Champions Creed

Chapter 295 Chapter 294: How did you guess so accurately? (Monthly ticket requested!)
The Eagles' offense has struck fear into the hearts of the entire league, as the opener was followed by a string of consecutive wins.

In New York, the Hawks scored 126 points without going into overtime.

In Milwaukee, facing an opponent plagued by injuries, the Hawks blasted the Bucks with 114 points.

They scored 111 points in Toronto, and Vince Carter could only sigh after the game: "The Hawks can sweep the league however they want."

In the first four games, the Eagles were not limited to less than 110 points in any game.

In the small ball era, such scoring is commonplace and not worth mentioning at all.

But you have to know that this is an era where zone defense is beginning to be allowed. What's worse, this is an era where HandCheck and zone defense coexist. This is an era with the highest defensive intensity in history.

Therefore, the Eagles' high score is already shocking.

Below the Hawks, the second highest scoring team per game is the Dallas Mavericks, who also play fast, with an average score of no more than 105 points per game.

And the Hawks are currently averaging 117 points per game!
Far ahead!

Admittedly, this average score is a bit inflated at the moment, because the Knicks, who were determined to get the No. 1 pick and Yao Ming, simply lost all their face in the game against the Hawks.

If Tyronn Lue hadn't had a bad touch and failed to turn into Roger in garbage time, the Hawks would probably have scored over 130 points.

But even if this data drops later, it will most likely not be lower than that of the Mavericks.

The thin Steve Nash is unable to launch the gorgeous fast-paced whirlwind of this era, but Roger is fully capable of doing so.

Mike D'Antoni did exactly what he promised - next season, our offense will be the best by a wide margin!

The fault-first offense covered up the Eagles' declining defense, but there are some things that victory cannot completely cover up.

At a shareholders meeting at the beginning of the season, Bo Turner officially brought the issue to the table.

"We must renew Paul Pierce's contract in advance. This is the best way to prevent Roger from opting out of the contract!"

Beau Turner's topic really ruined the atmosphere of today's meeting. When all the shareholders were drooling over the financial report, someone suddenly jumped out and said that we were going to spend a lot of money next. This was enough to make all the joy disappear in an instant.

"Now is not the time to discuss this," Bruce Levinson waved his hand. "There is no need for us to renew the contract in advance. We can wait until next summer to make a decision."

"No, no, no, Roger's trust in us is already very low. Last season, because Ben was not renewed in advance, he went to Detroit this summer. He will no longer trust us. Do we really have to wait until Roger opts out of his contract before making a decision? You have to know that these beautiful financial reports are all brought by Roger! You don't really think that anyone would spend money to buy tickets just to see 38-year-old, sorry, 39-year-old Hakeem Olajuwon, do you?
If we lose him, we lose everything!"

It's a fact that 99% of the Eagles' appeal comes from Roger.

Bruce Levinson knew this very well. He was not like Rich DeVos a few years ago, who fantasized about replacing Roger with the Son of Orlando.

When Roger won three more championships in Atlanta, he had become an irreplaceable figure.

"We will open negotiations and try to get Paul. But my bottom line is two maximum salaries, Sean has no chance. In fact, because of the damn Scott Pippen, we have to pay three maximum salaries a season! That's it, tell Pete Babcock that negotiations with Paul will start soon."

Bruce Levinson stood up and left after he finished speaking, and the meeting ended.

Beau Turner didn't have everything figured out, but at least things were moving in the right direction.

The next day, news broke that Paul Pierce was discussing an early contract extension with the Hawks.

This news was deliberately leaked by the Eagles. The purpose was naturally to please Roger and send a message to Roger: Look, there is no need to be so tense between us. We know what we should and should not do.

The second effect of this information is that it makes Paul Pierce very happy. This is his first maximum salary, which means that the money he earns in one year in the future can be equivalent to what he earns in five years now.

