Champions Creed

Chapter 254 Chapter 253: Let’s get the first championship after returning to the throne first! (Please give me a monthly ticket!)
Phil Jackson really thinks the Lakers have a chance to be the final winner, even though almost everyone now thinks the final winner will be the invincible Hawks.

He has absolute confidence in Kobe.

Kobe Bryant spent so much time arranging this dinner and enthusiastically invited himself and Shark to his home, just to tell everyone that he can now play team basketball.

It's Amazing!

Before this, Phil Jackson thought there was a nickname that was more suitable for Kobe than Peter Pan - Werewolf.

What are werewolves like in fantasy stories? They may be competent husbands, gentle fathers or even honest farmers. But after they transform into werewolves on a full moon night, they will lose all reason, completely unleash their beastly nature, and hurt everyone, even the people closest to them.

Kobe is such a werewolf, and when his normal personality controls him, he is a pretty good super deputy.

But once Kobe turns into a wolf, someone will suffer.

Maybe it'll be the opponent, maybe it'll be the Lakers themselves, but like a werewolf, he'll definitely hurt one of them.

Although the Lakers tied the team record of 69 wins this season, Kobe actually suddenly turned into a wolf in quite a few games.

Sometimes, Lakers fans would sigh in the stands: "This is definitely the closest genius to Jordan and Roger!"

But sometimes, fans would wail in the stands: "Damn it, don't let Kobe Bryant get the ball anymore!"

He would suddenly become paranoid at certain times and start to make crazy and unreasonable shots, as if he wanted to win the game by singles. When this happened, his persistent strong shots would ruin the game.

Kobe is sometimes a dutiful helper, and sometimes he wants to prove that he can take over everything.

He has been wavering between man and wolf.

In fact, this is a common problem among young talents.

Before winning the championship, Michael Jordan would also suddenly turn into a wolf at some point. The difference was that Jordan could make those shots while Kobe couldn't.

After taking over the Bulls, it took the Zen Master a long time to get Michael Jordan to accept the triangle offense, trying to kill the wolf part of Jordan's personality.

So, Jordan began to mature, started to win championships, and established a dynasty with Pippen.

Don't forget how the Bulls won the most crucial game of their first championship: Michael Jordan completely abandoned his werewolf identity, gave up inefficient singles in the fourth quarter, attracted the defense and continuously passed the ball to John Patterson who was in an open position, allowing a role player to kill the game.

And everything that happened to Kobe yesterday made Phil Jackson believe that Kobe, like Jordan in the 1991 playoffs, has completely eliminated his werewolf side!

Phil Jackson certainly knew what would happen once this kind of genius was "de-wolfed".

So he is really confident and he thinks there will be a dramatic change in the team.

The Atlanta Hawks will serve as a foil for the Los Angeles players with all their brilliant achievements!

Without further ado, let Jeanie Buss cheer for the championship in advance tonight!
Kobe is actually also thinking about this question. As the most successful basketball player in the world, Roger must know the "secret" of success very well.

So why was he still willing to play like he did in the last game?

As the strongest player on the team, he was very restrained in his shots throughout the game and spent most of the time passing the ball to his teammates.

G1狂砍62分的罗杰和G2那个23分12次助攻的罗杰，究竟谁才是掌握“秘密”的那个罗杰？

In Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, Kobe decided to imitate Roger who scored 23+12.

Kobe was still operating in the triangle offense system as usual, actively running, actively passing the ball, and only shooting when it was time to shoot.

然后他高效的拿下了18分6个助攻5个篮板的数据，湖人105比96击溃爵士，总比分2比0！

At the end of the game, the Shark excitedly hugged Kobe.

"Boy, we can conquer the world! I love you!"

Phil Jackson also walked onto the court and touched Kobe's head, showing unprecedented intimacy: "You are now a true champion."

Kobe was a little confused, so, is this the ultimate secret of basketball?
Kobe didn't think any further about it. After all, he liked winning.

Well, the premise is that you can win.

Otherwise, the poisonous snake may bite you back so hard that you won't even know how you died.

The Lakers lead the Jazz 2-0, and the era of Karl Malone and John Stockton is really over.

In fact, if Duncan hadn't been injured, the Salt Lake City duo might not have made it to the Western Conference Finals at all.

Although the Lakers still have to win two more games to advance, these two games can already explain a lot.

There is no way the Jazz can beat the Lakers. Absolutely not.

Watching Kobe's performance, Logo was certain that the moment he had been waiting for since forming the OK team would become a reality in the glory of the millennium.

This is an era full of opportunities, and the glory of the OK combination will surely bloom in this new era.

The Zen Master is right, at the end of the day, we have the best Kobe Bryant!
-
On the other hand, the series between the Hawks and the Heat went to Miami.

