Champions Creed

Chapter 125 Chapter 124: The Hypocritical War (asking for monthly tickets!)

An insignificant opponent made Roger's 42 points in three quarters seem less impressive.

Jerry Stackhouse gave himself a new nickname tonight: Duke Duck.

The nickname was given by Kobe Bryant, a young Philadelphia fan who came to watch the game. "Because Jerry's mouth is the hardest part of his body, just like a duck," he told reporters.

Even Roger himself didn't care much about this victory: "If it was against other teams, 42 points in three quarters would be amazing. But damn, I would feel ashamed to get such a small number of points against a complete trash like Jerry. If it was Michael, he might be able to get 50 points! As it turns out, I still need to continue to strengthen my left hand!"

Roger's move seems to be praising Jordan, but in fact it is disparaging Stackhouse.

"So do you want to talk about our next opponent, the Miami Heat?" the reporter changed the subject.

The smile on Roger's face disappeared instantly: "I told you, my right hand is waiting for Pat Riley!"

Pat Riley is a head coach who truly treats basketball as war.

He came to the Miami Heat to make this team stand out from the bloody competition.

However, any form of war has one common characteristic - cruelty.

This madman who treated basketball as war also brought this characteristic into his own team.

Today, Heat chief team doctor Harlan Selesnick walked into Pat Riley's office and reported to him on the players' recent physical condition as usual.

Since Riley took over the Heat, the Heat's medical team has been under great pressure.

They worry about the health of their players almost every day and in every training session.

Everyone knows that Riley's training is very inhumane, but no one expected that Pat Riley treats his players almost the same as animals.

In the mid-18th century, when the slave trade was rampant, Florida had the first known free black community in North America.

The escaped slaves established their own camps and strongholds in St. Augustine and had their own refuge.

For the desperate black slaves at that time, Florida was the paradise they longed for.

But the black people at that time could never have imagined that in the 21st century, the holy land of Florida would take the lead in restarting serfdom under the leadership of Pat Riley.

Under Riley's iron-fisted rule, the intensity of the confrontation and training made Harlan Selesnick tremble with fear.

At one point, he wanted to call the Pentagon and ask them to kidnap Patrick Ewing. How could that center who had a broken knee in college have played for so long under Riley? Ewing must have some Zenithian technology!

At this time, Harlan Selesnick was holding the health report in his hand and reporting to Riley one by one.

Most of the Heat players are still healthy, but there is something wrong with the team's core player, Alonzo Mourning.

"He has some soreness in his back muscles, and to avoid further injury, I suggest that Alonzo rest a few games and reduce his training workload," Harlan told Riley.

Riley's eyes were cold: "Does this injury require surgery?"

"That's not necessary. If it's just muscle soreness, we have many ways to relieve it. It's not time for surgery yet."

"Great, then give Alonzo some painkillers, and let him continue training, continue playing, and continue fighting." Riley's tone was as calm as if he was telling Harlan Selesnick to buy a bottle of Gatorade for Mourning, as if playing with an injury was no big deal for him.

"what?"

"You heard me. If an injury doesn't require surgery, there's no need to rest. Why waste so much time on a problem that can be solved perfectly with painkillers? Just tell Alonzo what I said, and he'll understand."

Harlan Selesnick is just a team doctor, he has to listen to the general manager of the team. But as a doctor, he still reminded Riley: "Painkillers are not a panacea, Pat. Overuse may cause irreversible damage to the players' kidneys. Painkillers can only relieve the pain, not solve the problem."

Riley waved his hands, not listening at all: "You always exaggerate things, Harlan. When we played, taking painkillers was as common as eating and drinking water, but I never heard of anyone having kidney problems."

"I'm certainly not saying that something will go wrong, but there is a chance of that happening."

"This probability is the risk a professional player should take. Every player has the probability of getting injured before every game. What? Are they refusing to play because of this? The game against the Magic is coming up soon, and we can't be without Alonzo!"