This really worked. The players had fewer distracting thoughts in their minds and everyone was more focused on the game itself.

After the Hawks started with four consecutive wins, they defeated the Suns and Supersonics respectively.

In the game against the SuperSonics, Gary Payton felt even more desperate than he had in 1996.

As a defensive master, Gary Payton couldn't find any entry point to defend the Hawks.

As the media puts it, they are unrestrictable.

After the opening game, people laughed at Byron and Scott's incompetence and Jason Kidd's arrogance.

But now no one can laugh anymore, because the Hawks are reaping victories by sweeping the entire league.

All teams in the league are studying ways to contain the Hawks, but no one has a clue.

The efforts of all the teams in the league came to nothing on November 11th.

Facing the San Antonio Spurs, the best defensive team so far this season, the Hawks still scored 106 points and beat the Spurs by 13 points.

Popovich made many arrangements, such as using quick retreat, strangling Roger as soon as possible, and letting Duncan attack the Hawks' weak low post more.

But the Spurs still didn't get any chance to win.

At the end of the game, Duncan, who scored 34 points, was not happy at all: "They are too fast. After blocking one, there is the second one. After blocking the second one, there is the third one. We have to continue to find ways to limit the Hawks."

David Robinson said he had never seen such an offense before: "The Hawks had already shot before we got into position to defend, and we didn't even have time to set up a double team defense! It felt like your opponent rushed over and punched you before the boxing match even started!"

The Spurs' twin towers' helplessness made the entire league feel hopeless.

The Spurs have been very scary this season. Because of their zone defense, they have become the strongest defensive team in the league, limiting the opponent's points to 88 points per game.

In the entire league, only the Spurs, Pistons and 76ers can limit the opponent's average score to less than 90 points per game, and the Spurs are the best among these three teams.

If even the Spurs can't contain the Hawks, then other teams have no chance at all.

But Roger disagreed with the Twin Towers' statement: "It's as if they could defend us last season."

Roger is used to dominating the league, and for him, winning consecutive games is the normal performance of the team.

As a victorious emperor, he could not empathize with the despair of others.

What David Stern found strange was that in this season when the league officially began to allow zone defense, the Western Conference was also dominated by an offensive team.

While the Atlanta Hawks have won consecutive games with their fast-paced style, the Sacramento Kings have a record of 6 wins and 1 loss so far.

They also broke through the blockade of most strong defensive teams, and the only game they lost was to the Dallas Mavericks, who are also an offensive team.

Except in fencing, the king feared no powerful opponent.

The Sacramento Kings' Princeton team last season already amazed the league, but it was not as dominant as it is this year. This year, the biggest change for the Kings is that they replaced the White Chocolate at the No. 1 position with the famous White Devil Mike Bibby.

Mike Bibby's style is completely opposite to White Chocolate's. He prefers a more practical style of play, has excellent personal offensive power, and can influence the game on the defensive end.

If you need box office, you'll like white chocolate. But if you like winning, Mike Bibby is the best choice.

The addition of Mike Bibby has given the Kings real strength to compete for the championship, and his personal offensive ability has given the Kings a player who can tough out opponents.

Mike Bibby is almost an all-around scorer. His strong body ensures his excellent finishing at the basket. His jump shots are always in the hot zone regardless of the distance or angle.

Just looking at the statistics, you'll find that his score isn't high.

But that's because he only takes over when he needs to.

Mike Bibby completely transformed the Kings and also gave Chris Webber confidence.

Webber really believed that he was very close to the championship.

If they can beat the Atlanta Hawks in the next game, the Sharks will no longer be able to tease them as the "Queens of Sacramento."

The night before the game, the Kings team arrived in Atlanta full of confidence. Mike Bibby did not forget to call his childhood friend Stephen Jackson to ask him out for dinner.