But Miami fans were far from excited.

Whether it was G1 or G2, the Heat gave people the feeling that they had no power to fight back.

Although G2 interrupted the Hawks' streak of double-digit wins, the incident itself was quite despairing.

Since when did allowing the opponent to win by only single digit points become something worth celebrating?

At the beginning of G3, Roger fed the ball to his teammates like in the previous game, but the Hawks players did not feel well.

Pippen kept missing shots from the outside, and Pierce couldn't find his shooting feeling either.

Pierce wanted to attack the restricted area, but Alonzo Mourning guarded the basket firmly, keeping Pierce's finishing rate very low.

As the best defensive player for two consecutive years, Mourning's rim protection quality is still very high.

In G1, when Roger scored 62 points, most of his points came from mid-range and long-range shots, so it really can't be blamed on Mourning.

The rest of the Eagles also faded, and the nine-game winning streak seemed to have sucked all their strength away.

All the Heat players smelled victory. This was a great opportunity for them to win the game, and it was also their last chance to win the series.

As long as the total score of the series becomes 1 to 2, the series can still struggle a little longer.

1-2 and 3-0 can divide a team into a contender and a loser.

However, heroes always appear to save the world at the end of the world.

In the previous game, Roger, who pretended to be Jason Kidd, was exposed and took over the game again.

The Heat continued to use their over-teaming against Roger, but the Hawks changed their formation to deal with it. Lenny Wilkens reused Eric Snow in the second half of the game, and Roger switched to playing off the ball, becoming a pure shooting guard.

In addition to defense, Snow is also very strong in organizational skills.

In the original timeline, he was the one responsible for providing Allen Iverson with a steady supply of ammunition every night.

The Hawks' offense then became very classic, with Eric Snow holding the ball at the top of the arc ready to make a pass. Roger bypassed the screens of the muscular guys, ran to the right position, caught the ball, and finished.

Roger played very concisely with simple movements. Even when he dribbled the ball, he would not dribble more than twice, and he tried his best to complete the shot before the double-team was formed.

When Roger started to score consecutively, the Heat would use fake zone defense to block his passing route.

So Eric Snow started looking for Pippen and Marion through the back door.

The sharp off-ball cutting skills of these two players were not available to the Hawks last season. Such offensive resources are enough to help Roger break through when being trapped.

No matter how hard the Heat try, the situation of last season will not happen again.

最终罗杰全场轰下36分，以87比81击溃热火，将系列赛总比分变成了3比0。

Ten consecutive wins in the playoffs!

Once again, the Heat played a game that was very close to victory. The Heat, who were desperate, worked very hard. Mourning, Mashburn and Alan Houston all played for 45 minutes. They really had a good chance to win and keep their hope.

But Sprewell's 8-for-1 shot ruined everything.

Ever since being knocked to his knees by Roger in G1, Sprewell has completely lost his energy.

After all, that was the first time in his career that he had been so undignified.

That was the first time in his career that he almost lost his life on the basketball court.

I once heard from a buddy that he once fucked his ex-girlfriend's best friend to the point of respiratory alkalosis because she screamed too loudly and breathed too frequently.

At first the madman didn't believe it, because the guy just didn't want to talk about the details of that night, and it sounded like he was bragging.

But now he believes it.

It's really easy to get that thing if you're fucked too hard.

This huge blow has made him unable to get over that night until now.

Now whenever he has the ball he gets nervous, afraid of making mistakes, afraid of missing the shot, and at a loss as to what to do.

He doesn't dare to shoot or break through, and when he encounters opposition, he hurriedly looks for someone to pass the ball to.

Roger felt that all this was so familiar, and later he realized that Sprewell had the beauty of a Chinese men's basketball guard playing in the World Cup.

When your mentality is broken by the opponent, your brain will go blank when you get the ball and you have no idea what to do.

This is the symptom that the madman is experiencing now.

Roger thought that Game 1 of the series would be the moment when the madman woke up from his dream, but it didn't happen. The madman just fell from a beautiful dream into a nightmare.

The absence of the team's second-leading scorer caused the Heat to miss the best chance to win the series and wasted all the efforts of others.

3-0, the Eastern Conference Finals can already be decided in advance.

The Lakers are left next!

At the end of the game, Pat Riley and Lenny Wilkens hugged each other with despair.

The Miami Heat, which he built, is about to disintegrate this summer after experiencing an extremely brief moment of glory.

Yes, Riley has made up his mind to rebuild. The 3-0 record made him realize that this team has no hope. He needs top talent, he needs a Magic Johnson. After experiencing repeated failures during the Knicks and Heat periods, the public opinion often mentioned when commenting on Riley that "without Magic, he doesn't know how to win the championship", in order to belittle the coach with four rings.

