Champions Creed

Chapter 235 Chapter 234: Revenge for the Goat! (Seeking monthly ticket!)

Tim Duncan was selected to the All-Defensive Second Team in his rookie season and to the All-Defensive First Team in his sophomore season. He is a super defensive monster.

He has always been known for his solid and mature defense.

The reason why the Celtics took a fancy to him was because Auerbach believed that he was the next Bill Russell. In other words, a Bill Russell with a stronger offense.

The media said that O'Neal would never be able to catch up with Duncan's defensive level in the first two years of his career.

The result is that this guy who reached his peak on the defensive end as soon as he debuted, in front of Roger, is as comedic as David Robinson in the 1995 playoffs and Joel Embiid 15 years later.

Of course, Duncan's intelligence did not suddenly decline. The reason why he was fooled around was that every move Roger made was an offensive threat.

Duncan had to be banned.

Not only was Duncan humiliated, but the entire Spurs' championship filter was also shattered in these few rounds.

This 10-0 start may be the first time that fans have this question: Why is the defending champion with no major changes in the lineup so bad?

Duncan was miserable. The Hawks' defense was actually using more people against fewer people. They relentlessly threw all their defensive resources at Duncan, just like piling all the sandbags on the first gap in the dam.

This kind of defense will give other Spurs players, especially those on the outside, opportunities.

But Lenny Wilkens is not afraid.

The young general didn't shoot at all. Terry Porter and Mario Eli were indeed accurate, but their output was limited.

Therefore, the Hawks' lineup happens to be very restraining to the Spurs.

The Hawks' short and mobile defense is not invincible. There are actually four situations that this lineup is more afraid of.

If your center forward can attack directly from the elbow area facing the basket with the ball like Dream did, and shoot mid-range shots as accurately as a guard, then the short center of the Hawks will have a hard time.

If your guard is as tall as your power forward, you can ignore the Hawks' front line and feed the ball to the center. And the center is very good at long-range hooks, and he can use his height to hit the Hawks hard without having to put the ball down. However, Magic and the Skyhook are unique.

If your strong center is surrounded by four shooters, they will shoot you to death if they dare to double-team you, forcing you to play single defense. There is no doubt that Ben will be beaten by Duncan to the point of doubting his life. But now, due to the lack of trust in three-pointers, no one except Tomjanovich likes to use the one-star four-shooter tactic.

At worst, if you have a strong point in the inside and a strong point in the outside, you can also restrain the Hawks. Because when the inside is double-teamed and there are only 10 seconds left, the outside player can digest these pot balls. Well, the OK combination meets this condition.

But the Spurs do not meet any of the above four conditions.

They have no strong points on the outside, no tall point guard, and not enough high-quality shooters.

This resulted in the entire Hawks team being able to shrink without restraint to deal with Duncan.

In 2005, the Pistons used the same level of double-teaming against Duncan, and the result was that Duncan only scored 41 points with a hit rate of 20%.

The Spurs were able to win at that time because Ginobili, Parker, Bowen, Horry and others were able to respond with shots when Duncan was double-teamed.

But the current Spurs clearly don't have this ability.

Popovich didn't have any better solution at this time, he could only let Duncan receive the ball and attack from the high position.

Next, Duncan will play Olajuwon for once.

The game continued, and this time Duncan received the ball at the mid-range wing.

He leaned against Big Ben twice, and then took advantage of the moment when Pippen came up to double-team him to pass the ball to Little General Johnson.

Duncan, holding the ball in the high post, can more easily pass the ball to the outside in a double-team.

But the little general is not Tony Parker after all.

If it was Parker in the early stages of his career, he would be able to get into the paint and score at lightning speed after receiving the ball.

If it was Parker in his prime, he could shoot a three-pointer and pierce your heart.

And what can Avery Johnson do?

He could only slowly get into the inside, and made a layup under Marion's help defense, but the basketball bounced off the rim.