Pat Riley was tough, and Harlan knew he couldn't convince him.

Riley is so cold he really is like a vampire, and Harlan can now understand why the Lakers kicked him out.

But this is also why Riley is loved by team owners. Managers like Riley who squeeze employees to the extreme are what every boss desires.

So, no matter what Riley does, no matter how he screws over the players, he will have the support of management.

Even if the former US president is found guilty one day, management will not blame Riley.

In the afternoon, Harlan Selesnick gave the painkillers to Morning as Riley instructed.

Harlan also reminded Mourning that painkillers could cause damage to the kidneys.

Besides, a real tough guy can't just rely on pills.

But with Mourning's personality, he doesn't seem to care about these things at all: "As long as I can play on the court!"

Riley and Mourning don't think so much, they just want the result - defeat the Orlando Magic!

Harlan shook his head. What else could he say? He knew that Mourning was a tough guy, and none of the centers produced by Georgetown University were cowards.

But he didn't expect that Mourning had reached such a point where he would not care about his body at all, and this was just the regular season.

Pat Riley always meets players who are willing to be exploited by him. Harlan really doesn't know whether this is Riley's luck or these players' misfortune.

The Heat were ready for the upcoming Florida Derby, but the Magic had some minor incidents before the big game.

Two days before the game, Shaquille O'Neal, who is about to return, appeared in Bristol, Connecticut. He was invited to the ESPN campus today to participate in an interview program with ESPN's radio station.

During the show, radio host Tony Bruno, with his many years of talk show hosting experience, created an extremely relaxed atmosphere for conversation, and the Sharks became more and more excited in this relaxed atmosphere, and their comments became more and more exaggerated.

"Roger has the longest legs I've ever seen, and you all know what I'm talking about."

"My legs? I rank second in the entire locker room!"

"Michael Jordan is like an old luxury car. No one can deny his past glory, but now he has to give way to new cars."

As they chatted, the two naturally talked about the contract renewal issue between the Magic and the Sharks.

"Shaq, the Orlando Sentinel, a local newspaper, held a poll asking if the team deserved a high salary to keep you. 65% of the fans thought it was not worth it. What happened to cause such a result? Was it because of the injury?"

This is undoubtedly a powerful question, and one that requires a careful answer, but the nervous Shark still maintains his outspoken style on this issue:
"Nothing happened, it's just some people putting pressure on me. When I come back, I will yell to the camera after a dunk to Mr. DeVos: Give me money! Well, he will do it because they need me."

O'Neal spoke to the Magic management in an almost arrogant manner.

After the show, Shark immediately received a call from his agent: "Dude, you probably can't do this. Disrespecting the boss is not a good negotiation tactic!"

"Is it that serious? I was just joking. I absolutely respect Mr. DeVos." O'Neill was telling the truth. He didn't think this incident would have any impact at the time.

"You also said that the vote was a trick by someone to put pressure on you. Are you firing at management?"

"No, if I wanted to start a fire I would have named him directly. Besides, what I said was the truth. That bastard John just wanted to use the media to urge me to come back as soon as possible to express his dissatisfaction with me."

"Even if you didn't mean it, John Gabriel must have thought you were calling us names! We screwed up, Shaq! If you want a contract like Roger's, you have to stop saying this!"

O'Neal felt annoyed. Why did he need to be so careful?
Did he not play in the finals last season? Or did he only average 5 points per game?
Isn't it natural for the Magic to renew my contract with a high salary?

The controversial remarks of the Shark plunged the Magic into a vortex. The next afternoon at the Advant Health Center, John Gabriel, the behind-the-scenes figure, became the main topic of reporters.

Now all reporters are very curious about whether the Sentinel vote was made by the Magic management to put pressure on Shaq.

O'Neal denied it flatly: "I never said it was the management. Don't try to use me as a loophole to mess up the team. This kind of conspiracy will not work on me."