In the past, Riley scoffed at such claims.

But now he admits he needs the next Magic Johnson.

It’s not that he wants a tall point guard, but he needs the next superstar, the next top talent.

If such top talent cannot be acquired through trade or signing, then he will choose to give up!

In the playoffs, it’s ultimately the stars’ turn.

The Miami fans were in deathly silence as Roger exacted his revenge in a ruthless manner.

The sweep was already inevitable, and tonight's fight had consumed all the passion of the Heat players.

Bill Walton shook his head: "That's why we say Roger's reign has never been interrupted. Last season, the Heat took seven games to get rid of Roger, but now? Roger used the most persuasive method and shut everyone up without any delay."

That's right. In the original timeline, why do people always ignore the fact that Michael Jordan was defeated by a shark?

It's not just because he returned hastily that year, but more because he immediately swept the Magic in the second year.

4-0 is enough to shut everyone up.

This is where dominance comes from.

You can beat me once in a while, but I will definitely beat you back in the most convincing way possible!

The reason why many stars seem to have no dominance is actually because they lack such a series.

You can imagine if the story became: Michael lost to the Sharks, and everyone was expecting him to come back the next year, but he made a decision to join the Pistons with Grant Hill.

Has it suddenly lost all its legendary value?
This is what Roger is doing now. This 4-0 is very important and it is necessary for him to continue his rule.

After the game, Roger returned to the locker room and was about to celebrate with everyone when he received a call from his agent Eric Fleischer.

Roger found it a little strange because Fleischer rarely bothered him during the playoffs.

Is it because of the contract renewal?
This summer, Roger's five-year, $5 million contract will expire. His annual salary of $1.2 million this year will not be surpassed by anyone in the coming years.

But under the new labor agreement, contract renewal negotiations will become very, very simple.

After all, the maximum salary is completely fixed, and everyone no longer has to argue over the contract amount.

Therefore, there was no need for Eric Fleischer to call Roger to renew his contract.

Roger had no idea what to make of the call, but he answered it anyway.

"Roger, I'm so sorry to interrupt this wonderful evening!"

"Just get straight to the point. There's no need to be polite between us."

"Tomorrow, Ted Turner will go to Miami to meet you."

"For what?" If it was just a normal meeting, there would be no need for Fleischer to call and inform me.

"The merger failed and he had to sell the team. So, maybe he wants to discuss the future with you."

Roger's head buzzed.

Selling the team?

To be honest, Roger knew this day would come sooner or later.

It's like foreign gaming media only want to say that the final boss of Black Myth: Wukong is a character with a dog in order to avoid spoilers. But for Chinese players, this is no different from spoiling everything.

Roger also knew the spoiler content a long time ago and knew that Ted Turner would sell the team because he would not be the owner of the Eagles in 2024.

However, Roger did not know any details about the team's transaction.

So he didn't expect that this would happen so early.

It seems that it is really necessary to meet.
-
The captain no longer has the glory he once had.

Roger had met this old man at a charity dinner before joining the Eagles, and he had always had a light in his eyes over the years.

These wealthy people never have the tiredness of middle-aged and elderly people. Don't forget that he was involved in the sex scandal of the Gold Club some time ago. This is enough to show that he is full of energy, because a man without energy will not go to such a place to spend money and ask for trouble.

But this time, Roger found that Ted Turner's eyes became dim and the energy disappeared from him.

Roger has seen this kind of look many times. Middle-aged men who are overwhelmed by social and family pressures often have this kind of gloomy look.

Seeing Roger walk into the meeting room, Ted Turner stood up politely and said, "Roger, I have always been unsure whether I should tell you this at this time, but I think you have the right to know the future of the team."

"You are my friend Ted, you can share your troubles with me." Roger shook hands with the captain and sat down.

As soon as he sat down, Ted Turner excitedly shouted: "It's all because of the damn Internet bubble!"

After that, Ted Turner told Roger about the Internet bubble in detail. In short, it was another accident that was enough to make Wall Street perform trapeze artists every day.

America Online, which merged with Time Warner, was greatly affected and its stock price plummeted. This largest merger in history turned out to be the largest loss in history.

If Time Warner had not merged with AOL, this turmoil would not have affected Ted Turner.

But it was precisely because of the merger that everything was ruined.

"How much did you lose personally?" Roger asked.

"Seven billion dollars!" Ted Turner did not hide it from Roger.

70 billion, even for a capitalist, this is a terrifying number.

In the future, Mark Cuban, who is considered a wealthy boss by many people, was worth 2011 billion in 23 when the Mavericks won the championship.

In other words, Ted Turner almost lost three 2011 Cubans.

"Okay, I understand your decision."

