Champions Creed

Chapter 167 Chapter 166: Others can just watch (ask for monthly votes!)
"Sir," Philip Harrison yelled sternly. This was the first time Roger saw his tough military style.

"Asshole, how could the education I gave you allow you to do such a thing! I give you three seconds, you'd better get out of your room and give your friend a hug! If you don't do that, don't force me to smash your door and break in! Three! Two! You will regret it, asshole!"

As he said this, Philip Harrison actually picked up a chair. Roger was about to stop him when O'Neill opened the door and walked out with his crutches.

O'Neill was not happy to see Roger: "What are you doing in my house?"

This was the first sentence O'Neill said to Roger after the "Bloody Vote" incident.

"look at you."

"No need, I will be back, MVP is a bargain for you."

Philip Harrison was very dissatisfied with his son's attitude. In his opinion, no matter what conflicts Roger and O'Neill had before, Roger's initiative to visit today was at least well-intentioned. He shouldn't be so rude in the face of other people's kindness.

"What you did is shameful. Roger is your brother. You have to respect the people around you. You must apologize to him."

"My brother won't wait in the locker room to kill me. My brother won't talk to me with a condescending attitude! My brother won't mock me after I was abandoned by the whole team! Who is he a brother!? He treated me like this just because I said some truth on a TV show?"

"Goodbye Shaq, I'm glad to see you're okay." Roger didn't waste any more words with Shark. There was no need. He turned around and left.

Anyway, Roger didn't come to make peace. He just wanted to make sure that O'Neal was okay, that's all.

"Wait, Roger, at least stay for dinner before you leave." Philip Harrison chased after him.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Colonel Harrison. However, I have an appointment tonight. Sorry, goodbye."

The monstrous roar of the Ferrari V12 engine echoed through the neighborhood and gradually faded away.

O'Neal returned to the room. Lucille, Shaq's mother, looked at her husband and shrugged: "He's a good kid. I remember when Odessa died, he stayed with Shaq for a long time. During that low period, he was one of the few people willing to speak up for Shaq. Why? Why did they have to fight like this?"

"We had dinner with that kid's uncle during All-Star Weekend in '95, remember?"

"Of course I remember. Look, they were like brothers at that time. I mean, Shaq and his uncle were like brothers. He even said he would introduce him to a girlfriend and everything."

"You asked me how many championships they could have won if they played together forever," Philip Harrison ignored his wife's joke and continued, "I answered you that people's ambitions will expand, especially young people. They are too young. That's the answer, dear. Why did it turn out like this? They are too young."

Harrison looked at Roger walking away and sighed.

Yes, they are too young, and they are too sharp.

This means that it is impossible for them to repair their relationship now, no matter who comes.

Not only is it irreparable, but it may not be long before they become each other's worst rivals.

Competitive sports are like this: one buzzer beater is buried by another, one legend is ended by another, and a would-be hero is replaced by another.

There is no capable young person who does not want to be a hero, but only wants to be an appendage of a hero.

They are not wrong, they.
Just too young.
-
When Roger drove back home, Spoelstra was bringing him a videotape.

Roger greeted him: "Thank you for your hard work Eric."

"It's all my job. By the way, Roger, there's something."

"what happened?"

Seeing Roger was not in high spirits, Spoelstra waved his hand and said, "It's okay. Keep up the good work. We have all seen your ability to lead a team alone."

After that, Spoelstra waved goodbye.

Roger felt that the boy must have something to tell him, but since he didn't want to say it now, he would do it next time.

Now, Roger really didn't have the mind to guess what Spoelstra was thinking.

All his thoughts are on the Utah Jazz.

This is the first opponent the Magic have to face after the Shark was injured.

This is also the first MVP candidate that Roger needs to face after the Shark was injured.

The Jazz reached the peak of their team's history in the 96-97 and 97-98 seasons, winning two consecutive runner-up titles and having more than 60 wins for two consecutive seasons. Their strength should not be underestimated.