Roger's answer to this matter was extremely concise: "I have nothing much to say about this matter, and I have no comment." Although the two core members refused to answer this question, the media's favorite thing is to make groundless accusations.

The contract renewal between the Magic and O'Neal was not going smoothly. This view became the consensus of all media, and all media were reporting on this matter frantically.

This incident did create a rift between management and the players.

Rich DeVos thought he had always respected the players, but he was dissatisfied with the way O'Neal spoke on the radio, which was too condescending.

John Gabriel was the most angry because he felt betrayed.

Why would O'Neill say that? Why would O'Neill think that the newspaper's vote had something to do with management?

There were only two people who could have told the Sharks this: Roger or equipment manager Jacob Diamond. They were the only two present on the day the conversation took place.

Roger knew who told Shaq, and he had never mentioned Gabriel's connection with the Sentinel before, just to avoid damaging the relationship between the management and O'Neal. But the last time Shaq helped Roger push, he said "nothing can escape Shaq's ears."

Considering that Jacob has a good personal relationship with the shark, it is normal for him to reveal some information to the shark.

However, it doesn't matter who it is.

Because once suspicion arises, it erodes trust.

Once trust is damaged, it destroys the relationship.

Just like Jordan and Horace Grant, even if Grant was not a snitch, Jordan would no longer trust him.

When the defending champion is no longer a solid block, the happiest people are undoubtedly the defending champion's opponents.

Pat Riley treats basketball as a war, and the highest art of commanding a war is commanding the enemy.

At this juncture when the Heat and Magic, two sworn enemies in the same state, are about to meet for the second time, Riley is taking advantage of the situation to make things even more chaotic for the Magic.

In an exclusive interview with NBC, Riley made a controversial statement:
"There's only one reason the Magic couldn't come to an agreement with Shaq, and it wasn't because of injuries, it wasn't because of Shaq's ability, it was because Roger took too much.

2000 million annual salary, million contract, do you think the Magic can afford two such contracts?
I know you're going to say, oh, Roger and Shaq are good brothers.

Hey, didn't you notice that Roger never, not once, publicly spoke out for the Sharks' contract extension this season?

When Roger was about to renew his contract last season, Shaq spoke up for him every other day.

But now it's the Sharks' turn to renew their contract, so what does Roger do?

His strategy was to treat the shark as a friend first, pretending to get along well with the shark, so that the shark would let down its guard and make the shark feel that Roger was on the same side as itself.

Then he used his friendship with Shark to make Shark sacrifice himself to help him win the championship and complete the contract extension first. After signing the big contract, he didn't care about Shark's life or death.

Not only Shark, but everyone else on the Magic became Roger's springboard. They won the championship together, but in the end only Roger was the biggest beneficiary.

He's the con man, that's what he is, and I don't understand how he can be so popular with the fans.

If I tell a lie, God will punish me."

This is a very serious accusation against Roger and a direct insult to his character.

Of course, Riley was lying, and he knew it was a lie. In this world, there couldn't really be someone who won a championship and a big contract and then betrayed his teammates, right?
But it doesn't matter whether it's nonsense or not. Riley just hopes that such words can allow the Magic team, which is already at the center of the storm, to resolve internal friction, thereby affecting the overall state of the team.

Pat Riley has always been the kind of coach who dares to fire at stars, whether they are opposing stars or his own stars.

In order to achieve his goal, he dared to speak frankly about O'Neal's contract renewal with the Magic.

He was sure it would work. As the head coach who had once established the Showtime Lakers, Riley had seen too many things like this and he knew the complexity of human nature.

The reason why the Lakers failed to win two consecutive championships in 81 was that the entire locker room felt that Magic Johnson received too much attention.

In 86, the Lakers still missed the opportunity to win consecutive championships because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who won the FMVP in 85, felt that he could still control the locker room, but Magic Johnson felt that his time to control the team had come.