The Spurs still didn't score!
They were tightly restrained!
Big Ben protected the rebound and Roger once again acted as the spearhead of the counterattack.

As the Spurs players were chasing, Roger passed the ball to Pierce who was following up from the side.

After receiving the ball, Pierce rushed into the inside, but Mario Eli blocked him forcefully.

The two men collided heavily, and Roger could clearly hear the sound of muscles tearing muscles and bones breaking bones.

Mario Elie knew that Pierce was injured, and he had great respect for Pierce's return to the court, but respect is respect, and the game is the game.

He couldn't imagine anyone attacking the basket with knife wounds all over his body.

At the moment of the collision, the 13 cuts on Pierce's body became hot, like some kind of mark that prevented him from getting close to the basket.

But Pierce still gritted his teeth, leaned on Mario Elie to jump, and made another layup in the confrontation!
"Fxxk! I'm living in the best moment!" Pierce punched hard and shouted to himself after scoring the goal.

He swore that he would stand up when Roger needed him. He would do his best to grasp every ball Roger passed to him!
This past summer, Pierce took his already strong frame and made it even stronger.

Joe Abunassar believes that since Pierce's characteristics are not explosiveness and athleticism, he might as well go for the tank-and-floor route and not consider speed.

This trade-off is normal. After all, if there is a small forward in the world who has both explosive power and tonnage, he will definitely win seven or eight championships easily. If he can improve his footwork, he will definitely be the GOAT.

However, most small forwards do not have such talent, and they have to choose an evolutionary path from the flowing flow and the floor flow.

Pierce chose the latter, and this season he has become a genuine heavy small forward.

Therefore, he thinks it is natural for him to have a good finishing rate at the basket, and it would be strange if he couldn't do it.

He will not let his efforts go to waste.

I won't make excuses for myself.

Lenny Wilkens got goose bumps as he watched Pierce score again under the basket.

In the locker room, Wilkens saw Pierce naked.

The scars on his body are still shocking.

Especially the two cuts on the buttocks, Wilkens could imagine the tragic scene at that time. It must have been a white knife going in and a yellow knife coming out.

Without a full recovery and with damaged lungs, Pierce was in pain in every confrontation.

But he didn't look back and was still able to score.

Roger gave Pierce a thumbs up, feeling very relieved.

Pierce is not like Shaq, who might have been a baby for the rest of his life. But Pierce has grown from a young man to a man.

Pierce is also not like Steve Smith, who refuses pressure and competition. Pierce enjoys competition and is not afraid of pressure.

All that patience and waiting finally earned Roger an excellent second-in-command!
After 12-0, Steve Jones shouted: "This season's Atlanta Hawks are very scary! You can't stop Paul if you double-team Roger!"

The Spurs were still waiting for the first goal of the day. Fortunately, Duncan did not continue to disappoint.

In this attack, Duncan leaned against Big Ben in the high position on the wing, then turned around and hit the bank shot steadily.

Duncan's ability to solve the problem is very strong. He doesn't even need to bully Garnett. His ability to solve the problem is even stronger than that of Karl Malone, another power forward with more impressive statistics.

The evidence is that Karl Malone's assist rate in the playoffs throughout his career was as high as 70%. In other words, he was very dependent on Stockton on offense. Without Stockton feeding him the ball, he would struggle.

Although the sturdy man was full of muscles, he was the kind of person who couldn't get anything done without someone to help him push.

Duncan's assist efficiency in the playoffs was only 54%.

In comparison, the Shaqs have an assist rate of 63% in the playoffs.

This is also why Karl Malone rarely boasted about his 36,000 points when he retired, because he knew that it did not represent his offensive level.

This round was a typical hard-ball move, with the turnaround and rebounding being the only signature move in Duncan's simple offense.

But soon, I don’t know if Roger did it on purpose, he also made a turnaround shot from the right side!
Mario Eli, who was responsible for defending Roger, had tried his best. He immediately stuck to Roger when he received the ball and continued to try to guide Roger to the bottom corner.

