Champions Creed

Chapter 271 270: He is everywhere (asking for monthly tickets!)
Lenny Wilkens' strategy is like football, dividing the players into "defense group" and "offense group".

It’s just that Roger needs to appear in both the defense and offense groups.

Now, the Los Angeles Lakers are closer to victory than the Philadelphia 76ers were before.

Their powerful lineup has already swept the entire league, and now they are pushing the defending champions to the brink.

Kobe enjoyed the battle, not because the Lakers were leading by 12 points, but because Grant Hill and O'Neal also devoted themselves to the game today.

This is the feeling he wants, the feeling of fighting Roger to the end with all his might!
However, Kobe still did not relax. The 12 points in the final quarter were a big advantage, but he knew who he was facing.

What's more, the Lakers would lose Shaq at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

This is Phil Jackson's rotation strategy. He doesn't want the huge Shark to play the whole quarter.

So for the first four minutes of the game, he would let the Sharks rest on the sidelines.

In the next four minutes, Kobe and Grant Hill took turns to rest, each for about two minutes.

In the last four minutes, the big3 teamed up again to kill the game.

This mature rotation strategy has been used in many previous games, so Lenny Wilkens is also clear about the Zen Master's rotation plan.

In fact, in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter, Roger faced only two of the big three.

This is why he has the confidence to catch up with the score through defense.

However, Roger has to do more than just play the entire fourth quarter. He also has to be as efficient as possible while doing so.

Roger has a heavy responsibility, but he doesn't look nervous. This is Roger's eighth season in his career, and he has experienced too many times before that when he needs to take responsibility.

He is used to taking responsibility.

Bill Walton also believes the battle is not over.

"Roger will never let his team hit the iceberg and sink like the Titanic. He will not disappear at the critical moment and will not let anyone give up the game. Victory means so much to Roger. We can guarantee one thing, at the end of the game, Roger must have run out of bullets in his gun. So the fourth quarter will be more intense, let's wait and see."

When the timeout ended, the entire Eagles team stood up and put their hands on Roger's shoulders.

Michael Reid just stood aside. Unable to do anything at this critical moment, he felt out of tune with the team that was trying hard.

But Roger glanced at Eder in the crowd and said, "Michael, aren't you wearing an Eagles jersey? If you don't play well, just keep practicing. No one will blame you! Get over here!"

Reed immediately ran into the crowd and put his hand on Roger's shoulder.

Then, Roger shouted "power" three times, and everyone followed suit. The five members of the "defense team" who were about to play felt empowered, and Roger successfully boosted morale in the fourth quarter.

Michael Reed sat back at the end of the bench and looked back at his parents.

Yes, Reed is another lucky black man with a father and a mother.

His father, James Reed, is a rare moral role model among black people. As a high school basketball star, he not only did not abandon his family, but also gave up the invitation to play college basketball for his wife who was suffering from cancer. He started earning money to support his family early and never left his wife.

When Reed's parents saw him turn around, they smiled at him and said, "Come on, Michael. You will definitely seize the opportunity next time you play!"

Reed turned his head back, very sad.

Because he knew that he would not have another chance to play tonight.

He has screwed up.

"Hey," Pierce, who would take a break at the beginning of the fourth quarter, patted Reid on the shoulder. "Don't think too much. Everyone has good and bad times. Forget about it. If you really want to do something, wave the towel hard, believe in him, and shout for God."

Reed curled his lips. Influenced by his parents, he was a devout Christian. He would put a Bible in every car and every room of his house.

In his view, there is only one God.

But he will still support Roger and pray that he can get another chance to play.

When the game started, the Lakers indeed replaced Shark. Currently, only Grant Hill and Kobe are in control of the team.

The Lakers attacked first in the fourth quarter. The Hawks' lineup was very strange, using Pippen and Bowen at the same time.

Pippen's offense was terrible today and Bowen wasn't much of a threat.

With these two people partnering up, Roger will definitely feel the unbearable intensity on the offensive end.

As a result, Kobe and Grant Hill encountered extremely tight defense first.

In the fourth quarter, Pippen faced Kobe and Bowen stood in front of Grant Hill.

Grant Hill is the first starting point of the Lakers' offense. His breakthrough disrupts the opponent's defensive formation and is the key to Shark and Kobe's easy scoring.

