Champions Creed

Chapter 142 141: One on one, it’s useless even if DPOY comes (ask for monthly ticket!)

The scene that Sonics fans long for: Shaq and Roger fall out, causing the team to collapse, DPOY takes the opportunity to lock down the scoring leader, and the Sonics defeat the defending champions and slap everyone in the face.

All of this. None of it happened!

At the end of the first half, the Magic led by 54 points, 46 to 8.

The Sonics' terrifying front-line double-teaming did not have much impact on Roger and the Shark.

Payton and Rainman's offense was even more ineffective.

In the first half of the game, the person who posed the greatest threat to the Magic was Jordan's senior at North Carolina, Sam Perkins.

He hit three three-pointers in the second quarter and even beat Grant in the low post.

Although Sam Perkins' shooting posture is very strange and slow, just like an ancient slingshot, countless NBA players have proven that there is no necessary connection between efficiency and shooting posture.

It was the North Carolinians helping the North Carolinians. Sam Perkins, who was also from North Carolina, helped George Karl save some face, at least preventing the team from losing too badly in the first half.

But Sam Perkins is just a role player after all. He can help the team save some face, but he can't completely turn the situation around.

The most valuable part of his outstanding performance was that he helped Rain Man pull Grant out so that Rain Man could challenge O'Neal one-on-one.

But Payton and Kemp failed to take advantage of this opportunity to open up space.

Kemp played pick-and-roll with Payton frantically, hoping to deal with the Shark by cutting in.

But the Magic Shark's agility was not bad, and Kemp did get some opportunities, but they were not enough to kill the game under O'Neal's defense.

In fact, Kemp's playing style can somewhat restrain the Shark, because the Rain Man prefers to face the basket and his shooting range can extend to the mid-range.

According to O'Neal's character of squatting in the toilet and not being able to fight to death, Rain Man should have an easy time.

But Shark really wanted to win a FMVP, and he didn't want to leave any bad impression on those bastards who voted.

So he actively followed Kemp throughout the game, leaving Kemp's brute force and mid-range shots useless.

As for Payton himself, he shouted before the game that he would beat Jordan and Roger, and as expected, he pooped a big shit.

Under the entanglement of Ron Harper, Payton completely lost his offensive rhythm and his personal scoring performance was terrible.

Well, DPOY is the best defensive player, not the best offensive player, and you can't ask too much of his offense.

But Payton's defense failed to completely contain Roger.

He is undoubtedly one of the best defensive guards of the 90s, and even one of the top five defensive guards of all time.

However, he could at most lower Roger's shooting percentage, but he couldn't do what he did against Stockton, which was just like stuffing the ball directly into poor Stockton's mouth.

The Sonics' defense was still effective, and neither O'Neal nor Roger's offense was arbitrary.

But their scoring efficiency is still higher than that of the Supersonics, and their hit rate has not been lowered enough.

So, after a busy and exhausting period, the Supersonics found that they had not led for even a second at halftime.

You can imagine how angry this originally ambitious team was at this moment.

After the half, Roger, who had 16 points in the first half, waved to Payton and said, "I'm sorry that you, a virgin in the finals, have such a bad first experience. Don't be discouraged Gary, I'll try to be gentle in the second half."

Of course, the whole world knows that being gentle is the biggest lie men tell.

The arrogant Payton was so angry that his mouth was twisted. As the best defensive player of this season, his performance in the first half was completely embarrassing.

Entering the locker room with an 8-point deficit, George Karl predictably roared again: "You are a bunch of fucking losers! Why can't your rotation be faster? Why can't you be more aggressive? This is the fucking finals! You can't just lie there like a whore and wait for the Magic to have their fun so you can pull up your pants and leave!"

"Shut up, George. There's no way we can kill two people at the same time! This is a basketball court, not your cramped old people's room!" Payton bluntly contradicted George Karl.

George Karl is a coach who dares to challenge star players, but Payton is also a famous locker room lawyer - referring to those players who like to strongly oppose the coach in the locker room and fight for their so-called reasonable rights.

To be honest, it's a miracle that these two people have been able to work together for so many years.

From 1991 to now, George Karl and Payton have had countless arguments.

Payton once expressed his love for George Karl on his radio show: "One day out of every two days, I want to kill George."

George Karl was also the first to mention Payton in his Hall of Fame speech: "To be honest, sometimes you are my nightmare."

