Olajuwon’s Injury Ends One-on-One

Hakeem Olajuwon was described as embarrassed, disappointed and still hurting Friday after backing out of his one-on-one matchup with Shaquille O’Neal.

The same might be said about pay-per-view television, which took another black eye with the last-minute cancellation of today’s heavily hyped showdown.

The Houston Rocket center, who appeared healthy and mentioned no injury at a news conference in New York on Thursday, pulled out of the $1-million contest Friday because of a back injury suffered last week while lifting weights, promoters said.