Champions Creed

Chapter 165 Chapter 164: This is your championship curse! The distance to MVP? (Monthly ticket requested!)
After returning to Orlando, Roger felt much better.

The biggest advantage of Orlando, besides its many princesses, is probably its great climate.

Roger prefers warmer places; he hates the cold and deadness of winter.

In Orlando, you can hardly feel the presence of winter.

In such a comfortable environment, Roger also met an opponent he was looking forward to.

The day before the game against the Supersonics, Roger accepted an exclusive interview with NBC after training.

He told reporters: "I have prepared a special Christmas gift for George. I will bring it to the game tomorrow. Don't worry, George. I will never let this happen again. You don't have to be nervous."

Roger's annoyance with George Karl has reached a "red line value".

To be honest, the Sonics still have little hope of winning the championship this season. Even under the suppression of the Utah Jazz and the Rockets Big Three, they don't even have a great chance of making it to the finals.

In other words, the Magic and the Supersonics are not real rivals and can completely keep to themselves.

But George Karl is looking forward to the Magic's demise like a kid looking forward to the fireworks at Disneyland, and has repeatedly said things like "I'd happily drink to the Magic's demise." He has openly gloated over the Magic's troubles.

You know, even Roger's arch-rival coach Pat Riley never made any gloating remarks.

This is like having a neighbor who keeps saying things like, "Your car got hit this month? That's great." How could he not be annoying?
Roger is very annoyed with George Karl now. Finally, he can have a good time with him offline this time!

On December 12, the defending runner-up Seattle SuperSonics returned to their sad place again.

Orlando Magic, once they see that ice blue, all the Sonics players will recall the feeling of powerlessness when they lost the finals last season.

Looking back at last season’s finals now, we can see that almost every game was a crushing victory.

Although the Supersonics caused some trouble for the Magic in Game 3, they still couldn't change the outcome of being crushed.

It can be seen that the Sonics players were not in high spirits before the game.

It was not only because of the Magic's strength that made them despair, but also because the Supersonics themselves were in trouble.

Because of contract issues, Rainman Kemp played absent-mindedly this season.

You might say that Kemp's scoring average is only one point lower than last season, which is not a decline.

But the fact that he averaged lower points per game despite taking more shots is very telling.

This season, Kemp resolutely gave up his gambling habit and focused on wine and sex, eating, drinking and having fun every day.

These two things are the most corrosive to the human body.

Although only Kemp had problems, it affected the enthusiasm of everyone on the team.

You have to know that on the Magic side, O'Neal and Roger just have a strained relationship, but both of them will still play hard on the court.

But on the Sonics side, the team's number two player simply chose to lie down. How could anyone believe that the team can achieve results?

You expect George Karl to calm down Rain Man? He should be thankful that he doesn't fight with his own players. You might as well expect Shaq to practice three-point shooting than expect him to calm down his own players.

George Karl waits to watch the Magic's excitement every day, but in fact his own team is also full of crises.

Before today's game, a sideline reporter asked Roger what gift he had prepared for George Karl.

Roger kept it a secret: "You'll know after the game is over."

This game is basically a remake of last season's finals.

Considering that in the summer of 1996, the Supersonics spent tens of millions of dollars to sign 216 cm center Jim McIlwain, who averaged only 3.8 points per game, the Supersonics basically had no effective reinforcements.

I can understand that the Sonics need a blue-collar center over 210 cm to consume the Sharks, but this behavior is like the family needs a car with a large space to shelter from the wind and rain, but you get a Yadi back. Moreover, this Yadi is as expensive as a car!

So, just like the way the Supersonics were beaten by the Magic last season, the same process will occur this season.

They have absolutely no means of counterattack.

In the first quarter, Roger easily scored 13 points in a single quarter.

Facing the pseudo-zone defense of the Supersonics, Roger still tortured Payton from the outside. After gaining weight, Roger made it even more difficult for Payton to resist. Who would have thought? Although it has been a season, Payton's DPOY gold content can still drop!

In the second quarter, George Karl couldn't stand Roger's easy scoring, so he began to adopt a pressure strategy against Roger.

What awaited the Supersonics were consecutive goals from Dominique Wilkins.

Wilkins scored 10 points in the second quarter, all of which came from mid-range jump shots.

