Champions Creed

Chapter 180 179: This is really a pity (please give me a monthly ticket!)
A few years ago, the Nike team thought Roger could only destroy pennies.

But now, things are far beyond their expectations.

The day after Jordan suffered the most humiliating night of his career, media around the world were scrambling to report Jordan's failure.

You have to admit that Michael Jordan is still the most watched player on the planet.

Even his failure is so touching.

What Roger did to Jordan in the past three years has made Nike's marketing a joke.

They tried to package Jordan as a perfect player, an unbeatable god.

But after three consecutive years of failure, these packages were ruthlessly torn apart.

Roger broke up the Bulls dynasty and forced Jordan to move to New York.

Then, he beat Jordan again in New York.

In the face of such a complete failure, Nike's powerful media power was powerless.

In Akron, young Drew Joyce learned a lesson about the tragedy of Michael Jordan: "If a player doesn't have the ability, it doesn't matter where he goes."

His friend LeBron James beside him was thoughtful. Is it useless to go anywhere? No, if Michael and Shark were willing to communicate in advance last summer and go to a place that would benefit both of them, it might be a different story.

The key is not where to run, but what kind of teammates to choose.

Roger is very lucky. If it weren't for being with Shaq, he would have nothing.

Therefore, how to choose teammates wisely is a science.

The night after Jordan lost, many TV stations began playing Jordan's past highlights and short documentaries.

This is Nike's only means of saving Jordan's dignity at present.

When Jordan became a complete loser, they could only downplay his current failure by asking fans to recall his peak.

They are trying to remind fans what a great player Michael Jordan was.

But these are more like a preview of Jordan's funeral.

It's more like telling fans: Look, that's all in the past. And the Jordan of the past is dead.

Many people even think that this is a sign that Jordan will not return to the Knicks next season.

Because only when commemorating those stars who are about to retire will TV stations play his highlights over and over again.

Right now, the basketball world is filled with two major mysteries: where Shaq will go and whether Michael will retire.

If Jordan retires, does that mean he was forced to retire by Roger?

There are still many people who find it hard to accept that Roger may have completely ended Jordan's career and completely ended an era.

But whether you accept it or not, the pace of the times never waits for anyone. Even when the wheel of the times is turning, you can't even notice it.

For example, tonight is another night when the pulse of the times is beating wildly.

The San Antonio Spurs had a 21.4% chance of getting the No. 1987 pick in the lottery, and in , they won the No. pick and took David Robinson. Ten years later, they got lucky again.

"Our colleagues who are responsible for selling tickets are having a hard time right now," Popovich told reporters after the lottery ceremony.

Yes, the day the Spurs selected the No. 3000 pick, the Spurs' season ticket sales jumped by .

At this time, few people realized that the cycle of a new era had begun.

Shark, Kobe, Duncan, the boy from Akron...players of the new era have joined the game one after another.

But there were also smart people. Red-headed Auerbach saw the Celtics miss the No. 1 pick and didn't even get the No. 2 pick, and he instantly understood everything.

"I lost my motivation to work," he told reporters.

Because he realized that his era had completely passed. There was no place for him in David Stern's NBA.

There is no need to say much about Auerbach's brilliance, but even a figure like him will one day be abandoned by the times.

So, even if Roger really ended Jordan's career, it would be normal.

Nothing is eternal, everything is scenery.

If you want to achieve eternity, it is best to leave a sufficiently brilliant back.

When Michael Jordan experienced the most painful failure in his career and when Spurs fans fantasized about the twin towers combination of David Robinson and Tim Duncan, Olajuwon, Drexler and Barkley also experienced the end of their era.

In Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, with 2.8 seconds left, the Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz were tied at 100.

Charles Barkley was sweating profusely and couldn't believe that the game had turned out like this.

Because just four minutes before the end of the game, the Rockets were leading by 94 points, 84 to 10.

Karl Malone was restricted by Barkley's full-strength defense, Hornacek was closely guarded by Mario Elie, and Mutombo had no chance of scoring against Dream.

When his life was hanging by a thread, the old white defender with mediocre physical fitness stood up.

He scored 3 points in the last 10 minutes to help the Jazz tie the score.

With 2.8 seconds left, the Utah Jazz had the ball. They were about to throw a sideline pass, and Jerry Sloan arranged a starburst tactic.

Brian Russell was preparing to throw the ball out of bounds, and the Rockets' defensive attention was basically on Karl Malone and Hornacek.