But after Roger got the ball, he leaned back, got a little space, and then turned around and shot a jump shot.

Mario Eli only saw the basketball flying over his head, followed by two consecutive "bangs".

Roger's bank jump shot also hit the target steadily!
"It's not just you, man!" Roger yelled at Duncan after scoring the goal.

Duncan ignored it and just focused on the next attack.

But with the timely interference of Pippen and Big Ben, Duncan's second turn-around shot failed to hit the bank.

Duncan's ability to solve the problem is better than Karl Malone, but as I said before, the high post is not Duncan's favorite offensive position.

If you search the keywords "Duncan, face-to-face, high post, singles" on the Internet, you will understand why he is the number one player in history.

Duncan missed the shot, but Roger would not miss the chance to get close to him. Facing Mario Elie again, Roger walked to the side, stopped suddenly on the wing, and jumped to shoot.

This shot was not an ordinary jump shot, but another 45-degree bank shot.

The ball went into the net and Roger shrugged.

Following his mismatched one-on-one against Duncan, Roger once again humiliated the big man who was considered invincible by the San Antonio fans.

Inside the Alamodome, fans made no sound.

There were no boos, no cheers.

They are extremely disappointed.

You can imagine the fans' feelings, champions vs. champions, a heavyweight showdown, a strong dialogue, everyone is looking forward to a fierce game.

Close combat, buzzer beaters, key shots, winners and losers, these are what the fans expect from this game.

From a player perspective, a sophomore who made the first team and first defense and led his team to the first place in the league and easily won the championship, and who averaged 27.4+14 in the finals, is definitely Roger's biggest opponent in the next five to eight years.

What was the result? What people saw was a one-sided massacre, with Roger hitting Duncan face to face again and again.

The Spurs' own weak offensive problem was exposed. In the playoffs last season, the Spurs played a total of 18 games, of which only 2 games had more than 100 points and 4 games had more than 90 points.

The Spurs averaged only 88.4 points per game, but they were able to suppress their opponents to an average of 81.2 points per game, which is why they had the last laugh.

But what if they encounter a scorer who is completely unstoppable?
Today is the answer. When Pierce can endure the pain and attack the basket again and again, sharing the burden with Roger.

When Pippen, who can perfectly fill in the gaps on the defensive end, returns again.

When rebounding is no longer the Hawks' Achilles' heel.

When Roger can still score these difficult goals easily.

The defending champions seem worthless in front of the Eagles!
In the subsequent games, the Spurs caught up some points with the three-point shooting from their outside firepower points.

But the situation was firmly controlled by the Eagles.

Because the Hawks have a firm control over Duncan.

In the fourth quarter, Popovich had to let the Admirals take the lead again.

Because Ben didn't dare to leave Duncan to help defend, it was impossible for the freshman Marion to defend the Admiral. So the Admiral's offense was very effective, and he beat Marion point-to-point.

But it was too late.

You have to admit one fact: Popovich during this period was just a rookie coach and his on-the-spot command was very poor.

Logically, he should have double-teamed Roger earlier. Although in theory the Spurs' defensive strategy was correct, Roger was defended every time he shot. But in practice, this defensive strategy was useless to Roger.

He was actually almost fired by the Spurs management last season, but it was Duncan, the General and the Admiral who kept him.

Because they think this guy is a little bit weak, but he really has the best intentions for the Spurs.

Their choices led to today's outcome.

Popovich's command errors today were not only on the defensive end, but he should have focused his offense on the Admirals long ago.

However, Popovich's favorite tactic before the 04 season was to treat Duncan like an animal. This may be something in the old white man's genes.

Faced with such an unfavorable situation, General Johnson started yelling again.

"What the hell are you doing? We have to defend Roger, or at least Paul! You are a bunch of wimps. I am the only one who is really trying hard, the only one who is really fighting. Do you all expect me to win? Tim, you played like a piece of shit today. You are simply embarrassing the defending champion!"

