Champions Creed

Chapter 309 Chapter 308: Rational ruthlessness is the weapon for survival (asking for monthly tickets!)

In 2024, the Miami Heat will hold a statue unveiling ceremony for Dwyane Wade.

On social media, the Heat official account said: "The only GOAT in our team's history is about to receive the highest honor in basketball. Don't miss it."

Soon, Dwyane Wade posted another update on his social media in response to the Heat calling him the GOAT in team history.

"There is a player in the Miami Heat who fought side by side with me and led the team to win the championship. He made great contributions both on and off the court. He is also the GOAT of the Heat."

Just when all LeBron fans were looking forward to the end, the last sentence of Wade's post was: "He is Udonis Haslem."

You can imagine the mood of LeBron fans at that time. They felt that they were fooled and they were very disappointed. They madly disliked this post and reported it for "spreading false information".

This top-notch fake dribble is more terrifying than any of Wade's fake dribble during his peak period.

The level of disappointment among Pistons fans at this point is about the same as that of LeBron fans in 2024.

The Pistons looked like they had a good chance of winning the game all game long.

At one point they suffocated the entire Hawks team, even Roger, the omnipotent god, was overwhelmed.

Few teams can keep Roger scoreless for as long as four minutes unless he's on the bench.

But the Pistons did it. The combined defense of Artest and Ben Wallace made it difficult for this super scorer who had won the scoring title for seven consecutive years to move forward.

When the Hawks replaced Jeff Hornacek, all Pistons fans felt that this was a sign that the Hawks were at their wit's end. The Hawks were so helpless that they could only try their luck by replacing Jeff Hornacek, an old guy who hadn't played for a year. That meant they were not far from failure.

All Detroit Pistons supporters raised their expectations to the highest point at that moment.

As a result, they had their own "He's Udonis Haslem" incident.

It was precisely those few minutes when Jeff Hornacek was on the court that gave Roger some breathing space and laid the foundation for his final outburst.

Well, Paul Pierce and Richard Hamilton also made indelible contributions. After the game, many sports channels showed a picture of Roger sitting down to rest when the conflict broke out.

Many Detroit fans and even players felt regretful. If there had been no conflict and Roger had not been allowed to rest for those few minutes, would he still have been able to explode in the final moments?
This can only be an if, the fact is, the Detroit Pistons are already 1 to 2 behind. No matter how many assumptions are made, it can't change the outcome of this game.

After G3, Roger hadn't recovered until the next day. He felt exhausted and wanted to lie on the big bed in the hotel for a day. It would be even better if there were a few more gold medal technicians.

Playing against Artest and Ben Wallace is definitely the hardest thing in the world.

Roger had invested too much energy, and the burst at the last moment yesterday had drained all of Roger's energy. When adrenaline drops, the exhaustion left by this extreme squeeze will spread throughout the body.

To be honest, Roger couldn't remember the last time this happened. After the game, he couldn't recover the next day.

The Detroit Pistons are indeed worthy of the title of "the strongest Eastern Conference Finals opponent the Hawks have ever encountered."

But "the strongest Eastern Conference Finals opponent" and "invincible opponent" are two different concepts.

Yesterday's victory destroyed the Pistons' confidence and built up the Hawks' confidence.

Roger beat himself until his hands were covered in blood, but he finally made a crack in the iron wall.

As long as a crack appears, the iron wall is no longer an iron wall.

Sooner or later it will collapse.

Before the start of Game 4 of the series, the league presented Big Ben with the Defensive Player of the Year award at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

This makes Big Ben the sixth player in NBA history to win DPOY back-to-back, which is enough to make him one of the "best defensive players in history."

In his acceptance speech, he told the story of himself and Charles Oakley. He worked hard to cut people's hair in order to save money to go to Oakley's training camp, where he met his lifelong mentor. If Oakley hadn't helped him contact the school to provide an environment for Big Ben to play basketball, he might have been like Tim Duncan, who had to stay in a small town like San Antonio to make a living by cutting people's hair.

He recounted the story of his growth from a substitute to DPOY in Atlanta, most of which was about Roger. Being around Roger really gave him the winning gene.

Finally, he told the story of Detroit. He loves his teammates and fans here, and he hopes to bring honor to this city.

Big Ben is a very inspirational character. He grew up in a small town, played in community college, was not selected in the draft, and then became a DPOY with a maximum salary. This is an incredible leap.