Their exchanges were peppered with profanity and greetings to each other's immediate family.

However, perhaps what has allowed them to get along for so long is that they are essentially the same kind of people.

They are all thorny because of their strong personalities.

They can always lead their teams to many wins, but they are always one or two steps away from the most convincing victory.

They also knew that the bastard in front of them was their best partner.

Therefore, their quarrel has not affected their normal cooperation for the time being.

George Karl quickly responded: "Okay, then in the second half, each of you will take a white towel and go on the court, and then tell the sideline reporter that you can't defend Roger and Shaq at the same time, so just surrender!"

"I really want to shoot you fucking, but I don't want to argue with a fool like you right now. Listen, instead of letting Roger and Shark go crazy at the same time, we can try to lock one of them down. That way, we still have a chance to win."

George Karl showed a look of approval: "You defend Roger, the No. 2 will assist in defense, and the other three will focus on shrinking the restricted area to deal with Shark! If Shark receives the ball, surround him immediately. If Roger breaks through, shrink as well!"

Helping defense at the No. 2 position is a false proposition, because Harper and Salu will definitely help Roger pull the No. 2 position away, and they will never stand on the same side with Roger on the offensive end.

So if the Sonics' forwards don't help defend Roger, then in the second half, Payton will actually have to defend Roger alone.

George Karl was of course well aware of Roger's abnormal one-on-one ability, but why did he use this strategy? Because the Sonics' inside players were too short, allowing O'Neal to play one-on-one was simply giving away points. And the difficulty of playing one-on-one under the basket is completely different from that of playing one-on-one on the outside.

Therefore, George Karl asked the whole team to play illegal defense and set up a castrated zone defense. When Shark received the ball, they could shrink and double-team Shark at any time. When Roger broke through, they could shrink and double-team Roger at any time.

Under the illegal defense rules, the Sonics naturally couldn't really set up a zone defense. But with the speed of their forwards, this castrated zone defense could also work.

That is to say, Roger will only have one-on-one chance with Payton outside the restricted area. Whether passing the ball to the Shark or breaking through, the Magic will be in a difficult situation.

After all, George Karl has the best defensive player and the best defensive guard in the league. Moreover, Roger has to rely on shooting to solve the problem. So as long as Payton can continue to lower Roger's hit rate, the Magic's offense will be curbed.

Payton defended Roger alone, while the others focused on strangling the penalty area.

This seems to be the optimal solution.

Seeing that George Karl also agreed with this strategy, Payton stood up: "I know I can't lock that guy. But what I can promise is, brothers, I will not leave that bastard Roger for a single step in the second half! I will do my best to consume him and interfere with him! Maybe they will win, but we have to tickle them, beat them, and do our best!"

That's why Sonics backup guard Vincent Askew once told reporters, "If I had to pick someone to be my teammate in the most important game of my life, I'd pick Gary Payton, because he's fearless."

He is fearless.

He chose to take the initiative to defend perhaps the best one-on-one player on the planet.

In the second half, he will be a lone hero.

Some lone heroes stand alone in a half court, waiting for the pass from their teammates.

Some lone heroes choose to stand in front of the opponent's sharpest spear, and block it even with their flesh and blood.

The entire Supersonics team was motivated, and Payton's emotions infected everyone.

George Karl felt that his strategy would definitely work. No matter how strong Roger was in one-on-one situations, it was impossible for him to beat the DPOY directly, right?
At the start of the second half, the Orlando Arena completely turned into a blue ocean. For them, the finals seemed like a carnival before winning the championship. They had already ended the biggest suspense of the Chicago Bulls, and now they were just reaping the victory.

O'Neal is also ready to play a big game. He played well in the first half, with 14 points and 6 rebounds. If he keeps up the good work in the second half, he will be closer to the FMVP trophy.

However, the first goal in the second half was scored by the Supersonics who wanted to fight back. Rain Man scored a mid-range shot over the shark's head after cutting out. This was his most effective way to deal with the shark.

But O'Neal didn't care about the goal, he thought he could return it on the offensive end soon.

The Shark actively approached Sam Perkins in the low post and raised his hand to ask for the ball, and Harper steadily lobbed the ball in.

But the moment O'Neal got the ball, three people immediately surrounded him.

The shark skillfully passed the ball to Roger, trying to lead the encirclement towards Roger, just like he did in the first half.

