EWING, OLAJUWON IN NBA HALL OF FAME: Pair joins Adrian Dantley, Pat Riley, Dick Vitale and others

NBA greats Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and Adrian Dantley are among the Class of 2008 to be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, the league announced this week.

Olajuwon and Ewing both played in three Final Fours, with Ewing's Georgetown team beating Olajuwon's Houston squad for the 1984 national championship.

"We both are warriors. We both want to excel. We both wanted to dominate, and when you play against the best you want to perform at your best," Ewing told the Associated Press. "So we both definitely looked at each other as the best."

In the pros, Olajuwon got back at his rival as his team, the Houston Rockets, won the first of two straight titles with a seven-game victory over Ewing's New York Knicks in the 1994 NBA finals — a team coached by fellow 2008 inductee, Pat Riley.

"Growing up in Nigeria I didn't really understand the magnitude of what it means to be a hall of famer," said Olajuwon, a 12-time All-Star. "I still cannot believe that I'm in the same company with all these great legends."

Dantley, a six-time NBA All-Star, played for seven teams during his 15-year NBA career. Other inductees include Dick Vitale, coach Cathy Rush; and William Davidson, owner of the Detroit Pistons since 1974.