Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Sixers’ Joel Embiid scores off of a Dream Shake that no one saw coming.
On Monday night, Embiid channeled Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon to successfully pull off the Dream Shake move, scoring on Dallas Mavericks’ Willie Cauley-Stein. Despite some early shooting woes, the Sixers center looked smooth as can be ever since sustaining a knee bone bruise a month ago.
For the basketball newbies out there, the Dream Shake is a move made famous by Hakeem Olajuwon during his time on the Houston Rockets. Olajuwon, like Embiid, was unusually skilled for a big man, and over the course of his career he perfected a set of offensive movies trademarked as the Dream Shake.
Joel Embiid perfects a Dream Shake that would make Olajuwon proud
Olajuwon actually credits early soccer experience to the creation of the move.
“The Dream Shake was actually one of my soccer moves which I translated to basketball. It would accomplish one of three things: one, to misdirect the opponent and make him go the opposite way; two, to freeze the opponent and leave him devastated in his tracks; three, to shake off the opponent and give him no chance to contest the shot.”
Embiid is a big soccer fan himself, and that’s just one of many similarities between him and Hakeem Olajuwon. Embiid’s “big man” footwork, along with his 36 points and seven rebounds, helped the Sixers secure an easy victory over the Mavericks.
All eyes will be on Embiid when he faces the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday (a potential preview of the Eastern Conference Finals) to see whether he can pull off his savvy moves and get the win as well.