But after passing the ball, the Shark found that the Supersonics' defense line did not completely expand outward and tilt towards Roger.

In addition to Perkins, who was responsible for matching himself, the other three players still stayed as close to the restricted area as possible, but did not completely lose their matchups. This was on the edge of illegal defense, setting up a position similar to a zone defense.

"Damn, this is a zone defense!" Brian Hill could see at a glance that George Karl was playing a dangerous game.

He asked assistant coach Spoelstra to complain, but as expected, the referee ignored it.

O'Neal was very embarrassed under this kind of defense, and the double team defense would make it difficult for the big center to attack.

In fact, in this era where no one can shoot three-pointers accurately, zone defense will make it difficult for everyone to attack.

Gary Payton opened his arms and stared at Roger in front of him. As long as he could deal with him, he could win the game!

"You're going to regret saying so much nonsense in the first half. I'm Gary Payton."

"Oh, is that a very impressive name? I've only been in the first round twice. You're so impressive, you should have been in more than me, right? What, you've never been in the first round?"

"I've never been in a team, but I'll make you the worst team in history!"

Roger didn't say any more nonsense, he put the ball down and prepared to attack.

It looks like DPOY is ready to strangle himself from the outside.

If he breaks through, he will be trapped instantly. Pass the ball to the outside? This is 1996, and role players have no stable response ability on the outside.

The shooters of this era are not the same as those of later generations. Steve Kerr is accurate, right? But in fact, he has never averaged more than 1.5 three-pointers per game in his entire career. In the original 96 Finals, his three-point shooting percentage was only 18%.

What's more, the only player on the Magic side who has stable three-point shooting ability is Salu.

Pass the ball to the Sharks? He'll get double-teamed, too.

Therefore, Roger can only score on the outside facing the DPOY's defense.

Roger took a step to the left, but immediately retreated, creating a little space for the shot. He shot and made it.

Payton's fingertips almost blocked the ball, but only almost.

Roger scored easily over the DPOY's head!

"I don't know if I'm the worst player in the first round, but you're definitely the worst DPOY."

The Supersonics fell behind by 8 points again, and then Sam Perkins' treble three-pointer missed, which forced them to face the risk of the score difference widening to double digits.

Roger continued to face Payton, but O'Neal raised his hand again for the ball.

It seems that the Shark was very unwilling to accept the result just now. After the ball was lobbed in, as expected, he was immediately double-teamed, and he was unable to score even with a strong shot surrounded by multiple people.

Roger won't just not pass the ball to the shark, but will let the shark know why I shouldn't pass the ball to you.

Since they are leading now, Roger allows the shark to make mistakes for one or two rounds.

O'Neal felt very aggrieved. Why is there no one in this world who dares to let me fight one-on-one?
However, this is what centers, or inside players, have to face.

You have a bigger body, better strength, better height and a natural offensive position closer to the basket. You can't possibly demand the same one-on-one opportunities as a guard, right?
O'Neal cursed and Kemp grabbed the rebound and immediately passed the ball to Hersey Hawkins. Hawkins pushed back and scored a layup against Harper.

The Sonics made up for the deficit again, and George Karl waved his arms happily. It turned out that this double team defense had worked.

At least it's hard for the Magic to do anything in the interior.

Now, it depends on whether Roger can kill the DPOY from the outside!

Roger didn't hold back and quickly scored the second goal of the second half.

He played against Payton with his back to the basket, and Payton tried hard to resist. Every collision between the two of them caused a terrifying dull sound.

If this was Roger from the first two seasons, Payton would probably have the advantage in the confrontation.

But Roger, whose confrontation ability has greatly improved this season, made Payton a little overwhelmed.

After Roger pushed three times in a row, he finally seized the opportunity to push Payton away and turned around to make a direct jump shot!
Payton interfered closely, and O'Neal was ready for the second attack.

But the basketball drew an arc that made the Seattle people despair and fell straight into the net again!

DPOY's defense seemed as thin as a cookie in front of Roger!
"Gary, I admire your courage, but you don't have the strength. 20 years later, when people talk about the 1996 NBA, they will only think of the Eastern Conference Finals, because there was no suspense at all in the Finals."

"Roger, keep going!" Gary Payton did not back down.

After the counterattack, the Supersonics continued to control the overall situation, waiting for Rain Man to receive the ball in the mid-range through the off-ball screen.

