Tag Archives: best centers in NBA history

H2H 101: Patrick Ewing vs. Alonzo Mourning – Who was Better?

Posted on December 18, 2020 | Leave a comment
User:Seidenstud (Seidenstud on the English Wikipedia), Patrick Ewing ca. 1995, CC BY-SA 3.0
Keith Allison, Alonzo Mourning, CC BY-SA 2.0

After John Thompson Jr. took over as the head coach of the Georgetown men’s basketball team in 1972, he helped turn the program into a powerhouse, in the process producing numerous future NBA stars.  While the Hoyas have certainly sent a number of elite guards to the NBA (e.g. Allen Iverson and Sleepy Flood), they are perhaps best known for their outstanding big men.  In particular, two giants (literally) who stood out at both the college and later professional level were centers Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning; both were All-Americans at Georgetown, top NBA draft picks, and yearly All-Star/All-NBA performers – given their close Georgetown ties and later rivalry in the NBA, it is an inevitable comparison and question:

Who was better – Patrick Ewing or Alonzo Mourning?

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H2H 87: Dave Cowens vs. Wes Unseld – Who was Better?

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

Centers are usually the tallest players on the basketball court, seven-foot-tall behemoths who battle for the opening tipoff and spend most of their time scoring, rebounding, and defending close to the basket.  Yet in the 1970s, two undersized centers dominated in the NBA’s Eastern Conference – 6’9” Dave Cowens of the Boston Celtics and 6’7” Wes Unseld of the Baltimore/Washington Bullets.  Despite their relatively diminutive sizes, both players towered over the competition on the court as perennial All-Star and MVP candidates who each led their respective teams to titles.  Looking back on this rugged era in the NBA’s history, let us compare the careers of these two contemporary rivals and ask:

Who was better – Dave Cowens or Wes Unseld?

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H2H 60: Wilt Chamberlain vs. Bill Russell – Who was Better?

Posted on March 6, 2020 | 1 comment

When you think of great individual rivalries in the NBA, two immediately come to mind – Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson in the 1980s (which was credited with reviving the league’s sagging popularity) and before that, the original great rivalry of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell in the 1960s.  As towering giants of the NBA’s early days (both literally and figuratively), Chamberlain and Russell dominated the game in extraordinary fashion, an ongoing head-to-head clash between the former’s individual brilliance and the latter’s championship greatness with the Boston Celtics.  More than half a century after each player’s prime, the two legends continue to hold a revered place in the upper echelons of basketball immortality and the comparison remains timeless:

Who was better – Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell?

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H2H 12: Hakeem Olajuwon vs. David Robinson – Who was Better?

Posted on April 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

While today’s NBA game values finesse and shooting (particularly from the three-point line), the 1980s and 1990s saw a different style of play that focused on power and physicality.  As such, the old-school NBA was dominated by towering seven-foot centers that controlled the paint both offensively and defensively, and often formed the foundation of successful teams during that time.  In an era that featured centers like Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Brad Daugherty, and Dikembe Mutombo, just to name a few, two of most dominant big men were Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets and David “The Admiral” Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs.  Each player was a number one overall pick, an MVP, a Defensive Player of the Year, and an NBA champion, leading to inevitable comparisons and the obvious question:

Who was better – Hakeem Olajuwon or David Robinson?

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