Champions Creed

Chapter 174 Chapter 173: Does anyone plan their funeral in advance? (Seeking monthly votes!)

The words "winter is coming" fill the entire league with a suffocating sense of oppression.

Michael Jordan felt this deeply.

At this time, Jordan had just walked out of a casino in Atlantic City.

After the regular season ended, Jordan decided to give himself a day off and went crazy all night at the gambling table.

A few years ago, Jordan suffered a lot from gambling here, but he didn't intend to make any changes. He was not only passionate about gambling, but addicted.

Whenever he has time, he can't control his hands, just like those men who have been single for decades.

For ordinary people, a small pay raise is enough to make them happy.

But for someone like Michael Jordan, he needs some stronger stimulation.

Jordan was intoxicated by the thrill of losing money that an ordinary person would never earn in his entire life in one hand of cards, and then winning it back in the next hand.

He almost always gets great pleasure after playing cards all night.

But this time when he walked out of the casino, Jordan did not feel as happy as before.

He was preoccupied.

He still remembers the summer a year ago when he and Patrick Ewing walked out of the casino and saw the new sunshine. He was full of anticipation for the new season.

But after a year, this season was not as smooth as he had imagined.

After getting in the car, the personal assistant, whose face was already pale from working all the time, reminded Jordan of something: "David called again last night and asked if you had thought about that matter."

"Shit," Jordan took the cigar away from his mouth with an unhappy expression, "I really don't understand, is there anyone who would plan his own funeral in advance!?"

The "that thing" the assistant was referring to was Jordan's second retirement.

Nike and the Jordan team must be fully prepared for this. If Jordan wins, that's great. But if he loses and wants to retire, that's not something that can be done with just a few words.

They had to prepare for PR and a series of public opinion guidance. Was it because Michael Jordan decided to spend more time with his family? Or was it because Michael Jordan's legs were no longer able to bear the burden? How should they announce this?

You can’t just hold a press conference and say “I can’t beat Roger so I’m retiring, at the end of the day this is just basketball”.

But Jordan was annoyed by Nike and Falk's urging.

I haven’t lost yet!

Jordan frowned and didn't say anything, but was thinking about the question he had just asked: Would anyone plan his own funeral in advance?

Yes, there are, and quite a few.

Most people who know they are about to die plan their own funeral.

And now Jordan is like a man whose time is up.

Even though he beat the Magic in that late-season game, that doesn't mean anything.

If things go badly this year, Michael Jordan will most likely win nothing, either personal honor or the highest honor.

In terms of scoring title, Jordan lost to Roger for the second time in a row.

He averaged 29.6 points per game this season, still strong, but Roger's 32.8 points are too dazzling.

As the only player in the league averaging more than 30 points per game, Roger, the scoring champion, feels like he is far ahead of others.

In addition to the scoring title, Jordan felt that he had also lost the MVP title.

Although there is no unified standard for MVP, those damn media can even take away your MVP with just one sentence "aesthetic fatigue". In theory, Jordan is not out yet.

But Michael Jordan is not a three-year-old child. Roger's record is the best in the league, he won the scoring title, and he has an undefeated home record and no losing streak. All of these make Roger's chances of winning the MVP infinitely higher.

Although the Sharks participated in 50 of the unbeaten and losing streak records at home, it was not easy for Roger to keep this record in the last 30 games.

Jordan hasn't been this frustrated since the 90s.

Scoring title, MVP and championship, these are the three things Jordan must win every year. Although the three seasons after his comeback were not satisfactory, he was able to get at least one of these honors.

As a result, this season, Roger has no intention of keeping any for Jordan!

The scoring champion is gone, the MVP is gone.

If he fails to win the championship in the playoffs, this will be the season in which Roger completely defeats Michael Jordan!
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why Nike hopes that Jordan will retire if he loses.

The super basketball idol they spent more than ten years to create is about to become a stepping stone for Reebok and Roger.

Although Roger has now caused irreversible damage to Jordan's commercial value and divinity, there is at least a chance to stop the loss in time.

If Jordan continues to fight Roger like this, his situation will only get worse.

After all, Roger was only 21 years old, but Jordan was 34 years old.

Roger will get stronger and stronger, while Jordan will get weaker and weaker.

If the 34-year-old Jordan couldn't beat Roger, could the 35- or 36-year-old Jordan do it?

Thinking of this, Jordan really felt like a dying man.

That's why he didn't feel any pleasure after playing cards all night.

Michael Jordan looked out the car window and did not respond.

This summer makes the former basketball god feel particularly cold.

Winter is coming, and it’s not just talk.

Michael Jordan was worried about Roger's achievements, but Roger himself did not get complacent about winning the scoring title.

Because he knows that in the competition for historical status, the scoring title is the most useless. Some people have only won one scoring title, but they can still compete for GOAT.