After playing for the Magic for two months, the bad habits of superstars have become less and less.

He is now an important defensive force on the Magic's front line and is always very committed on defense. Although he still cannot restore the Magic to the defensive level of the previous two seasons, at least he will not become a weakness on the team's defense.

On the offensive end, in addition to the transition period, Wilkins is also used to playing without the ball, and his assists have reached a career high. In addition, he is no longer obsessed with dunks, and chooses more mid-range and three-point shots.

So far this season, Movie Highlight has averaged 13.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, playing the role given to him by the Magic very well and steadily sweeping up the leftovers left by Shark and Roger on the offensive end.

He can definitely be called an excellent role player.

When he is in good form, leaving him alone is a very dangerous option.

In the second quarter, Wilkins taught the Supersonics a lesson.

Corresponding to Wilkins' 10 points in a single quarter was Roger's 4 assists in a single quarter.

Of Wilkins' five goals, four were assisted by Roger.

Roger's passing is more fluent and accurate this season. With a large amount of game videos and experience, Roger is no longer the pure scorer who did not give Pippen any assists in a single season.

After four seasons in the NBA, his ability to read the game has not stagnated.

With the help of Spoelstra, Roger has a special video screening room at home, which has three huge bookcases to store videos.

In the words of Saroo: "It's like a library in there!"

All these efforts allow Roger to find his teammates faster and more accurately on the offensive end.

At the end of the first half, Roger scored 20 points and 6 assists, and Wilkins scored 14 points in the first half.

The Supersonics were already 12 points behind.

The highlight of the film, who performed well, became the subject of an interview with reporters at halftime: "As long as we play the right offense around Roger, we can handle any defense."

The reporters were stunned for a moment, unable to believe that such words would come from the aloof Wilkins. Moreover, it was Wilkins who was picked up by the collar by Roger in the pre-season training camp.

Because this was Wilkins' compliment to Roger.

In fact, the "bloody vote" incident did not have all negative effects. At least now, everyone except the Sharks is willing to follow Roger. In the third quarter, Roger continued to control the offense.

It's really in control of the offense.

Because he not only scores points himself, but also assists his teammates to score.

Before, fans may not have a very intuitive feeling of Roger's improvement. But when Roger met the SuperSonics, his opponent in the finals last season, everyone could intuitively feel that Roger played smarter.

He will not miss any opportunity to score personally, nor will he miss any opportunity to help his teammates.

Last season, he still had the problem of not having a wide enough vision in passing the ball, but this season, he is like both a commander and a soldier charging into battle.

He is not only a deadly scorer, but also a deadly passer.

Of course, Roger cannot really be an organizer yet, and his ability in this regard cannot be compared with pure point guards such as Kidd and Stockton.

But the theory that "Roger can't pass the ball" has completely failed.

In the last 32 seconds of the third quarter, Roger dribbled the ball through Payton's defense, drove straight into the basket.

The Supersonics immediately shrank back, and Sam Perkins very smartly stood in front of O'Neal. He knew that Roger liked to connect with O'Neal in the cramped space inside.

In addition, other Supersonics players also cut off the passing routes as much as possible, forcing Roger to face off against many opponents.

The only person who was completely left open was Dominic Wilkins, who was lurking in the right corner. Schrempf, who was responsible for defending Wilkins, felt that Roger could not possibly spot a teammate standing so far away.

As expected, after Roger jumped up, he did not pass the ball. Instead, he turned in the air, trying to get past Payton and make a layup.

But it was useless, Kemp was already waiting behind Payton. Roger might be able to pass Payton, but it was impossible for him to pass two people in the air at the same time, right?

The Supersonics are very confident in this defense!

Roger's body had already rotated 180 degrees in the air, and Kemp was ready to bleed at him as soon as Roger turned around.

But at this moment, Roger twisted his waist and abdomen forcefully in the air, overcoming inertia to stop turning, and twisted his body back in the other direction, which was equivalent to completing a difficult half-turn fake move in the air! While doing this series of actions, he threw the ball through the crowd to Dominic Wilkins who was separated from him in the distance!

Schrempf rushed forward. He really didn't expect that Roger could still find Wilkins' position in this situation.

