Champions Creed

Chapter 226 Chapter 225: The Undisciplined Child (asking for a monthly ticket!)
The preparation period for this season was very tight, and most players were pushed onto the court before they were ready.

This allows those who prepare early to seize the opportunity to shine.

Paul Pierce is one of them.

老鹰在揭幕战对阵上赛季总决赛死敌犹他爵士，保罗.皮尔斯拿出了19分7个篮板5次助攻4次抢断2个盖帽的完美数据！

There couldn't be a more perfect NBA debut than this, as Pierce showed his versatility to the fullest.

Atlanta fans cheered, this is simply a complete upgrade version of Steve Smith!
He has the off-ball offense of Steve Smith, but also the ball-holding ability that Steve Smith does not have.

Most importantly, he played an impressive performance on the defensive end.

It was mentioned in the previous draft scouting report that Pierce's defense has been improving in his three years in college, from an offensive player who could only attack but not defend to an excellent wing who can both attack and defend.

Today, his defense, which has always been criticized, was excellent.

The whole world was praising Pierce, but Roger was the only one who told him: "You can't always rely on luck for defense."

Pierce laughed angrily and muttered in his heart: "Luck? 4 steals and 2 blocks, this is the sum of your and Scott's defensive data!"

Of course, he didn't say what was in his mind, but nodded vigorously: "Okay Roger, yes Roger."

"Gambling-style steals and blocks won't work all the time. You performed very well today, but you were too self-righteous," Roger continued to remind.

Pierce's defense is not solid, he likes to gamble too much on steals and blocks.

If he had faced someone with excellent ball-handling skills instead of Brian Russell today, every steal attempt of his would have made him lose his position, and every block attempt of his would have been made fun of.

Pierce was disappointed. Why was Roger so strict? Why did he always control me?
Maybe that's why some players don't like playing with Roger?

Pierce was a little unhappy, but he did not resist directly. He used the old trick to deal with Roger: "Okay, okay, you are right."

Pierce's trump card against Roger is just one word: kneel.

Pierce is not a person like Kobe who suffers from "boss cancer". In a team, he doesn't care whether he is the first star or not.

In the original history, when he was young, even when facing Antoine Walker, who was prone to reckless shooting, Pierce never had any conflicts with him.

Pierce even said this to Rivers after Antoine Walker left: "Pass the ball? Who do you want me to pass it to? Antoine was sent away by you, who should I pass the ball to?"

Therefore, Pierce is willing to be Roger's second-in-command, willing to reduce his shooting rights, and willing to show weakness in front of Roger.

The only thing he couldn't stand was Roger's preaching.

He doesn't like being disciplined, doesn't like others teaching him how to do things, and he won't listen.

His father abandoned the family when he was six and never took care of him since he was a child. Most importantly, Pierce knew that his father was still alive and lived in Northern California.

They are aware of each other's existence.

But his father just didn't care about the life and death of his family and didn't even come to take a look.

Therefore, Pierce developed a rebellious mentality: OK, if you don't care about me, then don't worry about me. No one cares about me, I can still live a good life, I will live for you to see!

Over time, Pierce resisted being disciplined because he felt that he did not need to be disciplined, that he could handle everything by himself, and that no one was qualified to discipline him.

The same was true when facing Roger. He was willing to be Roger's second-in-command, but he hated Roger disciplining him like a father and elder brother.

But Pierce knew that he could not resist Roger's discipline head-on, otherwise he would die miserably.

So he chose the killer move of "kneeling" to deal with Roger.

Essentially, it's an escape.

But it worked.

This killer weapon has been working well since preseason training camp.

Every time Roger faced Pierce's fawning attitude, he felt a little overwhelmed and couldn't even get angry.

But nodding and bowing is just an appearance. No matter how good Pierce's attitude is when facing criticism, he will make the same mistake next time.

Just like the classic movie line: I tell you but you don’t listen, you don’t understand when you listen, you don’t do when you understand, you do it wrong when you do, you don’t admit your mistakes, you don’t change when you admit, you don’t accept when you change, and you won’t say anything when you are not satisfied, so what should I do?
Roger has mentioned Pierce's defensive problems more than once. He talked to Pierce during the preseason.

Pierce told Roger that he had a habit on defense that he called "taking a vacation."

In some games, he would play very hard on defense, but he thought he was entitled to take a break after a serious defensive game and slack off for a few games in a row.

Roger thought this was a fallacy and told him that defense should be taken seriously in every game, which is what championship players do.

Pierce nodded rapidly, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

However, there are no eggs.

