Champions Creed

Chapter 322 Chapter 321: This won’t be the craziest one (asking for monthly tickets!)

On the first night of the 2003 playoffs, Roger made big news.

The bloody 51 points in a single game represented that Roger's ruthless domination over Shaquille O'Neal continued.

This domination is very special because both Shark and Roger have changed teams again, so this is enough to prove one thing - Roger's domination over Shark does not matter where Shark is or where Roger is. This is an all-round, flawless domination.

If your own strength is not enough, changing teams will not solve the problem.

Shaquille O'Neal did everything he could, he completely defeated Amar'e Stoudemire and set an example by not talking trash to Roger throughout the game.

The latter is obviously more difficult than the former. Look at how Raja Bell hit the ball into his own face, and you will know how uncomfortable the Mavericks players are.

However, all the Mavericks' efforts were ultimately in vain.

They still became a background board for Roger in the playoffs, became a part of Roger's brilliant career, the part that was stepped on by him.

Charles Barkley still remembers saying during the game, "God, save Amar'e Stoudemire."

Now, he has a new understanding of this matter: "God can't save poor Amar'e, but Roger can. That bastard was beaten like this and still enjoyed the victory, just because he followed a good big brother."

The Shark, whose 43 points were in vain, walked into the player tunnel with a surprisingly calm expression.

But he was not calm at all inside. He was sweating profusely, and the situation was even worse before the game.

Any mentality of "I'm afraid I'll never be able to beat him in my life" once it appears in a superstar is enough to make the superstar himself feel creepy.

The NBA is a place where there are winners and losers, and the competition among superstars creates those heart-wrenching stories.

So Shark couldn't help but wonder, can this be called competition between him and Roger? Because he can only lose and never win.

He couldn't do any better tonight, but he still couldn't win the game. He was entangled by Roger's curse and couldn't get rid of it.

This terrible thought followed him into the shower, the hot water dispelling the chill from the shark's back and calming him down a little.

Are you really going to accept your fate?
Yes, I can't do any better.

But Dirk Nowitzki can!
Tonight, the German tank performed like a second-hand German tractor, which is out of place in the NBA, an arena full of high-performance cars.

He took 16 shots, but only hit 4 of them, and only scored 25 points with a hit rate of 14%. In him, the Sharks saw the beauty that belonged to Kobe Bryant, and he never thought that he could appreciate this beauty in Dallas.

If it weren't for a few smart fouls, Nowitzki might have only scored 8 points tonight.

This is not the performance you would expect from a top-10 scorer.

The Sharks didn't understand why a mere Stephen Jackson could make Dirk Nowitzki, who was so strong in the regular season, suddenly become unable to play basketball. They didn't understand why power forwards like them who liked to float outside and shoot were like this.

This is true for Chris Webber and Dirk Nowitzki.

No, this is even worse than Chris Webber. At least Webber only played poorly at the critical moment, but what about Nowitzki? He can play well from beginning to end.

If only he had behaved better, Roger's curse would have been broken.

But Shaq is not the kind of person who likes to make things difficult for his teammates. He won't yell, "Dirk, you play like shit," or scold his teammates in the locker room.

When he was young, he would. For example, he once scolded Nick Anderson for missing consecutive free throws at a crucial moment.

But now the sharks have long since restrained themselves.

After coming out of the shower, Shark calmly told Dirk: "We only lost by a quarter, cheer up."

Starting this season, the first round of the NBA playoffs also began to adopt a best-of-seven format, which makes the first round less random.

So the Sharks particularly emphasized "one quarter", meaning they still have a great chance and hope Nowitzki can regroup.

Dirk Nowitzki nodded silently. He knew that his performance in this game was even more outrageous than Stoudemire's. Stoudemire was just a rookie, and it was not unacceptable that he could not defend against the league's top center.

But it is a disaster for Dirk Nowitzki, one of the top ten scorers in the league, to perform like this in the playoffs.