This time, Grant Hill broke through as usual, but because Bowen was standing on the right, Hill broke to the left.

But as soon as Hill accelerated and took a step forward, Roger and Bowen surrounded him!

Excluding the dirty parts of Bowen's defense, the core ability that made him selected to the All-Defensive Team eight times lies in "guidance."

Bowen is very good at predicting the opponent's offensive routes, and his sophisticated defensive footwork can block the opponent's route and force them into a defensive trap.

Grant Hill was stuck on one side and was forced to rush towards Roger's side.

Grant Hill was pinned down, but Kobe had already shaken off Pippen and cut inside.

He used a beautiful ground ball to pass the ball through the gap between Roger and Bowen, and Kobe jumped directly to attack the basket after receiving the basketball.

In the air, Kobe confronted Big Ben, stabilized his center of gravity and threw the ball steadily.

Although there was confrontation, Kobe was very confident in this shot and there was a high probability that it would go in.

Once again, Roger appeared in time and fanned the basketball away while it was still rising.

In this round, Roger successfully assisted in the defense of Grant Hill and Kobe at the same time.

The ball was picked up by Pippen, who dribbled as fast as he could, but even so Kobe easily caught up with and entangled him.

Three years ago, this would have been a beautiful one-on-one dunk. Even if someone like Patrick Ewing was standing under the basket, he would have been dunked over by Pippen in a fast break and would have watched Pippen step over him.

But now, Pippen doesn't have that speed.

He truly felt what it means to be in the sunset this season.

But at least it’s not dark yet.

After advancing to two steps away from the three-point line, Kobe had completely blocked Pippen. However, Pippen did not stop the offense. He stared at Bowen who followed from the middle, and actually used a no-look pass to lead Marion who inserted from the right into the penalty area and easily dunked!

The score difference returned to 10 points, and the Hawks' strategy of pressure defense + counterattack worked.

O'Neal half-lying on the chair with his legs crossed, not caring about the Hawks' goal: "Hey, these guys are struggling to death. As long as Paul Pierce doesn't set me up again tonight, we can't lose."

The Zen Master ignored the shark and stood up and yelled, "Pay attention to assist defense!"

But the Lakers made another mistake. Kobe dribbled past Pippen this time, but he was caught by Marion as soon as he started.

Without Shark, the Lakers' inside threat is almost negligible, so Marion can help Pippen clean up the mess.

Faced with the encirclement, Kobe made a completely different choice from Grant Hill. He jumped up and shot directly.

But at the moment of passing the ball, the experienced Pippen acted in time and cut the ball away!
Kobe also reacted quickly, picked up the ball again, and then passed it to Grant Hill hastily.

This was a wrong decision. Such a hasty pass would have no chance of bypassing Roger and reaching Hill.

"Roger made the steal, he was everywhere!"

Amid Bill Walton's shouts and the cheers of Atlanta fans, Roger counterattacked with a slam dunk.

The score difference returned to single digits, only 8 points.

The Zen master frowned, but soon relaxed his brows.

How long can Bowen and Pippen keep up this pressure? How long can Roger keep up this pressure?
It was only a matter of time before their defense was overwhelmed.

However, in subsequent games, the Hawks' strong defense was always able to contain Kobe and Hill.

It's not like they couldn't score a single goal, but the Lakers' advantage was getting smaller.

After four minutes, the Shark couldn't stand it anymore: "Enough! It's my turn, Phil! Kobe is a piece of shit, he can't even finish off the opponent!"

The Lakers took a timeout, Kobe was replaced, Grant Hill and Shark were on the court, and the Lakers only led by 7 points.

The Sharks were looking to wreak havoc, but after one minute on the court, O’Neal didn’t even touch the ball!

Big Ben's forward movement is something that O'Neal is accustomed to, but today, there is not only Big Ben between the Shark and Grant Hill, but also Roger!
Grant Hill wanted to use a breakthrough to disrupt the Eagles' formation and wait for an opportunity to feed the Sharks.

But with Bowen's top-level guidance and Roger's backup defense, Hill couldn't break through at all.

Solve the problem yourself with mid-range and long-range shots?

If it were Kobe, he could use this move to kill Bowen.

But Grant Hill's mid-range shooting level is obviously not as good as Kobe's.