As usual, he sleepwalked on defense in Game 2.

Sure enough, the same thing happened again.

After the opening game, all of Atlanta was cheering, thinking that the Hawks had picked a treasure.

As a result, in the second game of the regular season, Pierce immediately slapped the faces of all those who were optimistic about him.

In the second game against the Heat, which had an unprecedentedly strong lineup and was the Hawks' biggest rival in the Eastern Conference this year, Pierce actually allowed Alan Houston to score 22 points in the first half.

There is nothing special about Alan Houston's offense. It's just the same old off-ball running and catching the ball and shooting.

The problem is that Pierce's defensive enthusiasm is simply not at the same level as in the first game.

That's right, he habitually gave himself a holiday.

Moreover, his frequent gambling-style passing and stealing gave Alan Houston many easy shooting opportunities. Once he failed to steal the ball, Pierce would be out of position.

In the second half, Pippen took over from Alan Houston and Roger defended Sprewell himself.

But the hole they dug in the first half was too big, so the Hawks lost to the Heat by 5 points.

Pat Riley finally beat Roger once, but he was cautious: "You know, you can never say you beat Roger in advance. It's just a regular season game. It's not time to celebrate yet, far from it."

Who would have thought that the coach who once said contemptuously at the press conference, "I don't understand why Roger can surpass John Starks to become an All-Star starter," is now full of awe for Roger.

Roger criticized Pierce bluntly at the press conference: "As a rookie, Paul's performance is great. But his defense is still college-level defense, which can't defend NBA players. He should do better."

This was the first time Roger publicly criticized Pierce's defensive problems.

But Pierce still perfunctorily responded: "Yes Roger, I will pay attention Roger."

To be honest, Roger felt that he had met the most fucking difficult teammate in his career!
He's just a fool like O'Neal. If you say he's not good at defense, he will try hard for a few games or have a big fight with you.

But what about Pierce?
He always does his own thing!
Your preaching to him is like talking to a cow!
On one hand, he was timid in front of Roger, and on the other hand, he was extremely arrogant in front of the media.

"The combination of Roger and I is the combination of the best and the second best in the world."

"Aside from me, who else is eligible for the Best Rookie Award? A center whose shooting percentage is even lower than mine?"

"We're going to win the championship, and I can't think of anyone in the league who can compete with us."

Paul Pierce is like a beacon of freedom, free and unfettered. He can say whatever he wants and do whatever he wants.

For the first time, Roger discovered how difficult it was to deal with a rookie.

The pace of the shortened season is very fast. The opening game is on February 2, and by the end of March, the regular season is almost over.

The Hawks have a pretty good record and are consistently ranked in the top three in the Eastern Conference.

But in March, Pippen had to undergo a microscopic partial discectomy to relieve nerve impingement in his lower back.

The team doctor gave two options at the time: either conservative treatment, but Pippen's back would have problems from time to time.

Either surgery would be necessary, which would have a high chance of curing the disease, but would mean the 98-99 season would be over. Pippen wanted conservative treatment, which was what he chose in the original story, because he didn't want to miss a whole season.

The result was that Pippen's condition plummeted after the 99 season, and his attendance rate became lower and lower.

So Roger advised Pippen to have surgery. Building a dynasty in Atlanta is a long process, and Pippen cannot have problems every other day.

And just like that, the Hawks lost Pippen in March.

Bruce Bowen replaced Pippen in the starting lineup. He was very good, but still couldn't achieve the same defensive effect as Pippen.

Bowen is good at inducing and not losing his position. However, he is weak in destroying the ball and is less aggressive (in normal defense). Most importantly, his contribution to assisting defense is insufficient.

There is a huge gap between him and Pippen in this regard.

At this time, Pierce is needed to stand up on the defensive end.

But whether he defends seriously or not still depends on his mood.

The strength of the Hawks has been affected to some extent, but they still maintain their top three ranking in the Eastern Conference.

By the end of March, the Eagles had a record of 22 wins and 9 losses.

And in the first game of April, the Hawks will finally meet the Los Angeles Lakers!
Because it is a shortened season, the Hawks and Lakers will only meet once this year.

In fact, the Lakers will only face Eastern Conference teams six times all season this year.

This is why the value of a shortened season has always been controversial.

This only encounter between Roger and the shark was undoubtedly very important.

They both have reasons why they can't lose to each other.

However, this season, the Lakers are quite strong.

O'Neal has maintained his level and Kobe continues to improve.

The most important thing is that the Lakers also traded Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell for the Hornets' star guard Glen Rice in early March.