Now Roger just wants to end this tiring season as soon as possible.

Winning three championships in a row was indeed too difficult, and even Roger felt exhausted. Not only was he physically tired, but he was also mentally tired.

You have to appease your teammates, compete with management, and carry the team on the court.

This is really not a job for humans.

Moreover, although he has never thought about it deliberately, Roger still hopes to end this season early and consider the future of himself and the Magic earlier.

It doesn’t mean that Roger will follow the Shaq if he leaves, but at least the team needs to have a future plan.

It’s not that Roger is unwilling to help the team rebuild, but the prerequisite is that it must be a team with a plan.

If the Magic only regard themselves as a guarantee of box office success and don't care about the results, then Roger doesn't want to waste his peak here.

The pace of the NBA is very fast. Just two days after the end of the regular season, the playoffs officially begin.

The first opponent of the Magic's dynasty journey is an old acquaintance, the Chicago Bulls, who they have met for the third consecutive season.

This season, the Bulls barely made it into the playoffs with a "brilliant" record of 38 wins.

Historically, the Cavaliers with 42 wins are already eighth in the Eastern Conference, but in this history, because the Washington Bullets do not have Webber and the Atlanta Hawks do not have Mutombo, these two teams have two vacant playoff spots.

The Cavaliers with 42 wins directly advanced to sixth place, while the Pacers with 39 wins and the Bulls with 38 wins just filled the seventh and eighth spots.

In order to prove himself, Scott Pippen really gave it his all this season.

Don't laugh at 38 wins. The Clippers in the Western Conference made it to the playoffs with 36 wins. People will never know the answer to the question "If Elgin Baylor had the No. pick, would he choose Duncan?"

This season, everyone has been working too hard for Duncan, and all teams with more than 35 wins are championship contenders.

Although the team made it to the playoffs, Reinsdorf and Jerry Krause now wanted to kill Pippen.

The team neither succeeded in tanking nor could it achieve a better record. In other words, this season was wasted.

They don't know why Pippen did that. Wouldn't it be better to have a conversation with Larsa about the true meaning of life? Why play so seriously?
Originally, Bulls fans were looking forward to Tim Duncan or Tracy McGrady. Jerry Krause even gave him a Bulls jersey with McGrady's name and number printed on it early on, which made fans have endless imagination about this kid whose "ceiling is definitely higher than Scott's."

But now, Chicago fans have become the earliest fans looking forward to the 1998 draft. Unless a trade is made, the Bulls will not be able to get a high draft pick this season.

For Pippen, there was no way he would accept a slump.

He has lived his entire career in the shadow of others.

First he lived in Jordan's shadow, and now he lives in Roger's shadow.

He just wants to use a season that truly belongs to him to tell the world that he can also achieve results by leading a team!
Even if the results are not as good as Roger and Jordan, at least it is not to the level of giving up badly.

If he can't even make it to the playoffs with his team alone, how can Pippen still have the nerve to be one of the top 50 superstars?
So he tried his best to bring the team to the eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

His ankle has always been injured, but he refused surgery and played with the injury in every game, dragging the Bulls forward a little bit.

Entering the playoffs with 38 wins is a joke to some fans, but to Pippen, it is a mixture of blood and tears.

Pippen also had another purpose for this move. He knew that the first place in the Eastern Conference would be either the Knicks or the Magic, so as long as he made it to the playoffs, he would definitely face one of Roger and Jordan.

He's going to play them himself in the playoffs!

Pippen certainly knew he couldn't win, and he only had one semi-reliable teammate beside him: Kukoc and Nick Anderson.

But Pippen just wanted to fight for his honor, and there was still a trace of pride left in his heart.

At the very least, he wants to prove himself with his personal performance that is not inferior to Roger and Jordan!
Pippen's wish came true. After going through untold hardships, he successfully stood in front of Roger.

Pippen's achievement will make some fans ecstatic in the future, because the Bulls' entry into the playoffs proves that Pippen still has a certain ability to lead a team. He proved that Michael Jordan does have an excellent helper.

But you can't say Pippen is the best small forward in the 90s, because Pippen can't be too strong.

It turns out that Pippen wasn't that strong after all.

First round G1, Orlando Arena.

The director was very sensible and gave the camera to Larsa, who came to the scene with Pippen. The director knew that whenever Roger and Pippen met, "Did Roger do it or not" was an enduring topic.

Scott Pippen stared at Roger with a sharp look. For him, today was even a good opportunity to win the game.

After all, Shark will return in the next game, and the Bulls' weak inside line has no possibility of stopping Shark.

Today is different. As long as we defend Roger well today, winning is not impossible.

Given the huge gap in hard power between the two teams, even if Pippen stole a victory, it would be enough to go down in history and be regarded as a hero.