Rain Man shook off the shark again, and Payton's ammunition was delivered quite timely.

But this time, Rain Man's mid-range jump shot hit the rim.

After all, Rain Man is not Jordan, nor is he Roger.

He's a good player, but not a Mount Rushmore player.

Do you expect him to carry the Sonics' offense with mid-range shots? Sorry, only Roger and Jordan can do this in the entire league.

"Damn it!" Payton cursed inwardly, and he suddenly felt powerless.

Facing the Magic's defense, the Sonics' offense seemed like a gamble in every round, and there was no stable offensive method at all.

In the regular season, the Supersonics were still able to score high points through counterattacks and team offense.

But in the playoffs where defense is at its peak, the ability to break through becomes particularly important, which is exactly what the Supersonics lack.

And this is exactly what Roger is good at.

Payton didn't have time to regret. He had to immediately adjust his mentality and focus on the defensive end, as the league's scoring champion was still waiting for him.

He tried to stay focused. The consecutive defensive failures had made him a little frustrated, but he had to put these negative emotions behind him.

Defense is a very psychologically demanding thing. To put it bluntly, even if you are the top defensive player, you must learn to continue to stay energetic and confident under repeated humiliation from the opponent.

Roger was also very focused. He lowered his center of gravity and assumed a cheetah-like hunting posture, ready to start the next round of killing.

Just when Payton thought Roger lowered his center of gravity and prepared to break through, Roger suddenly stopped, as if he was going to shoot.

Payton moved forward immediately. Roger had shown his amazing touch in the previous attacks. He could make the shot even with the slightest space, so Payton was quite sensitive to Roger's shooting.

Little did he know that at the moment when Payton's center of gravity moved forward, Roger accelerated to attack Payton's front foot and broke through directly!
Roger passed Payton easily.

DPOY was simply fooled by the scoring champion!
But the Sonics' zone defense was waiting for this moment. As soon as Roger stepped into the penalty area, he was immediately surrounded by Sonics players in dark green jerseys.

But Roger had already thought of a countermeasure. He jumped in the penalty area, looked at the shark, and passed the ball in the air.

Because the target of all the retreat this time was Roger, so when O'Neal received the ball, there was only poor Sam Perkins beside him.

Perkins had no choice but to hug the shark that had already jumped up, but it was too late. O'Neal had already smashed the ball in with the arm that had murdered two basketball hoops in the NBA!

The referee blew the whistle, and O'Neal looked at Perkins who was knocked to the ground and screamed to the sky.

Lying on the ground, Perkins looked up at the Shark who still completed the dunk after being hugged, and his expression was: "God, are you kidding me?"

It's broken. The strategy that George Karl thought would work has completely broken.

What broke all this was not some sophisticated counter-tactics, but simply because of Roger!

DPOY was beaten like a rookie who couldn't defend at all, but Roger was still able to lead the offense easily!
As for O'Neal, whenever there is only one person next to him when he receives the ball, it means that the defense has failed.

Steve Jones shook his head behind the commentary desk. Who could stop this duo? They were not the best duo of this season. They were definitely capable of competing for the strongest duo in history!
George Karl was certain that Roger and the Sharks would explode, but unfortunately, it seemed that this explosion would not explode in the 1996 Finals.

They are still connected and cooperating, and are still working together to kill the enemy.

If they can let Jordan die for two consecutive seasons, then everyone else will have to die too.

Of course, Roger can't pass the ball in a double-team every round, and he can't score a goal against Payton in every round.

But at least he proved that he still has a way to break this defense.

In the blink of an eye, the score difference was widened to double digits.

Although it was the Shark who scored the goal, Payton's self-confidence was greatly affected.

Because the first step for Roger to break into the restricted area and attract defense is to break through the DPOY's single defense.

He always thought he could handle Jordan and Roger. He always thought he was the only one in the league who could guard them.

But today, the cruel ending told him that he was not.

In the following games, Roger continued to torture Payton.

A pull-up shot after three threats from outside the three-point line.

The iconic turnaround jump shot went in.

The sideways jump shot after one dribble still went in.

Roger has so many weapons that they are almost never the same. The value of this season's scoring champion shines brightly under the DPOY's embarrassed posture!

"Japanese swords, Damascus knives, Malay kris swords...all the sharp things in this world are not as sharp as Roger!" Steve Jones sighed as he looked at the slaughtered Payton.