On the other side, Amare Stoudemire took off his clothes and sat in front of his locker in a daze.

He was covered in bruises, and even though he was black, the bruises were clearly visible on his skin.

Of course, Troy Murphy's scars were even more obvious.

This is the mark you must leave when fighting a shark.

Today's result was indeed too cruel for Stoudemire. It was not a question of how much his defense restricted the Sharks, but that it was completely useless.

If it weren't for Troy Murphy's help, O'Neal might have scored 50 points in the playoffs for the first time in his career.

After taking a shower, Roger was about to attend a press conference with Hubie Brown. He glanced at Stoudemire who was in a daze, as he was also scheduled to attend the press conference.

But considering the result of today's game and his current reaction, Roger wanted to let him take a rest and replace him with someone else.

You never know what questions those unscrupulous bastards at a press conference will ask.

For example: Amar'e, which is more comfortable, Shaq's crotch or your girlfriend's crotch?

Seriously, Stoudemire has suffered enough on the court, there is no need for him to be tortured again in a press conference.

But when he found Roger staring at him, Stoudemire, who was originally in a daze, immediately took out the extremely old Magic No. 14 jersey from the locker and said, "Let's go."

"Are you sure you want to wear this? You're a Warriors player, Porky won't be happy." Roger reminded.

Has anyone in history ever worn another team's jersey in public? Well, Kobe Bryant wore the Bulls jersey every day to deliberately anger the Lakers management during that period. What a jerk.

But Stoudemire smiled: "It doesn't matter. Pokey is busy talking to the American sweethearts about his luxury yacht and has no time to care what jersey I wear. Besides, if this Magic jersey also belongs to the king of the Bay Area, I don't think there will be any problem."

By the time he arrived at the press conference, Roger was already accustomed to the flashing lights.

He sat down easily, unplugged the microphone fixed on the table, took it in his hand, and then leaned lazily in the chair.

This has been his habit for many years when attending press conferences.

Then Roger put the Pepsi on the table aside, because he was the spokesperson for Coca-Cola and could not appear in the same frame with competing products.

After finishing all this with ease, Roger put the microphone to his mouth: "Let's start."

"Roger, this was a tough match and a great match, how would you rate your win tonight?"

"How do you evaluate it? It was a victory without any suspense. When you saw me and Shaq on the playoffs schedule, you knew everything in your heart and knew the final outcome."

"You still can't forgive Shaq? It's been six years since you broke up. When you broke up, my son was an angel, and now he's a real devil." The reporter's question filled the venue with laughter.

"There is no question of forgiveness or not. I am just always competing. As for your son, you and your lover can consider having a new son."

The joyful atmosphere ended here, because the reporters then turned their guns on Amar'e Stoudemire and asked very pointed questions.

"Amare, before the game you said you stayed up late to study Shaq's game videos and summarized ways to defend him. It seems that you did a good job tonight. At least you didn't let Shaq break his career scoring record."

Roger cursed inwardly, he knew that this group of reporters would not let Stoudemire go.

He didn't know whether this sarcasm would have an impact on Xiao Si's self-confidence.

But Stoudemire did not break down, nor did he stare blankly like he did just now. Instead, he quickly picked up the microphone with a smile on his face.

"I couldn't defend him tonight. Shaq's dominance is more terrifying than you think. But I will continue to work hard. If one year's efforts are not enough, I will add another summer. No matter what, I will not bow my head. Why not? Why can't I do it? Can't I be the best defensive player in the league? I don't think there is anything wrong with it."

The reporters below all laughed, as if they were watching a clown performing the funniest show in the world.

Facing everyone's ridicule, Stoudemire shrugged: "I know what you are thinking, but Roger and I are the audience, and all of you are the clowns!"

After he said this, the laughter in the audience became even more unbridled.

This is an extremely embarrassing moment. When what you say seriously seems to be a joke to others, it is equivalent to your dignity being trampled on.