"No, Roger, it's not what you think!" Ted Turner became very excited. "I have no intention of selling the team. Even if I have suffered such a serious loss, I don't want to give up the Eagles and Warriors. Basketball and baseball are my hobbies, not just business. I invest passion in these two sports, not money. What's more, these two teams are still making real profits.

But the merger with AOL also merged the Hawks and Warriors, because those two teams were also owned by Time Warner.

"Currently, I own 41% of the shares in the Hawks and 39% of the shares in the Warriors. Due to serious losses, the board of directors unanimously passed a resolution to sell the Warriors and the Hawks, and I, with my diluted shares, have no say. Damn it, this is like snatching my two children from my hands! I bought the Warriors and the Hawks in the 70s, more than years ago, and I have feelings for these two teams! But those damn guys, they just want to sell existing assets to cash in and stop losses!"

Roger knew that the sale of the Eagles was irreversible because it was not Ted Turner's personal behavior.

This was an unexpected turmoil for the team.

Ted Turner adjusted his emotions and tried to calm himself down.

"What I want to say to you today is that even if I leave here, you don't need to worry too much. The closest company to taking over the Eagles is Atlanta Spirit LLC, a company that specializes in operating professional sports teams, currently owning the Atlanta Thrashers (ice hockey).

The shareholders of this company include Beau Turner, my youngest son, and Rutherford Seidel, my son-in-law. They will continue to support you unwaveringly after obtaining the franchise, and you can still regard the Eagles as your team!

Of course, the choice is yours. If you think you can have a better career elsewhere, I will bless you."

"Isn't your Russian friend Mikhail Prokhov interested in taking over the team?" Roger asked.

"He wants to, but many owners in the league don't want foreigners in the game. You know, if someone wants to buy or sell an NBA team, they must get the approval of the league committee, which is composed of all team owners. Only when three-quarters of the votes are in favor can the trading team be approved.

Obviously, Mikhail Prokhov doesn't have that kind of support. First of all, he's Russian. Second, most owners think he's another crazy guy who doesn't care about the luxury tax and will upset the league. I've already suffered a lot of criticism in this regard."

"I see. I'll think about it this summer, Ted. I wish you good luck and hope you get through this soon. If there's anything I can do to help, feel free to call me."

"Thanks for your well wishes and good luck to you, Roger."

After meeting with Ted Turner, Roger discussed the contract extension this summer with Eric Fleischer in detail in the hotel room.

The change of team owner will naturally have a great impact on the team.

When Ted Turner led the team, the team listened to Roger in everything. He allowed Roger to become a privileged player above the management. And Ted Turner didn't care about the high luxury tax. He could do anything for the championship. As he said, he invested in basketball with passion, not money.
But what if the team is changed? Can this situation still be maintained?

Roger and Fleischer had no doubt that Ted Turner's youngest son and son-in-law would provide support to Roger; they would definitely become Roger's men.

The question is, how much support can they provide?
After all, neither of them is the largest shareholder of Atlanta Spirit LLC, which has many shareholders. They are not operating the team as individual owners, but in the name of the company.

So how much do those two people really have the final say over? If Roger has a disagreement with management, how will they speak up for Roger?

All of these are unknowns.

Eric Fleischer suggested that Roger look at the free agent market, but Roger declined.

"In any case, Paul and Sean are both on rookie contracts with small contract amounts. Under the current labor agreement, rookies do not have the right to opt out of their contracts. So no matter who the management replaces, they will not be sold off. This means that they will be my long-term helpers, and this foundation will always be there. Therefore, I am still confident that I can fulfill my original promise, and I don't want to leave with empty words.

Okay, now, let's focus on the present. First, get the first championship after returning to the throne! "

The team sale controversy did not affect the Hawks. In Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat, who had already lost their spirit, were slaughtered by the Hawks with a 37-point victory. The Hawks completed their revenge with a 4-0 sweep and advanced to the finals with an exaggerated playoff record of 11 wins and 0 losses!
Pierce was excited; his nightmare was finally shattered.

In last year's Eastern Conference Finals Game 9, that night when he shot 1 out of , that key shot that led to the team's loss, has always been his nightmare.

Tonight, it's all over.

He crushed all fears with a 4-0 series.

Pierce couldn't stop crying and hugged Roger: "Damn it, how am I supposed to calm down!"

Roger hugged him and patted his back: "You don't need to be calm now, just let it out."

The next day, the cover of Sports Illustrated showed Sprewell kneeling before Roger.

The big headline directed the fight to the Lakers:

"Miami thought they had the best Latrell Sprewell, but he still had to bow down to God."

Phil Jackson looked at the magazine, took a deep breath nervously, and thought back to the days when he competed with Roger.

Here he comes, Roger, the most intimidating player in history, is really here again!
(The second update today may be later than the normal 17:, but it will not be postponed)
(End of this chapter)