Yes, Hill has made great progress in his mid-range and long-range shooting since last season, but it does not mean that he has reached the level of Kobe, Roger and Jordan.

A minute later, the shark finally caught the ball.

But before the ball could even get warm, Big Ben immediately committed a foul.

What follows is the classic two-free throw and one-make segment.

The Lakers still scored, and maybe they could lose fewer points if the clock was stopped, which is exactly what a chasing team needs.

In the two minutes that Shark and Grant Hill played together, the Hawks narrowed the gap to 4 points.

Finally, Kobe, who had rested well, replaced Grant Hill and formed the classic OK combination with Shark.

Roger directly defended Kobe alone, which made Kobe start to transform into a wolf again after a long time.

But in fact, every time Kobe breaks through, Pippen will assist in defense in time.

Finally, Kobe stopped pursuing singles on his third attempt, broke through to attract the defense and passed the ball to the Shark who was in deep position.

As soon as the Shark received the ball, he jumped up and forced his way to the basket, but it was too late to commit a foul.

But after O'Neal lifted the basketball, a huge force pressed the ball onto the backboard!

Roger once again relied on quick assist defense to disrupt the attacks of both OK players!
The Shark was furious. He couldn't believe that he, as the dominant player under the basket, was hit by Roger!
Roger immediately made a long pass and found Pippen who was running in the front.

After completing the pass, Roger pointed at Phil Jackson on the sidelines with both hands, and then made a pause gesture: "Shout it, Phil, hurry up and call a timeout, after all, you are almost finished!"

Pippen used up his last bit of strength to complete this fast break dunk, and the Hawks were only one point behind. Then the Lakers really suspended the game, and Philips Arena seemed to have an earthquake!

Relying on excellent defense and counterattack, the Hawks narrowed the 4-point gap to 14 point with 12 minutes and 1 seconds left in the game.

Roger was hugged by all his teammates on the court. In these few minutes, he scored 8 points, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and was everywhere.

全场也已经累计了43分4个篮板8次助攻4次抢断3次盖帽的恐怖数据。

Bill Walton said a terrible fact: "Obviously, when the big three cannot be on the court at the same time, the Lakers have no way to deal with Roger! Whether it is Kobe with Grant, Shaq with Kobe, or Grant with Shaq, no matter how the Lakers rotate, they are no match for Roger! Only when the big three are on the court at the same time can the Lakers control the game! This is Roger's strength, two people can't hold him down!"

Phil Jackson agreed with Bill Walton that two superstars could not handle Roger. But fortunately, the big three will all appear next.

Now, I should be able to kill him completely, right?

During this timeout, Lenny Wilkens replaced the "defense team" with the "offense team".

Looking at Roger who had been defending at full power for 8 minutes, he still asked uneasily.

"Is it okay?"

"Lanni, you mean, I won't have the strength to stab the Lakers with the knife? Don't worry, I will definitely stab the knife into their chest!"

After the break, Roger stood up immediately. He didn't look tired at all, and even looked a little impatient.

After Roger came on the court, he picked up the basketball on the ground, held the ball with one hand, and walked towards the Lakers big3 without fear.

Big3 looked at Roger who was walking towards him with the ball in one hand, as if he saw a warrior walking towards him with a knife in one hand.

O'Neal clenched his fists. There were clearly three people on their side, but why was there this damn feeling of oppression?

A photographer from Sports Illustrated captured the scene.

In the photo, Roger, who was holding the ball in one hand and walking towards Lakers big3 alone, had a firm expression, as if he was ready to die, while Lakers big3's face was filled with panic and fatigue.

This will be the cover of the next issue of Sports Illustrated, and it will also be one of the most famous images of Roger's career.

Roger walked up to the Lakers' big three and handed the ball to referee Tony Brothers: "Take the ball, Tony. Sound the death knell for the Lakers."

"Shut up Roger, there are three of us this time!" O'Neal retorted angrily.

"That's exactly what I want. It's too boring to come at you two by two. I'll finish you off all at once, right now."

On the bench, Michael Reid was shocked by Roger's fearlessness.

At that moment, he couldn't help but wave the towel and shout for God.

Reed now believes that there is more than one God.

The God who controls everything on the basketball court is right before his eyes.

(End of this chapter)