The Lakers finally won two consecutive championships in 87 and 88 because in the 86 playoffs, young centers led by Hakeem Olajuwon began to rise, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was nearly 40 years old, was exposed as a scumbag. He finally admitted his aging and had to bid farewell to his core status and became an "ordinary" teammate next to Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson also shed his youthful arrogance, and the two finally got along well.

So, two consecutive championships.

Riley knows too well how a championship team operates and what changes will happen to the team after winning the championship.

He thought he had made a good move.

Because there is no possibility for young O'Neal and young Roger to live in peace.

The Lakers couldn't win three consecutive championships because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was too old, but they were able to win two consecutive championships because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was too old. If the two core players are both young and strong, it is difficult for them to truly coexist.

All Riley did was to light a fire among young people.

He admitted that he was talking nonsense, but he didn't believe that O'Neal had never been jealous of Roger at some point, and he must have hit the nail on the head on some emotional point in O'Neal's life.

And starting from tomorrow morning, all media will rush to report on their story.

Under the influence of public opinion, wouldn't there be suspicion between Roger and the shark? Impossible!
However, Roger and O'Neal were not affected at all.

This isn't a melodramatic TV show. The two protagonists could have made things clear to each other, but they kept it to themselves, and then the misunderstandings lasted for dozens of episodes, which made people feel itchy.

The reality is not so bloody. After Riley's speech, O'Neal immediately called Roger: "Hey, don't listen to that idiot's nonsense! I know you are not that kind of person. Don't affect your state of playing the game. Kill them for me! Only the Miami Heat, only that bastard Pat Riley, are unforgivable! If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be unable to play until now!"

Roger also told the Sharks: "I just don't want to intensify the conflict between you and the management, so I have never talked about your contract extension in public. Don't worry, I won't lose to Pat no matter who I lose to."

There was no problem between Roger and the shark, and Riley's plan did not succeed.

Or rather, his words were partially successful, he did arouse Roger's emotions and made Roger extremely angry.

On the afternoon before leaving for Miami, Roger was interviewed by reporters at the airport.

"Do you want to talk about something Pat Riley said about you?"

"Why not? Why should I avoid a shameless villain. He keeps saying that he is doing it for the players, but he never considers the health of the players. So who is the hypocritical liar? Riley tried to use such despicable means to influence our team. He chose the wrong path."

"So can you tell me something about Shaq's contract extension?"

"I don't know more than you do, but I'm sure the team will offer him a reasonable contract. The whole team knows he is part of the championship."

"One last question, will Pat Riley's comments affect your next game?"

"Of course, he irritated me, which will greatly affect the following games. Would you be happy if you were splashed with dirty water for no reason? No one can irritate me casually. If he dares to do so, he must bear the consequences of doing so."

After that, Roger got on the plane. During the whole interview, Roger did not smile.

Completely different from the carelessness he showed when dealing with Stackhouse, this time, Roger will definitely go all out!
That evening, on NBC's NBA special program "NBA Showtime," Bob Costa said bluntly: "Pat Riley's attack on Roger in this way was a serious strategic mistake. I know what Riley was thinking. He wanted to influence the minds of Roger and Shaq, and then take advantage of the Magic's two starting big men not being there to win again. Unfortunately, the master strategist made a wrong calculation this time."

The next day, The New York Times named the game "The Con Game" in response to Riley calling Roger "the con man".

The war of hypocrisy.

It doesn't mean that Roger is hypocritical, but that Roger came to Miami for the battle of revenge with the infamy of being a "hypocritical liar".

People believe that the high temperature brought by Roger's anger tonight will be more torturous than the heat wave in Miami.

Before the game, NBC sideline reporter Hannah Storm asked Riley: "Do you regret it? Roger didn't look happy all day."

Pat Riley dressed up beautifully as usual with a confident smile on his face: "Regret? Why? I am not standing here to make him happy, I am here to compete. His anger just means that I am right."

Hannah then interviewed Roger, who was very serious:
"He doesn't regret it now because he doesn't know the consequences of his actions yet, but he will know soon."

(End of this chapter)