In this history, the joining of African great Dikembe Mutombo has brought the Jazz's strength to a higher level.

Karl Malone really needs this kind of tank center to protect himself, because if he can avoid direct confrontation with the center position, Karl Malone can focus more on offense and assist defense.

So, Karl Malone needs Mutombo, just like LeBron James needs an outstanding perimeter defensive pioneer, a top three-point shooter, at least one teammate whose scoring ability is not inferior to his own, a center who focuses on rebounding and defense, a key player who can stand up at any time, and a master of melee combat.

There is no need to use too many words to elaborate on how strong the Utah Jazz are this season. It must not be easy for Roger to win the game.

But are they really going to give up the MVP race? Of course not. Besides, Roger doesn't want to ruin the record of not losing streak in a single season.

Roger was mentally prepared, and the team's winning rate would definitely decline. No matter how much you hate the shark, you can't deny his role. Similarly, the shark can't deny Roger's role.

However, it doesn’t matter if the winning rate drops, as long as the New York Knicks and Jazz don’t overtake us in the record.

The Magic currently have four more wins than the Knicks and five more than the Jazz. If they want to avoid being overtaken, then direct confrontations with these two teams are particularly important.

If they beat the Jazz, the gap between the Jazz and the Magic will be reduced to 6 games, which can buy them one more game of buffer space.

Without Shaq, it will be very difficult to deal with the Jazz.

But Roger knew what to do.

Cake, will continue to stay in Orlando.

On February 2, the entire Magic team appeared at the Triangle Center in Salt Lake City.

One advantage of playing away games in Salt Lake City is that the coach doesn't have to worry about the players fooling around the day before, and everyone will definitely focus all their energy on the basketball court.

There is a lack of entertainment and feasting in Salt Lake City. In this desolate land, there is only a group of white people who like to go to church and stare at you with solemn expressions.

This city, which is covered in snow for half of every season, is always the nightmare of every NBA player.

In Karl Malone's first year in Salt Lake City, his monthly phone bill was as high as $700 because he had nothing else to do except call his mother.

For Malone, who got a girl pregnant in college and had seen the fancy world, life in Salt Lake City was extremely boring.

However, compared with the peaceful Salt Lake City, the interior of the Triangle Center is a completely different world.

The Triangle Center has no high-tech configurations. The only feature is that the stands are designed to be very steep, making the entire arena look like a deep well. And this is almost the only place in Salt Lake City where you can have fun, so fans always release their long-suppressed enthusiasm here. Therefore, when the visiting team plays here, the boos from the Jazz fans can break your eardrums.

The Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City are like a divorced young woman, cold on the outside but extremely hot on the inside.

As soon as Roger entered the court, the entire Triangle Center was shouting, "No Shaq, no MVP! Karl, the real MVP!"

They used this to mock Roger, saying that he was only able to get the MVP award because of the Sharks.

Before the game started, a reporter asked Roger a few questions:
"Want to talk about Jim Gray? He said before that he wanted to see you fail, and now he thinks you've withdrawn from the MVP race. What do you think?"

"Why would I waste my breath on a delusional idiot?"

"So, how are you going to deal with the Utah Jazz without all the players?"

"Why don't you ask Shaq this question and hear his professional interpretation."

Roger knew that O'Neal was in the NBC studio at that moment.

After the injury, the Shark did not sit idle, but made a guest appearance as a sports commentator.

Although it is not a live commentary, studio commentators also need excellent eloquence.

Sure enough, the signal quickly switched back to the studio, and Shark pretended to wear a pair of glasses and faced the camera with a smile.

Studio host Matt Goukas repeated the question: "Shaq, how do you think the team will handle the Jazz without you?"

"I think Roger is going to go into the Jazz locker room and sell his wine and tell them this is their only chance to have championship blood because you can't win a championship.