So at the beginning of the game, Pippen was very serious on both offense and defense. He first turned around and made a jump shot under Wilkins' defense, and then intercepted Roger's dribbling on the defensive end and scored a fast break dunk.

Such a start gave Scott Pippen unlimited fantasies.

Can he beat Roger once in the playoffs? Of course he can!
Weird.

In fact, Scott Pippen passed away peacefully.

Because those two moves at the beginning were basically all of Pippen's highlights.

In the subsequent games, Pippen's performance on the offensive end was a mess because he consumed too much energy defending Roger throughout the game.

When it comes to scoring, there are only two criteria for judging a player - efficiency and output.

Pippen's offensive power is fine as a second-in-command, but if he is the leader, his efficiency is too low.

His touch was average to begin with, and after his hard defense, his touch became even worse.

But can Pippen get out of the defensive end? Absolutely not. If he doesn't defend Roger, the Bulls will only lose faster.

Toni Kukoc took on the heavy responsibility of scoring today, but the Europa Magician's firepower is limited after all.

Just two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Magic were already leading by 17 points.

The Bulls had a hard time preventing the game from entering garbage time, let alone winning.

Pippen's personal performance was also completely defeated by Roger.

He limited Roger's scoring, but not completely.

Roger still has 29 points so far, with a hit rate of 43%.

What can truly limit Roger is not a one-on-one outside defense expert, but a perfect defensive system.

In the NBA, you can't limit a player who has won the scoring title for two consecutive years by single defense.

But there was no one behind Pippen to protect him.

He no longer has Jordan or Rodman by his side.

As long as he loses defense, whether he can score a goal depends entirely on Roger's own touch.

Offensively, an exhausted Pippen couldn't even keep Wilkins steady.

The ankle injury affected Pippen's breakthrough speed, and many times he could only rely on mid-range jump shots to solve the offense.

And this is exactly the least efficient way for Pippen, whose touch has been exhausted.

Pippen worked hard for a season, but what happened? He completely humiliated himself in the playoffs!
In the sixth minute of the fourth quarter, after Roger scored another goal over Pippen's head, he was ready to leave the court.

Because the Magic team was already leading by 23 points, Roger also scored 37 points.

Even without Shaq, Pippen's Chicago Bulls never came close to winning.

This even made people clearly draw a conclusion: Pippen's ability to lead a team alone was completely defeated by Roger.

Bill Walton even said something outrageous: "I can now understand why Roger and Scott don't get along well. If it were you, would you be willing to be ordered around by someone who is far inferior to you?"

Pippen still didn't give up, he still wanted to do something.

At least get 20 points in a single game!

In this round, Pippen and Kukoc played pick-and-roll.

At this time, it was no longer Wilkins who was defending Pippen. Brian Hill had already sent Wilkins to rest early.

The person responsible for defending him was Anthony Powe, who was also very active in defense, but he was not as big as Wilkins and his wingspan was not as long. So after Pippen got over the screen, he had the space to shoot.

Pippen was about to take a jump shot when the ball was cut away from his hands.

Roger came up to defend in time after Pippen set the screen and snatched the ball away with quick eyes and hands.

Pippen immediately turned around and tried to grab Roger's jersey.

But in the end, his hand grabbed Roger's shorts. When Roger ran forward, his pants were pulled down by Pippen and Roger fell to the ground.

Roger quickly stood up and put his pants on.

But his spectacular sight in the corner has already been discovered by some sharp-eyed fans.

The director, who deserves a thumbs up, turned the camera back to Larsa, who showed an expression of surprise and a little envy.

This was the final buzzer beater against Scott Pippen.

Whether Roger did it or not may be the biggest unsolved case in NBA history.

But there was no doubt whether Larsa wanted to or not.

"There was a small accident on the court, but fortunately Roger was not wearing anything strange. Coach Brian Hill called a timeout, which announced the Magic's victory. All suspense about Scott Pippen and Roger was over." Bill Walton concluded.

In the end, the Magic won at home by 17 points.

After the game, Pippen sat on the bench, feeling despair.

He realized that he might never be able to prove that he was on the same level as Jordan and Roger.

Maybe, it wasn't originally.

It's the same old saying: Without Roger, the Chicago Bulls are nothing.

Yes, Pippen was full of passion before the playoffs. But even the passionate Sakuragi Hanamichi could not be passionate when he met Yao Ming. In the face of a huge gap in strength, even the most passionate blood would cool down.

In the second game of the series, O'Neal finally returned.

In the early stages of the game, Shark played very poorly and missed three consecutive shots in the Bulls' weak inside line.

The reason why O'Neal is in poor condition is that he is not very confident in his knees.

Even with thick protective gear on his legs, he couldn't feel safe.

This is the common mentality of players who have just recovered from a serious injury.

But as the game progressed and he gradually regained his feeling, Shaquille O'Neal became the unstoppable inside giant again.