The friendship between Stephen Jackson and Mike Bibby began when they were students. Stephen Jackson thought Bibby was a weak white guard at the bottom of the food chain and was ready to teach him a lesson. However, he found out that the guy was not white at all, nor was he weak at all, and even had an extremely foul mouth.

The two people who had never met before became friends and admired each other's fighting spirit. This friendship continued to grow stronger over time.

Even Stephen Jackson was selected by the Suns in the second round because Mike Bibby's mother made the connection and let the Suns give Jackson a tryout opportunity.

In the past, Stephen Jackson would definitely not refuse an invitation from such a good friend.

He insisted on taking Bibby to be a magician for a night so that they could see the beauty of the rainbow up close.

But today he was uncharacteristically like that: "Forget it Mike, I have to keep practicing. I don't want to sleep on your couch after getting cut."

"Why try so hard Stephen, you're going to lose tomorrow anyway."

"Shut up, Mike."

"I won't. You will lose tomorrow. I'm not kidding. The whole league has made a mistake. They all try to use defense to resist the strongest offense. Have they ever thought that only offense can contain offense? They always say that their defense is not strong enough, but they never think that it is actually their offense that is too weak. So far, no team has really taken advantage of the sequelae left by Big Ben's departure. We will make good use of this in the next game."

Mike Bibby is not joking. This is the experience summed up by Kings coach Rick Adelman.

The Sacramento Kings have won consecutive games since the beginning of the season. No team's defense can defend Princeton with Mike Bibby joining them, but they only lost to the Dallas Mavericks, who have a stronger offense.

This is an inspiration. It is a pipe dream to want to defend the Hawks, but what if you compete with him in offense?
Adelman is confident about this game. Ben Wallace's departure will give Princeton offense countless easy opportunities to attack the basket.

In the next game, Adelman promised that he would make Atlanta people miss their DPOY very much.

Mike Bibby agrees with Adelman's judgment, so he is also full of confidence.

"Get it Stephen? You're going to be sad tomorrow anyway, so why not come out and have some fun tonight."

"Shut up, Mike!" Stephen Jackson emphasized again.

"You can't run away from reality. Even if Roger comes, I can still say this. You will lose tomorrow night."

In fact, Mike Bibby certainly wouldn't dare to do that. Although he likes to talk trash, he is not an idiot.

He was well aware of the sage saying, "Don't upset the truth."

But who cares? Roger is not here anyway, so what's wrong with me pretending to be cool?
But soon, a voice came from the receiver that made Mike Bibby's spine shiver: "Tell your good buddy Mike that I admire his courage."

"WTF? Stephen, who was that talking just now!?"

"I told you to shut up, idiot!"

"You should have told me Roger was next to you!"

"I told you to shut up!"

"Hey fucking Roger, can you hear me? I just..."

"Mike, stop talking. Roger is taking a shower."

"Did he say anything?"

"He just said he admired your courage, but I think you're probably done. You really should go out and relax tonight, because tomorrow night is going to be a long one."

Bibby hung up the phone, stood there for a few seconds, then dragged his heavy steps onto the team bus.

On the bus, teammates were all excited about the upcoming game tomorrow.

"We're about to crush the best team in this league!"

"Everyone will be surprised tomorrow."

"The Eagle conquers the Alliance, and we kill the Eagle."

Seeing Mike Bibby's heavy expression, Webber shouted at him, "Mike, what's wrong? Are you mistaken for a gym coach handing out flyers again?"

The whole team burst into laughter. Mike Bibby's white appearance and big physique earned him the nickname "fitness coach" in the team.

Bibby looked at his happy teammates, but still couldn't smile at all.

Seeing that Bibby was still unhappy, Webber patted him on the shoulder and made another joke to him: "Don't be sad, man. In Atlanta, as long as you don't call Roger and tell him that you will win tomorrow, there is nothing to worry about."

"How did you guess so accurately?"

"what!?"

Chris Webber's smile gradually disappeared.

This damn white devil!

(End of this chapter)