When Jazz players like George Karl angrily smashed bottles on the ground but found that the bottles could not be broken, Roger would smile and tell them: See, you can't break the championship curse. In this way, the Jazz would make frequent mistakes on the court because they were too angry, Karl Malone would be so angry that he elbowed Roger and was sent off, and then Roger would win the game as easily as going downstairs to buy a bottle of Coke. "

Goukas was amused. God knows where he came up with the part about breaking the championship curse by breaking the bottle. If Shaq wrote a book, it would definitely sell well.

It is not difficult to see that if Shark retires in a few years and becomes a basketball commentator, he will at least be more successful than Magic.

Although O'Neal skipped this question with a joke, in the actual game, the difficult problem is not so easy to skip.

This game will definitely be a challenge for the Magic.

Before the game started, Roger shook hands and hugged the Jazz players.

Among them, Jeff Hornacek was the most enthusiastic about Roger.

Of course, when one adult is enthusiastic towards another adult, it usually means that they want something.

"Roger, can you sell me the jersey you're wearing after the game? My daughter is a fan of yours."

"Daughter?" Roger looked along the stands and found Abby Hornacek, who was only three years old.

A three-year-old girl may not understand basketball, but she definitely knows whether a person is good-looking or not.

It's no surprise that Roger has such fans.

"There's no way I could sell it to you," Roger replied.

Jeff Hornacek was a little embarrassed. He had heard that Roger was difficult to get along with and was a jerk, but he didn't expect that he was such a direct jerk.

"If you really need it, I can give your daughter a jersey and sneakers, and I will sign them myself. How can I let you spend money on this kind of thing, Jeff? It's my honor to be loved by your lovely daughter."

Jeff Hornacek couldn't believe his ears. Who said Roger was a jerk? He was clearly a good guy!
Soon, the game began and Mutombo won the ball for the Jazz.

The game had high ratings because it was a direct dialogue between MVP candidates and another challenge to the Magic's record of "no losing streak in a single season."

The Jazz attacked, Karl Malone went directly to the low post and leaned on Derek McKay to get the ball. There is no doubt that the Jazz's focus today is to attack the inside. In the last game, the Rockets' Big Three won by relying on the crazy attack on the inside without the Shark.

Stockton passed the ball to Malone, and the Magic immediately double-teamed him. Karl Malone passed the ball back to Stockton, who took the ball and drove into the mid-range position, where he was met with Roger's backup defense.

Seeing this, Stockton immediately passed the ball to Hornacek.

Hornacek took the ball and shot, but what greeted him was not a goal, but Roger's timely interference!
Roger's save on Stockton just now was not that fierce. His main defensive target was still the Jazz's second scoring point, Hornacek.

So the moment Stockton passed the ball, Roger immediately chased back.

Due to Roger's interference, Hornacek missed the three-pointer.

Roger's main goal on defense today was to lock down Hornacek.

It is foreseeable that the Magic will have a hard time stopping Karl Malone tonight. In this case, let Karl Malone fight alone.

Harper was responsible for harassing Stockton, and Roger was responsible for dealing with Hornacek.

Karl Malone? His scoring might kill a game, but how does it compare to Roger's firepower?
The Magic allowed Karl Malone to score, but kept him isolated.

One round later, Utah Jazz's strong defense made Roger's first attack miss.

The person who is responsible for facing Roger today is Brian Russell, the famous "last shot" background board.

Roger moved to the left and took a drifting shot, but Brian Russell's black elbow and the interference from the African mountain made Roger lose his aim, and the basketball hit the right side of the basket and bounced out.

This is the Jazz's defense. They have a tall tower that can protect the basket and an outside line that is accustomed to rough confrontation.

There is no singing and dancing on the basketball court in Salt Lake City, only rough confrontation and fierce fighting. Their black elbows and iron knees on the defensive end have almost displeased all the players in the league.

Seeing Roger miss the shot, the commentator expressed his opinion: "This is the impact of not having a shark. If there was a shark, Mutombo would never have dared to walk out of the basket. But now, Mutombo can appropriately expand his defensive range to limit Roger."

The Jazz immediately counterattacked. John Stockton pushed across half court and waved to Malone to come up for a pick-and-roll, but this was just a cover.