This is how the young general always speaks, and this is also how he leads the team. Last season, his brutality and toughness were useful. But this season, the Spurs players are beginning to get tired of it.

What do the Spurs players think? We are all champions, and you didn't win this championship alone. And you are not the FMVP, so what right do you have to say that?
The young general believes that as the leader of the locker room who led the team to win the championship, he should have a greater say and everyone should listen to him.

This problem of the young general lasted throughout his life. Later, when he became the head coach of the Mavericks, he would arrogantly feel that he was qualified to trade Nowitzki and promote Josh Howard.

The Spurs' former locker room leader is now going against his teammates.

Malik Rose, a loyal supporter of Duncan, couldn't stand it any longer: "Shut up, you only scored 7 points in this game, why are you barking like a dog?"

"What did you say? This is my team. Do you think I have the right to speak?"

"Your team? You averaged 39 minutes per game and scored 9.2 points in the finals. You dare to say this is your team? If we change a point guard, we will be stronger!"

"What the hell do you want to do!?" The young general stood up and threw the towel directly on Malik Ross' face.

Malik Rose pushed Avery Johnson away, and the defending champions actually had a conflict in the first game.

Yes, before GDP was formed, the Spurs locker room was not as harmonious as everyone imagined.

Duncan quickly separated the two, while David Robinson watched it all silently.

Steve Kerr, who won the championship with the Spurs last season, was surprised: "David, aren't you going to do something?"

If it were the Bulls, Jordan would never let this happen.

But David did nothing, he just sat on the bench without saying a word.

Popovich looked at the chaos and sighed.

That's why it's so difficult to win consecutive championships.

The Spurs have only won one championship, and they have become what they are now.

Popovich looked at Roger on the other side. How did that guy win four consecutive championships?

How did they win the third championship with the Sharks, who were already at odds with them?

It’s really a miracle!

At this time, Popovich realized that the Spurs and Duncan were still unable to challenge the emperor in every aspect.

Still a long way to go.

In the end, the score was fixed at 101 to 87.

The Atlanta Hawks defeated the defending champion Spurs by 14 points at home.

Duncan had 16 points and 13 rebounds, with a shooting percentage of only 45%.

The Admiral, on the other hand, stood up, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter and 29 points and 8 rebounds for the entire game.

But the Eagles have significantly more firepower.

Roger scored 38 points and Pierce scored 21 points.

At the end of the game, the Admiral was helpless.

He recalled the times many years ago when he was beaten up by Roger and the Shark.

I thought that with Duncan's arrival, the sky would be clear.

But when the Eagles reappeared with a full lineup, everything was gone.

After the game, Roger and Duncan hugged each other in a friendly manner.

Although Duncan lost the game, he was still a little dissatisfied, so he deliberately said: "This can't change the fact that the ring is on my hand tonight. I want to wear it again next year."

But this sentence did not hurt Roger at all. The Atlanta god smiled and said, "I don't want to change the fact, but everyone knows what the ring is. Come on, Tim. When you beat me, when you can really lead your team, when you can win a real ring, then come and talk to me about the championship."

Roger was both hinting that Duncan's shrinking championship was not valuable enough and reminding Duncan: "You haven't beaten me yet!"

Duncan turned and left with a gloomy face. Now he knew why everyone advocated not to trash talk Roger.

Roger watched Duncan leave angrily, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

First it was “the future is yours” and now it’s “win a real ring”.

Roger, a die-hard James fan, has avenged Goat in this timeline.

After the game, Hannah unexpectedly did not interview Roger today, but interviewed Paul Pierce who was on the national news just a month ago.

"Paul, just one month ago, you had a serious accident. But today, you stood on the court and defeated the defending champion. We know that almost all doctors think you can't play this season. We can also see that the scars on your face and neck are still very obvious.