Glen Rice has been claiming that he has been plagued by injuries this season, his elbow injury has not healed, and he has always said that he does not want to continue playing in Charlotte.

In desperation, the Hornets had to trade him to the Lakers.

Then a medical miracle happened - after arriving in Los Angeles, Glen Rice, who had been unable to play due to injuries in the first half of the season, miraculously recovered.

In his own words: "I felt the call of basketball!"

Glen Rice's role is actually similar to that of Eddie Jones. They both act as three-point shooters next to Kobe and O'Neal.

But after all, he was once the star player of the Hornets, so his offensive stability is better and he is better able to fight tough battles.

Kobe likes Glen Rice very much, because after he came, Kobe is no longer the player with the smallest hands in the team.

It turns out there is no correlation between size and shooting accuracy.

After a month of running-in, Glen Rice has completely found his competitive form and integrated into the team.

The Lakers, who have completed important signings, have set their sights on the championship.

The Lakers' slogan this year is "It's time!"

it's time!

So, the Hawks were unlucky enough to meet the Lakers when the team was at its strongest.

On April 4, the day before the game between the Hawks and the Lakers, Roger and the entire team arrived in Los Angeles.

Pierce did not have dinner with the team that night, he went to spend time with his family.

Roger drank coffee in the cafe in the hotel lobby and discussed the 1999 draft with head coach Lenny Wilkens.

Yes, the Los Angeles Clippers are as expected. Although Steve Smith's presence has improved the Clippers' record, they are still likely to get a top six pick.

Lenny Wilkens and Roger have the same goal, which is to have a power forward who has mobility, defensive ability, shooting ability and rebounding ability.

With Alan Henderson leaving this year, the Hawks' inside offense has become stagnant.

Big Ben's offense was equal to zero, and Kurt Thomas' occasional mid-range shots did not quench his thirst.

Clifford Robinson is great on offense and defense, but his rebounding ability is too weak. Once he is on the court, the Hawks are easily overwhelmed by rebounds.

Alan Henderson met all of these requirements last season, which is why he was able to start for a long time.

After he left this season, there were always shortcomings in any forward rotation arrangement.

Currently, both Lenny Wilkens and Roger have set their sights on UNLV's Shawn Marion.

Compared to Odom, Marion's advantage is that he is more like a functional forward. He does not need to control the ball, and he is very active in defense and fighting. He has amazing arm length, top athletic ability, and certain shooting ability.

Although he is only 201 cm tall,
The Hawks are using Ben as center, but they don’t dare to use Marion as power forward?
And Marion has a short neck, so her effective height is more than 201 cm.

The two were chatting when they saw Paul Pierce returning to the hotel.

Pierce looked unhappy. He had clearly returned to California and met with his family. His family would come to watch his game tomorrow night, and he was about to play against his favorite childhood team. Logically, he should be very excited.

But he was extremely depressed.

"What's wrong? Do you want to take a day off again?" Roger shouted. When Pierce saw Roger, he also walked towards the cafe.

After entering the cafe, Pierce sat down next to Roger: "Roger, can I drink tonight?"

"No, you can't drink alcohol the night before a game. No one can break this rule. You'll defend Glen Rice tomorrow, is that okay?"

"No problem, I'll give you $1000 for every three-pointer Glen Rice makes. I promise!"

When it comes to talking about defense, Pierce has never been more forthcoming.

After that, he asked for a glass of water from the bar, drank it all in one breath, and then stood up and left: "See you at the game tomorrow. You don't have to worry about Glen Rice."

Lenny Wilkens and Roger looked at each other.

They had both long been annoyed by Pierce's defensive attitude.

But Pierce wouldn't listen, no matter what you did or said.

He won't lose his temper with you, but he just won't listen to you, leaving you helpless.

But today, Pierce is so determined about defense?
The determined look in his eyes just now was definitely not a perfunctory expression like usual.

Logically speaking, Pierce and Glenn Rice have no personal grudges.

"Lanni, what would you do if you had a child like this?" Roger joked.

"Thank God I don't have such an unruly child."

"Forget it, don't think about such complicated issues, let's think about something simple."

"for example?"

"How to expose the true colors of that idiot Shaquille O'Neal."

The next day, the Hawks bus arrived at the Staples Center, and as soon as Roger got off the bus, he was filmed in the face by a camera.

"Roger, what do you want to say to Shaq?"

"The time has not come yet, and perhaps it will never come." Roger changed the Lakers' slogan this season and made a friendly reminder.

(End of this chapter)