At the end of his speech, Ben shouted with red eyes: "No one can kill your dream!"

His story makes Detroit fans full of hope for the game, hoping that Big Ben's miracle will also happen to the Pistons.

But cruelly, the Detroit Pistons lost in G4.

In this game, the person who stabbed the Pistons' chest with a sharp knife became Paul Pierce.

The Pistons still piled their two best defensive resources on Roger. Even because he got the second DPOY, Big Ben was like a chicken with blood injected. He was always able to switch seamlessly between Roger and the four position, making it very difficult for Roger and Marion to score a goal.

But Paul Pierce got many one-on-one opportunities with Hamilton, just like in the previous game, and it was precisely this that killed the Pistons.

Paul Pierce was in very average condition in the last game. He failed to produce much against Hamilton and was even ridiculed by Artest for it.

But you can't expect a guy like Pierce to not find his form for two consecutive games.

Especially after yesterday's morale-boosting victory.

Today, Pierce scored 31 points and completely destroyed Richard Hamilton's defense.

Roger was suppressed by Artest and Ben to only 25 points, but he sent out 11 assists. In addition, because Pierce took on more offensive responsibilities, Roger could allocate more energy to the defensive end.

So Roger held Artest to just five points tonight, including one field goal. In the final quarter of the game, when the team needed someone to step up, Roger even prevented Artest from taking just one shot.

Rasheed Wallace scored a series-high 29 points, but it was of no avail.

After G4, Detroit's innocence collapsed.

The big score of 1 to 3 almost shattered Detroit's championship dream, which was equivalent to telling them: there is no miracle.

The Pistons were planning to win two games in a row in Detroit, but now they have lost two games in a row.

The moment the game ended, Chucky Atkins couldn't hold on and fell to his knees on the ground.

He was overwhelmed by this strong sense of frustration. He knew how much effort everyone on the team had put in to get to this point. But now, their efforts can no longer be rewarded.

Although this is just his personal behavior, it more or less reflects the current mentality of the Pistons players.

As Roger said, as long as there is a crack, the iron wall is no longer an iron wall.

The cracks will only get bigger and bigger until the iron wall collapses completely.

Now, the rift within the Pistons' hearts is growing wider.

They are no longer resilient, and they no longer believe that they can win.

Watching Chucky Atkins' collapse, the on-site commentator Bob Costa sighed: "Maybe the people of Detroit finally realized that they are just a speck of dust in the Eagles dynasty, at most a relatively large speck of dust."

Do the Pistons still have a chance?
They might be able to win one or two more games, but beating the Eagles three times in a row? That's simply impossible.

Many Detroit fans shed tears in the stands. They hated Roger and hated him for ruining this beautiful blue-collar myth.

But Roger just left without looking back, not caring about the loser's gaze.

It's not his job to show mercy, it's his job to win.

Michael Gillen has noticed Roger and Pierce's performance. As long as the two continue to work together, the Hawks will be invincible. Although they are not as terrifying as the "greatest duo in history", their dominance can at least last for another seven or eight years.

But now, there are rumors that one of them is about to leave, and the other is reluctant to accept the contract renewal.

If Roger and Pierce really did leave Atlanta at the same time, it would be a devastating blow.

Bruce Levinson's idiotic actions are pushing Eagle to the edge of the cliff, but fortunately, Michael Gillen is ready for everything.

He would destroy Bruce Levinson before he destroyed the Eagles.

This was the moment he had been preparing for.
-
The Hawks lead the Pistons 3-1, which should have been the focus of the next day's sports news.

But no one expected that an explosive news was brewing and stole all the attention from the competition.

The day after returning to Atlanta from Detroit, Roger habitually turned on the TV and ate breakfast while listening to the news.

After turning on the TV, Roger almost choked to death on his egg when he heard a report on ESPN: "Bruce Levinson is being forced to sell all of his shares in the Atlanta Hawks. This will be the third equity change in the Atlanta Hawks in the past two years."

Roger's mind went blank. Is he going to sell the team again?
The following news report explained the incident in detail.

"According to a source who spoke to the Atlanta Journal-Constable, Bruce Levinson had mentioned controversial remarks about African-American and Asian fans in an email to the team's second-largest shareholder, Michael Gillen.

He claimed that the team's ticket pricing ceiling was affected by the Hawks attracting African-American and Asian fans who alienated residents of white communities, and that the team should have brought in more white stars like Dirk Nowitzki while having Roger to attract wealthy fans and increase ticket revenue.