Last season, there was no way Roger would have found Wilkins with this ball!
Roger can now see any opportunity to score!

Wilkins received the ball and shot, and then the three-pointer went into the pocket!
The score difference was widened to 21 points!
After the ball went in, the Sonics players had dejection written all over their faces.

In last season's playoffs, the SuperSonics were still fighting hard until the fourth game.

But this season, the bad locker room atmosphere has made them lose the determination to face difficulties.

George Karl was still yelling: "Your defense is shit, no, worse than shit!"

He had no idea what was going on, he had no idea that the Supersonics were in a worse situation than the Magic.

At this point, in just three quarters, Roger had already scored a double-double of 29 points and 10 assists. This was the fifth time this season that Roger had achieved a double-double of points and assists.

And today, he defended Payton so that he only scored 11 points.

Roger's progress has reached a point where it cannot be ignored.

After this goal, the Supersonics had no chance anymore and the fourth quarter became complete garbage time. In the end, the Magic won 104-88.

With Roger's dominant performance, the Magic won even more easily than last season!
Everyone thought that Roger's gift to George Karl was 29+10 data in three quarters and this humiliating defeat.

But after the game, under the watchful eyes of the live camera, Roger had someone bring out a bottle of red wine from the locker room, and he gave it to George Karl.

"Here's your Christmas present, George. Try it."

George Karl was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Roger actually prepared a gift for him.

This is Roger's own brand of red wine. Currently, there are two versions of Truth 14 brand red wine, the regular version is called "Champion Blood" and the more luxurious collector's edition is called "Dynasty Feast". One is responsible for volume, and the other is responsible for improving the brand's status.

The bottle that George Karl got is "champion blood."

George Karl accepted Roger's gift. He thought Roger just wanted to use the opportunity to promote his wine brand, so he didn't think much about it. After all, he really loved drinking red wine, so he didn't want to refuse it.

But it was not until Roger was interviewed that people knew his true intention.

"I wanted to make up for the bottle of wine that Coach George Karl wasted when he opened it early on Christmas Day to celebrate our breakup, and that was his only chance to have championship blood.

It is well known that George lacks championship genes. Even if he becomes a coach with 1,000 wins one day, he is very likely to never win a championship. At least when I was still in the league, he couldn't even think about it! He always talks about the championship curse, and never winning a championship is his championship curse!

Admit it, he's just not cut out for it."

For Roger, basketball is a dusty battlefield. Many principles of the battlefield can be applied to basketball, such as command, courage, strategy, and strength.
The only difference is the stakes. The stakes on the battlefield are lives, but on the basketball court, the stakes are dignity!

The loser will naturally have his dignity trampled upon!
Roger severely humiliated George Karl as punishment for gloating over the Magic's troubles.

After George Karl learned what Roger said in the interview, he was so angry that he threw the red wine Roger gave him to the ground at the press conference. He was embarrassed to find that the bottle did not break.

It can be seen that Roger's wine brand uses very conscientious materials in its packaging. Even if you don't drink, considering the security in the United States, you can buy a bottle for self-defense.

George Karl's action of smashing the wine bottle was an unexpected advertisement.

Seeing that the wine bottle was intact, George Karl was so angry that his face turned red: "He can't decide whether I can win the championship! No one can decide whether I can win the championship! Jim Gray is right, I really want to see the look of that arrogant guy when he fails!"

In any case, Roger achieved his goal.

He humiliated George Karl and also used the opportunity to promote his own wine brand, which was definitely better than spending millions of dollars on advertising.

However, the hottest topic after this game was not George Karl or Roger's wine.

The next day, Sports Illustrated once again featured Roger on its cover.

The title raises a question that many people are concerned about: "In the fourth season of his career, after his defense and organizational skills have evolved comprehensively, how far is the more dominant Roger from his first MVP trophy?"

First the championship, then the scoring champion.

Now Roger even has a chance to snatch the MVP from Jordan.

That's right, the stakes on the basketball court are dignity.

Michael Jordan asked the team to send Roger away for the sake of dignity.

But at that time he would never have thought that he would lose more because of this.

The headline of Sports Illustrated drew people's attention to the MVP, which seemed to be telling all MVP candidates that they must be extremely careful when meeting Roger recently.

(End of this chapter)