Even though Stockton scored 10 points in the first three minutes, he didn't get the attention he deserved.

But in fact, this guy is a very scary killer.

Few people can hit a buzzer-beater over Michael Jordan's head, but John Stockton did it in 1989.

The sideline ball was sent out, Hornacek pulled Drexler to the corner, Karl Malone set a screen for Stockton, and Mario Eli, who was responsible for defending Stockton, was blocked.

Feizhu was a little hesitant. He didn't know whether he should go after Stockton or continue to stay with Karl Malone.

He was afraid that Malone would suddenly cut in, and Mario Eli would have no chance of stopping him.

This hesitation will become Barkley's lifelong regret.

Stockton received the basketball and ran to the three-point line to shoot.

Barkley ran toward Stockton with his arms raised to salvage his championship hopes, but to no avail.

After scoring a buzzer-beater over Jordan's head in 1989, John Stockton scored another buzzer-beater against Charles Barkley, another Hall of Fame player who was drafted in 1984!

In the Utah Jazz, Karl Malone is the ultimate weapon responsible for conquering cities and capturing strongholds.

But Stockton's number of buzzer-beaters is far more than that of Karl Malone.

He has always been dangerous.

The ball went into the net and the game was over. Stockton's piercing three-pointer allowed the Utah Jazz to advance to the finals for the first time in their history.

All the Jazz players jumped into the court like rabbits and hugged Stockton.

Even Jerry Sloan jumped high and punched the air.

Bob Costa joked: "I never knew Jerry could jump that high."

The Rockets' Big Three stood on the court in dejection, looking at each other with dull expressions. They couldn't believe that this team with a brilliant lineup would eventually be sent away by an old white guard.

But this is the end of the Rockets' glorious era.

Finally, the Orlando Magic's finals matchup was confirmed. The first in the East vs. the first in the West, this is the third opponent the Magic have encountered in their three-year finals journey.

Before, both the Rockets and the Supersonics had experienced defeat. Moreover, the two teams combined only won one game against the Magic.

No one knows whether the Utah Jazz has the ability to break the Magic dynasty's dominance.

Karl Malone is quite excited about this round of matchups. Finally, he has the chance to avenge his previous defeat on the stage of the finals!
Of course, he did not forget the elbow from Roger that made him fall asleep during the regular season.

He had sworn long ago that he would make that damn bastard pay the price.

This is not just about honor, but also a personal vendetta.

He was not only fighting for the championship, but also fighting to completely bring Roger down from the altar.

After the Western Conference championship award ceremony, Karl Malone also said in an interview: "Fortunately, we have the opportunity to prevent the Magic from winning three consecutive championships."

The next day, at the end of the Magic's regular training, reporters entered the locker room as usual to interview the Magic players.

Although public opinion believed that Jordan was the only obstacle on Roger's road to the championship, it was still beyond most people's expectations that the Jazz could eliminate the Rockets 4-2.

Reporters are all expecting this Jazz team to cause some trouble for the Magic, or at least prevent the finals from being as boring as last year.

A reporter seemed to want to let Roger know how tough this Jazz team was, and kept describing the Jazz's strength to Roger:

"Do you know how much it costs to defend the Rockets' Big Three? You have to limit Hakeem's catching the ball and prevent Charles from easily hitting the basket. At the same time, you have to send someone to keep a close eye on Clyde. The Jazz did a good job, they..."

Roger shook his head and interrupted the reporter in front of him: "I don't care about these, I'm not the Rockets Big Three."

The implication is: I'm not as easy to deal with as them.

Roger's arrogant attitude remains the same, he is as arrogant as Jordan.

In fact, it's not just Roger who is arrogant.

"How to deal with the best defensive player? Ha, have you forgotten Gary Payton from last season?"

O'Neal was very disdainful of Mutombo, who won the Defensive Player of the Year award for the second time in his career this year.

In Shark's opinion, a big part of the reason Roger was able to win the FMVP last season was that he beat the DPOY of that season.

And this season, it’s my turn to enjoy this “benefit”!
Sharks, some take it for granted.

He certainly didn't know that without Roger, he would be beaten by the Utah Jazz for two consecutive years. In 1998, he was swept by the Jazz even with three All-Star teammates.

Do you think this is over?
No, in 1999, O'Neal would be shamefully defeated by the sophomore Duncan and swept 4-0 again.