Scott Pippen's single-game score still did not reach 20, while Roger and Shark combined to score 73 points.

The strongest duo in history, as described by Magic Johnson, announced their return with a powerful victory.

After the game, Bulls center Luc Longley was very frustrated: "If the two best players in a series are in Orlando, how can we win?"

This is a very insightful review.

Generally speaking, the two best players in a series will be on two different teams, that is, the star players of the two teams.

But now, no one thinks Scott Pippen can surpass either Roger or O'Neal.

Because the first round of the series was a best-of-five format, a 2-0 win almost sentenced the Bulls to death.

Reinsdorf was so angry that his blood vessels burst, and he yelled at home: "Trade him, get him out!"

He was referring to Scott Pippen.

Originally, the Bulls wanted to keep Pippen because they thought the team still needed a star to attract fans to the United Center to watch the game.

The first step in tearing down and rebuilding is tearing down. There are many things to tear down, you have to do it step by step, not too hastily.

Otherwise, the fans may not buy it and accidents may easily happen.

But now, Pippen, the idiot, destroyed the team's rebuilding plan and then made the team lose face in the playoffs.

Reinsdorf had had enough. He never wanted to see Pippen on the basketball court wearing a Bulls jersey again!

There was no need to play the third game at all. Pippen, who had lost all his fighting spirit, only scored 15 points in the third game, and the Bulls eventually lost shamefully by 47 points.

Roger and Shark went off the court to rest halfway through the third quarter, but Salu was in hot form and the Bulls really gave him opportunities.

The Bulls didn't want to play anymore, so they were absent-minded on defense. The more this happened, the more opportunities Saroo got.

So, 131 to 84, the Chicago Bulls made history.

They tied the 1986 Spurs for the second-worst single-game loss in NBA playoff history.

The first was in 1973 when the Lakers, which had Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, slaughtered the Warriors by 56 points.

The on-site commentator Steve Jones shook his head: "Considering the modern basketball environment, it is almost impossible to lose by 50 points in the playoffs. So, we can say that no team will ever break the embarrassing record set by the Chicago Bulls in the future. Roger and Shaq have brought shame to the Chicago Bulls."

Yes, most Bulls fans firmly believe that no team will ever break the record of losing 47 points in a single playoff game. Their team has been completely nailed to the pillar of shame.

Roger used to be the hope of Chicago people, but now he has become their nightmare.

When Michael Jordan, Reinsdorf and Jerry Krause decided to trade Roger, they could never have imagined that such a cruel judgment would be waiting for them.

3-0, and the Bulls lost a total of 75 points in the next two games.

This is a warning from Roger and the Sharks to the entire league.

Winter has arrived, and there is no more scent of roses in the Windy City, only cold and dead silence.

Michael Jordan felt mixed emotions as he watched the destruction of his former empire.

Is it really necessary to plan your funeral in advance?
-
Why should I talk to him? We go on the court, do our respective jobs, and then go home. That's enough. Is it necessary to talk to him? There is nothing good to talk to him. - Shaquille O'Neal talked about whether he had talked to Roger after his comeback. When he answered this question, Roger was sitting next to him.

I haven't talked to him for a long time. It's up to him, as long as that idiot doesn't put the ball into his own basket during the game and doesn't eat donuts on the bench. - Roger answered reporters while sitting next to O'Neal.

The 47-point playoff record will never be broken? Ha, I can only say that everyone should not be too conservative, but be bolder, after all, there are always talented people. - Roger joked about the Bulls' 47-point record.

I don't know where my next stop is. This season I have given everything I have, my time, my efforts, my ankle, my career. I may have another chance to win a championship, or maybe not. In any case, I will keep going until the day I can no longer play. —— Scott Pippen choked up when talking about this season at a press conference. It was the first time he was so confused.

On the bright side, at least the first round was a best-of-five series, and Chicago's suffering ended in Game 3. --Derrick Harper on the Bulls' tragic defeat.

The way the Chicago Bulls were eliminated was heartbreaking. When the Magic only had Roger, we were already overwhelmed. When Shaq came back, it became a complete massacre. I think the only teams that can compete with the Magic this season are the Knicks, Jazz and the Houston Big Three. Competing means that they have the ability to not lose so badly, not that they will definitely win. - Bulls coach Tim Floyd.

The Chicago Bulls are still paying for the mistakes they made in 1994. The thing Reinsdorf and Jerry Krause regretted most in their lives was choosing Michael over Roger. But the Bulls' misery is just a warning, and Michael should take it as a warning. If he loses to the Magic, believe me, his misery will be even more horrifying than this. Get ready, Michael, the Magic will come soon. -- Andrew Sharp, a columnist for Sports Illustrated, as if predicting the fate of Michael Jordan.

(End of this chapter)