The authenticity of the news is currently under investigation, but Bruce Levinson has already sold all of his shares to other shareholders of the Eagles. "

This passage vividly demonstrates the greed of businessmen. The Hawks are already one of the teams with the most expensive average ticket prices in the league, comparable to teams in New York and Los Angeles.

But Bruce Levinson still wanted to raise ticket prices, and it seemed that he would never be satisfied. However, he never thought that this email would be exposed.

Although Bruce Levinson's racial remarks were not as radical as those of future Clippers owner Donald Sterling, he did not even openly insult blacks and Asians.

But in the NBA, racial remarks are a dead line.

Even just the edge is not acceptable.

Larry Bird was fired from his position by the Pacers some time ago simply because he made a joke that "there are too few white players in the league now."

Therefore, remarks like Bruce Levinson's were enough for David Stern to hold a meeting overnight and use all his power to get him out of the NBA.

He was totally ruined.

Roger then changed several channels and found that all sports channels were focusing on this incident.

NBC's Bill Walton called it "heartbreaking and shocking news."

Michael Jordan, who has become a member of the capital side, also commented in an interview: "This is the biggest shame in the history of NBA franchises."

TNT's Kenny Smith was particularly angry about this: "The pitchforks have been sharpened and the torches have been lit, so instead of letting them go to waste, why not use them to severely punish the bastard? This team owner who disrespects black and Asian people should disappear from the league as soon as possible!"

Wonderful, fucking wonderful.

This is the shareholder team of the Atlanta Hawks. It seems that they feel uncomfortable if they don’t do something weird for a while.

Roger would not pretend that he was calm, and he believed that Bruce Levinson's unexpected end justified his previous stupid actions.

But was this really just an accident?
This email was from Bruce Levinson to Michael Gillen, so logically only the two of them knew the contents of the email.

Bruce Levinson wouldn't have said that if he wasn't completely off guard.

Why would the emails between two people be known and leaked by a "source"?
Did one of Michael Gillen's secretaries accidentally see the email and leak it to the media?
Or, was this revealed by Michael Gillen himself?
After all, after Bruce Levinson's shares are divided internally, Michael Gillen will become the head of the Atlanta Hawks.

He is the biggest beneficiary of this incident.

If you want to get equity in the NBA, it's not enough to just have money, you also need others to be willing to sell it to you.

In the original timeline, Michael Jordan's wealth was enough to buy the entire Washington Wizards, but if he wanted to obtain shares, he still had to look up to Wizards owner Aby Pollin.

The same is true for Michael Gillen. If he wants to get more shares, he must force Bruce Levinson to give up his shares, just like they forced Steve Belkin.

The exposure of this incident made Michael Gillen naturally become the first person in power in the Atlanta Hawks.

Considering that Michael Gillen, a mercenary fence-sitter, once betrayed Steve Belkin for profit, it is not surprising that he would betray Bruce Levinson for the same thing.

But that was none of Roger's business. In fact, this incident made Roger even more determined to leave.

A shareholder team that is completely disunited and filled with fierce palace fighting has no chance of leading a team to greatness.

In the afternoon, Michael Gillen appeared at the Emory Health Center, saying that he had taken full control of the team and asked the players to remain confident: "Bruce has paid the price, you don't have to be affected by him. From now on, everyone can focus on winning!"

Judging from Michael Gillen's smug expression, he is probably the "source".

After training, Michael Gillen wanted to invite Roger to his office for a talk.

It's easy to tell what he wants to talk about. As the new leader of the team, he can't let the cash cow leave.

But Roger insisted that there was nothing to talk about.

Michael Gillen had no choice but to wait in the player tunnel for Roger to finish training. If he finally got the Eagles but couldn't have the Eagles' greatest asset, what was the point of it all?
"Listen Roger, Bruce is gone now, he will never be a problem again, we can continue to work together, why do we have to leave?"

"Michael, you really should go to Hollywood. Your harmless appearance makes everyone underestimate you. First you backstabbed Steve, and then you backstabbed your new friend Bruce. How do I know what kind of chaos you will bring to the team next time? You can fight as much as you want, but I've had enough, and I'm not interested in your power game, that's it."

Roger hates the feeling that things are not under his control, and all the accidents that happened this year that made Roger lose control of things were almost all caused by the Eagles' shareholder team.