Roger and Shark continued to output, giving the Supersonics no chance to breathe, and the score gap became larger and larger.

Payton was completely unable to defend Roger, and the DPOY was publicly executed under the attention of the whole world. This is definitely the most tragic DPOY of the season in history.

When Payton is resting, the Supersonics will continue to send Nate McMillan, who has been a substitute in the second defense for two consecutive years, to guard Roger. George Karl hopes to use such a rotation game to consume him.

But his ending was even more miserable. In the third quarter, Nate McMillan, who was hailed as "If Gary is the heart of the team, then Nate is the soul of the team", fought until his back injury recurred, but still could not stop Roger from continuing to penetrate the defense.

Sitting on the bench, McMillan covered his face and cried bitterly.

Because after actually facing off against Roger, he immediately realized one thing: his dream of becoming a champion seemed very close, but in fact it was extremely far away.

Tonight, the whole world knows a fact - no one can defend Roger in a one-on-one situation. No matter if he is DPOY or defensive guard, as long as it is one-on-one, don't think about stopping Roger!
In the end, Roger scored 45 points with a hit rate of 37%!
Roger's shooting percentage was indeed lowered. Compared with 51.9% in the regular season, Roger's shooting percentage today dropped by almost 7%.

There were also 4 turnovers, all of which were directly related to Payton.

That's what DPOY is for.

But that’s about all the DPOY can do.

He can slightly lower Roger's hit rate, but this level of reduction will not affect the game at all!
George Karl's idea is correct, DPOY can limit Roger.

But the limiting effect was not as great as he expected.

超音速这边，佩顿抓下10个篮板送出6个助攻，但18投7中只拿了15分，命中率是惨淡的38%。

Rainman scored 26 points with a shooting percentage of 54%.

But O'Neal also scored 26 points, the difference is that the Shark hit rate was 64%. If it weren't for his poor free throws, the Shark could have joined Roger in the single-game 30+ club.

In terms of star matchups, the Supersonics were almost completely defeated.

So, let’s compare the performance of the role players.

The role players on both sides put too much energy into defense, so their offense was terrible, so it ended in a draw.

In this case, the huge gap between the two stars was reflected in the score, and the Magic defeated the Supersonics by 111 points with a score of 92 to 19!
This doesn't feel like a finals round at all!
Roger walked off the court, and the scoring champion who had beaten DPOY to a pulp threw the towel in his hand to the fans in the stands, causing a rush of scramble.

In the third year of his career, he is already a true superstar.

People believe that with three more games, he will add a second star to his career honor roll.

The arrival of the Roger era is unstoppable.

Years later, people will praise Gary Payton for his courage to keep going, but that won’t change the fact that he was a loser. —Steve Jones summed up at the end of the game.

As most media thought, there was not much suspense in this round of the finals. Yes, the Supersonics tried hard enough, but we should realize that the 96 Magic is one of the best teams in history, and Roger is one of the greatest players in history. ——Larry Miller, senior consultant of Reebok Basketball Department, who came to watch the game, said in an interview with reporters.

The worst DPOY and the worst second-team player in history, that's all the Sonics have. And the Orlando Magic? They have two real FMVPs, me and Roger. -- O'Neal answered the reporter with a smile.

There is nothing more painful than sitting on the bench and watching the team lose. -- Nate McMillan, the soul of the Supersonics, cried bitterly as he covered his face after his back injury recurred and he was unable to continue playing in the third quarter.

Roger has been doing this for the entire season. Aren't you used to it? In my mind, Roger is already the greatest player of all time. It's him who got me to this point and got me close to the championship. He's the kind of leader I'm willing to follow. - Sarunas Marciulionis on Roger's performance today.

As a coach, I can't ask for more. I just hope the team can regroup and play as well as possible. - George Karl accepted the interview in a very low-key manner, which was in stark contrast to his arrogance before the game.

He no longer said things like "we can win" and no longer fantasized about bursting the Magic bubble.

Because he himself knew how stupid he was before the game, actually fantasizing that he could easily defeat the Magic with some trivial tricks.

This is Roger's step to becoming a top player in the pyramid.

As for George Karl and his team, they are more like the humble steps under Roger's feet. He only needs to take three more steps to sit on the throne.

Will Roger trip over the step?

Only Supersonic himself knows this.

(End of this chapter)