Fortunately, all these happened in the 90s, so it did not affect the media's calling O'Neal "the most dominant individual of the 21st century."

But Shark doesn't know this yet, he thinks he can be as successful as Roger.

And just like that, in the first game of the finals, O'Neal failed.

"Shaq can't keep going like this, he's destroying the game!" Magic Johnson couldn't believe it. O'Neal only made 9 of 3 shots in the first half.

As an inside player who launches attacks near the basket, O'Neal's performance is simply a war criminal-level performance.

Yes, if it was a one-on-one defense, Mutombo would become a toy in O'Neal's hands, just like the tragedy in the 2001 Finals.

But in Utah, Mutombo has an All-Defensive Team-level partner in Karl Malone.

The inside defensive chain composed of the African Mountains and the Iron-Blooded Postman made O'Neal miserable.

Mutombo was responsible for holding up O'Neal's lower body, while Karl Malone waited for an opportunity to attack the shark from above.

The two men seemed to deliver a combination of punches to O'Neal, stabbing left and right, making it difficult for the shark to defend.

In the 97 Western Conference semifinals, Karl Malone and Greg Ostertag were able to limit the Sharks' shooting percentage to less than 50%.

Therefore, it is a foreseeable result that Karl Malone + Mutombo will make it difficult for the Sharks to move forward.

Of course, being inefficient doesn't mean you're destroying the game.

What Magic meant by destroying the game was that O'Neal kept taking crazy shots even when the offense in the interior was at a disadvantage.

Judging from the data, O'Neal only took 9 shots because the shots after being fouled were not counted in the shot statistics.

So the actual situation is that O'Neal performed a lot of inefficient low-post singles in the first half and was reluctant to pass the ball.

People were reminded of the third quarter of Game 4 of last year's Finals, when O'Neal seemed to have lost his mind and began to shoot wildly and recklessly, eventually leading to the Supersonics narrowing the gap to single digits.

Fortunately, O'Neal returned to normal in the fourth quarter and the Magic won the game without any danger.

But today, O'Neal's performance lasted for a full half.

On the last attack of the second quarter, Roger ran out of the open space and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

The shark also got into position and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

But Harper did not feed the ball to the low post again, but resolutely passed the ball to Roger.

Facing Brian Russell who was chasing him, Roger made a fake shot to provoke the opponent, then calmly waited for the opponent to pass by him, and finally took a three-point shot.

Mutombo and Karl Malone almost instantly pushed O'Neal out of the basket and controlled the best rebounding position.

But there was no rebound, and the basketball flew directly into the net. Roger's three-pointer gave the Magic a 4-point lead entering the second half.

In the end, the ball returned to Roger.

Well, at first glance, what the Shark did didn't seem to cause much harm to the team, after all, the Magic were still leading.

But look at the Jazz's shooting percentage. When all their outside players were locked down with a shooting percentage of less than 43%, you would definitely not be happy with the result of a tie at halftime.

O'Neal wasted the efforts of Harper and Wilkins on defense.

At the end of the first half, Mutombo received unanimous praise: "This is the highlight of Dikembe's career. No one has ever been able to defend Shaq so badly! Before the game, Shaq used Gary Payton as an example and despised the best defensive player. Now, he has paid the price for his arrogance!"

But the Jazz players were not happy at all. After all, they couldn't hold down the real MVP.

In the second half, the Magic began to make more deliberate passes to Roger.

Even if O'Neal often wants to be in position, the ball may not be given to him. Not being able to get the ball for a long time makes the Shark depressed, and his enthusiasm for defense and rebounding is greatly reduced.

But Roger's stable performance in the second half of the game finally helped the team win the game. He scored 34 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.

After the game, O'Neal looked at his stats of 17 points and 12 rebounds without any joy of victory.

He now had only one thought - to finish this damn finals as soon as possible, and then become Roger's opponent.

This is what he most wants to do now.

Facing reporters after the game, Roger didn't even bother to say that O'Neal was an idiot.

He just laughed sarcastically:

"I don't understand why Carl feels lucky that he has to play one more round than others and still get nothing.

Well, I understand their joy of reaching the finals for the first time, but this is the damn world full of regrets.

Of course I have regrets too. I regret never having lifted the championship trophy at home.

Because no one has ever taken a Finals game to Game 6 against us, and that’s a fucking shame.”

(End of this chapter)