Roger's disgust for the Eagles' shareholder team has made it impossible for him to trust them anymore. He feels sick just thinking about their ugly faces as they cheat for profit.

In all these events, Michael Gillen played the role of a troublemaker. He was the driving force behind all these things.

The NBA is indeed a business, but competitive sports have their own particularities and cannot be a simple business.

Shaquille O'Neal left the Magic on the one hand because he was dissatisfied with the Magic's contract renewal, but on the other hand it was because he didn't want to be inferior to Roger. He didn't leave just for money.

Michael Jordan left Chicago not only because of the 3000 million annual salary, but also because the Bulls did not want to keep the championship lineup. He did not leave just for money.

Anyone who turns competitive sports into a pure business is destined to be despised.

It's not just the owners, it's the players too.

Roger was sure that even without Bruce Levinson, the next shareholder team led by Michael Gillen would not be much better.

This shareholder team will continue to fight among themselves and will continue to be stingy over contract renewals and signings.

It is normal for team owners to be stingy. Not everyone regards money as dirt, not everyone has to love basketball so much, and not everyone has to do anything to win the championship.

Roger would not say that a stingy boss is not a good person. You cannot stop him from doing business just because he does not love basketball that much.

But to be fair, a stingy owner is definitely not qualified to own the greatest player.

Seeing that Roger was determined to leave, Michael Gillen used his last trump card: "Are you going to abandon this city? Abandon your fans? Abandon the children who love you? Do you really want to do this, Roger?"

Roger laughed. Did he really think that this statement could make him surrender?
"Being soft-hearted and embarrassed will only kill yourself. Rational ruthlessness is the weapon for survival. You know what, Michael, these are all taught by you. So forget it, don't try to control me in this way. As an MVP, no one can control me. Do you think you are the protagonist of this game? No, I am.

Also, I have a clear conscience towards this city and the fans. Even if I leave, they won't blame me. I have the confidence to say this because I am not running away, I am just leaving."

The next day, Roger won his fifth career MVP trophy at the Philips Arena, second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who won six.

Moreover, this time he won three consecutive MVP awards, the first since Larry Bird!

Roger has accomplished something that Michael Jordan failed to do, but now people are no longer surprised by it.

Roger's MVP acceptance speech was not as sensational as Ben's, and was even too simple. It only had one sentence: "Only those who can go to the finals are considered MVPs, so there is no need to waste time, let's go to the finals tonight!"

Artest was very angry. Going to the finals tonight? You can go whenever you want?
Before the game started, he stared at Roger fiercely: "You can't go to the finals, at least not tonight!"

Roger didn't reply or even look at him.

After the game started, Roger made it clear to Artest that he had no say on whether he could go to the finals.

Roger was in very good shape today. The relatively ample rest time between G4 and G5 allowed Roger to recover.

That night, he repeatedly hit difficult jump shots over Artest's head, and Shawn Marion's weird shots also found their mark.

Big Ben was busy running around to meet Roger and Marion's goals, which not only exhausted himself but also failed to effectively lower the Eagles' offensive efficiency.

This was the easiest game for the Hawks, because the Pistons collapsed at halftime under Roger's unstoppable offensive.

In the second half, everyone on the Eagles was able to score a goal, ending all the suspense.

The final score was 103 to 71, and the previously extremely tough Detroit Pistons were finally eliminated in a crushing defeat.

The Atlanta Hawks won the Eastern Conference championship trophy for the third consecutive season, and the finals are waiting for them.

This time Ron Artest didn't lose his temper or destroy the player tunnel. He just walked off the court like a loser.

Maybe he himself forgot what he said before the game: "You can't go to the finals, at least not tonight."

It turns out he can't change anything about Roger.

Whether it was Ron Artest or Michael Gillen, they didn't understand one thing - they couldn't control the MVP.

No one in this world can control an MVP like Roger.

At the Eastern Conference champion award ceremony, Roger praised the Detroit Pistons, especially his good brother Ben Wallace.

As a winner, Roger can show off his grace however he wants.

However, memories often only need to be briefly mentioned. At the end of his speech, Roger talked about the upcoming future.

"If the Los Angeles Lakers make it to the Finals, hopefully I won't beat Shaq away again."

Given that the OK combination is on the verge of collapse this season, if they lose again, they may really be completely destroyed.

"I have taken the first step, the second step belongs to the present, and the third step belongs to the destruction of everything."

God's prophecies are being fulfilled step by step, and you have to believe it.

(End of this chapter)