What supported you to return to the court in such a short time? Can you share it? "

Pierce looked up at the lights on top of the arena and recalled the past month, which was like a rebirth.

What supported him to return to the court? It was the person who gave him hope when he was most desperate.

This man was not George Pierce, not his good neighbor Officer Kurt Collins, and not his family.

That person is the eagle's bones and the soul here!
Pierce grabbed the microphone, his expression determined.

"A lot of people have asked me, Paul, what is the thing you are most proud of in your life so far?

Was it from a fat kid who couldn't play basketball in high school to being invincible? No.

Is it a full scholarship to an NCAA Division I team? No.

It must be the two Big 12 titles at Kansas, right? Yes, but it's not the most proud thing.

What is the thing you are most proud of?
The proudest thing is that I am a person with a heart full of pride. I chose to stand up again with pride. This is also the reason why I can return to the court.

Paul Pierce is now fearless, ready to assist the greatest players, play the hardest games, and win the most championships!

that's all! "

After Pierce finished speaking, he looked towards the sidelines affectionately.

But there was no sign of Roger.

Haha, that fake tough guy.

He must be hiding in the player tunnel and secretly wiping my tears now!
Don’t worry, I will definitely help your dynasty expand its territory!
But in fact, Roger was watching a little girl wiping tears in the player tunnel at this time.

"Roger, you really don't remember my name?"

"Of course I remember, you are Gisele Bundchen. Nice to see you again, why didn't you tell me you were coming in advance?" Roger didn't know why she cried when she saw him.

"In advance. Have you forgotten that we agreed in text messages a long time ago that you would invite me to watch the new season's games?" Gisele Bundchen cried even more sadly. She didn't remember all this!
Roger scratched his head and said nothing.

He said that when he "mailed tickets" to Andy that night, it seemed that he burned an extra season ticket.

It was too dark at the time and he couldn't see clearly, but now he was sure that he had indeed burned one extra one!
He had totally forgotten about it!

The woman who was about to become the world's No. 1 supermodel and who had rejected Leonardo Dicaprio was stood up by Roger.

On the court, Pierce cried for Roger.

In the players' tunnel, the rising modeling star was crying for Roger.

Roger is indeed a man of great influence.
-
Larry Bird and I always racked our brains to figure out how to beat each other, so we never dared to slack off. But Roger, he couldn't experience this kind of fun, and this era of his would make him feel very lonely. I mean, there is no opponent in the world who is equal to Roger! At first we thought this opponent was Michael, and later we thought it was Tim. But Roger used his victory to tell us that he has no nemesis! ——Magic Johnson commented on Roger's easy victory over Duncan.

Look at the chaos of the Spurs. They just won a championship and it was so chaotic. Now, you know Roger is not only strong on the basketball court, right? He is a perfect player and a perfect leader! - Steve Jones talked about the internal conflicts of the Spurs during the game.

Roger is too good. He was also very good last season, but he was ignored because he didn't win the championship and MVP. My journalist friend told me that part of the reason Roger didn't win the MVP is that many people are a little tired of the ending of "Roger wins everything". This mentality affects the MVP voting. This reason is too ridiculous, but it doesn't matter. This season, Roger will win everything again. - Dominique Wilkins looks forward to the new season of the Hawks.

Since Roger came to Atlanta, Atlanta has received unprecedented attention, which is no less than the Olympics and lasts longer. In order to maintain a good city image and develop the cultural tourism industry, Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell decided to launch a special rectification campaign, and the Golden Club and other places became the focus of rectification. - Atlanta Military Police.

We have to pay attention to a detail. Tim Duncan has no grudges against Roger. Yes, he was the champion in 1999, but he and Roger never had a conflict, and they didn't even meet in the 98-99 season. What was the result? His end was so tragic. So Latrell and Shaq who have a grudge against Roger, you should be prepared. - "Slam Dunk".

(End of this chapter)