averages of 20.0 and 19.8 points, respectively.

Although they advanced, Los Angeles would be eliminated in the WC semifinals by the Phoenix Suns in 5 games. The Lakers would fall apart after that season with Pat Riley stepping down as head coach.

Los Angeles had to wait until 2000 to win another NBA title, with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant at the helm.

Related: "This the baddest dude in basketball offensively and defensively" - Sam Cassell on why Hakeem Olajuwon was the best player in the NBA