On the other side where no one was paying attention, Hornacek had already gotten outside the three-point line with the help of center Mutombo's off-ball screen.

With all the attention on Stockton and Malone, Stockton quickly passed the ball to Hornacek, who fired for the second time in a row.

But as soon as the basketball left his hand, Roger slapped it away!

Roger kept close behind Hornacek and he put in a lot of enthusiasm on the defensive end.

This time, due to inertia, Roger blocked Hornacek and couldn't stop in the air and knocked him down directly.

Looking at Hornacek lying on the ground, Roger said coldly: "Don't shoot anymore. Don't continue to embarrass yourself in front of your daughter. You can't make a single shot."

Hornacek just thought Roger was a good person, but Roger showed him his asshole side again.

Which one is the real Roger?
It's all real Roger.

He can be a good person when you are not in competition with him.

But when there's competition, Roger's a jerk.

The Magic team counterattacked, and Roger directly broke through Brian Russell after receiving the ball, but Karl Malone immediately assisted in defense and blocked Roger's breakthrough route.

Roger did not let the attack stop. He knocked the ball to the ground with one hand, and the basketball passed by Karl Malone and was given to Derek McKay.

McKay took advantage of Mutombo not having time to retreat to the basket and dunked with one hand to score the first point!

Roger high-fived Mackay and went back to biting Hornacek. "Jeff, it's damn good to see you again. It's a pleasure to hunt you because there's nothing you can do!"

Hornacek gnashed his teeth, he must teach him a lesson today.
My own daughter!
Why does she like this bastard!
What would happen if she brought a boyfriend like this home in the future?

Roger had no problem with Hornacek, he just wanted to mess with that guy's mentality. If a shooter's mentality is broken, his shooting percentage will also be broken.

In this round, Stockton and Malone finally used the UCLA 1-4 pick-and-roll, but Malone missed the mid-range shot.

Mutombo grabbed the rebound and prepared to force a shot under the basket.

But just as he raised the basketball, Roger chased in from the outside and blocked the African Mountain's layup.

It was Roger again, and he changed the course of the game.

The first quarter has just begun and Roger has already contributed two blocks!
But the show was not over yet. Soon, Roger started from outside the three-point line and faced the rough defense of Brian Russell, and made his signature turnaround jump shot.

Karl Malone and Mutombo firmly occupied the advantageous rebounding position, but in the end the basketball went into the net!

For Roger, scoring may be the easiest and simplest part of the basketball court.

Two blocks, a quick pass, and a score. Even without the Shark, Roger can now influence the game in all aspects with his own abilities!
The fans in Salt Lake City were like a group of frightened hedgehogs, curled up in their seats, watching Roger punch hard and shouting angrily: "You don't have MVP because of me!"

Fans in Salt Lake City all realized that Roger would not withdraw from the MVP race because he was an MVP-level player with or without O'Neal!
What did O'Neal say when he had an argument with Roger before?

"I will be back. You got the MVP for free."

That's right, in Shark's concept, the MVP is either himself or Roger. If he is not there, there is only one answer for the MVP: Roger gets a bargain.

Even if Roger was an asshole, O'Neal still couldn't deny the fact that Roger was closer to the MVP. After all, the league's rules didn't say that assholes couldn't win the MVP.

On the contrary, most of those who get MVP are assholes!
The shark in the studio couldn't help but interrupt: "Some people say that he has withdrawn from the MVP competition? No, by losing me, Roger has lost his biggest competitor. So, it is easier for him to get the MVP. Others? Ha, just wait and see. Without Shark Daddy, none of you can stop him."

Gu Okas on the side smiled. It seemed that Shark was bragging about himself, but in fact, it was also a recognition of Roger's ability.

The magician was right. No matter how big the conflict between these two people was, one thing would not change.

They never doubted each other's abilities on the basketball court.

The only ones who could bring these two complacent people to failure are probably each other.

(End of this chapter)