Those mocking laughs mean that the person listening to you has absolutely no respect for you.

Hubie Brown was a little angry. He slammed the table hard and said, "Gentlemen, you are not children anymore. You should know how to respect others, right?"

After Hubie Brown's scolding, the reporters gradually fell silent.

But Stoudemire did not escape or lower his head. Instead, he scanned every reporter in front of him with burning eyes.

Roger turned his head and looked at Stoudemire, who was wearing his No. 14 jersey, and marveled at the changes in this guy.

Roger's arrival changed many things, changed many people, and changed a lot of history.

But the most disruptive change is probably that of Amar'e Stoudemire.

This guy, who had no interest in defense throughout his life in the original timeline, is now passionate about defense, even though he suffers frequent setbacks.

Roger thought that this game would make Stoudemire depressed for a while, just like Paul Pierce in the seventh game of the 99 Eastern Conference Finals, and just like Michael Redd who finally got a chance to play but messed up everything.

The repeatable plot did not happen. Amare Stoudemire did not need anyone's comfort or any bowl of chicken soup.

There seemed to be some kind of power in his heart supporting him, allowing him to regroup again and again.

If Stoudemire was just a big-talking idiot, Roger would probably laugh at him along with all the reporters.

But the key point is that Roger witnessed with his own eyes how hard this guy worked.

He is not a braggart, he is not a clown, he is a doer.

Even Roger didn't know where Stoudemire's change came from, because he really didn't give Stoudemire any chicken soup or say anything. Even just now on the court, when he saw Stoudemire was beaten and dejected, Roger didn't say anything to him, but solved the game first.

Ever since he and Stoudemire became teammates, Stoudemire has never been lazy, so Roger doesn't need to talk to him about those chicken soup-like things.

"Last question Amare, which is more comfortable, Shaq's crotch or your girlfriend's crotch?"

Both Roger and Stoudemire responded to the reporter with contemptuous looks.

After the press conference, Amar'e Stoudemire returned to the locker room, took off the Magic No. 14 jersey, and carefully kept it.

He didn't care about the reporters' ridicule because he played really badly today and deserved to be laughed at.

But this doesn't mean that he will be rotten forever.

He has no source of power, only memory. Or rather, any memory can be a source of power. Even if it is a night when a superstar patiently signs autographs for a helpless boy and tells him that his bad life can still go on.

As long as he puts on the No. 14 jersey of the Magic, Amar'e Stoudemire will not allow himself to admit defeat.

The next day, as expected, what Stoudemire said became a laughing stock again.

Kenny Smith mercilessly mocked Stoudemire on the show.

"I watched the whole game at home last night and it was an incredible game for me, two things were incredible about it.

Roger's 51 points? Shaq's 43 points? No, no, no, there's nothing incredible about these two things. We all know that Roger and Shaq have such strength.

The second most incredible thing yesterday was that Dirk Nowitzki was not DNP'd by Nelson. I still say that if you can't average 20+10 per game, you are not a good inside player. The fact that a 213cm player is obsessed with jump shots is nonsense in itself.

Charles Barkley on the side refuted this statement: "Shut up, Kenny, you will never catch up with Dirk's performance in your life. Don't you have bad touch sometimes?"

Fun fact: Jazz and Nowitzki have a pretty good personal relationship, as Barkley was present when Nowitzki attended the Nike training camp, and he admired the tall guy with guard skills.

At that time, after watching Nowitzki beat Pippen on the spot, Feizhu told Dirk: "If you have the opportunity to play in the NBA and need help, contact me."

So he was unwilling to criticize Nowitzki on the show, even though his performance yesterday was really bad.

Kenny Smith raised his hand: "Hey, I'm just a role player. I never said I was a big star, but what about Dirk? He is a key part of the team on the offensive end. You can't compare him to me."

"Okay, let's talk about the first incredible thing." Barkley didn't want to continue the topic of criticizing Nowitzki.

"The first incredible thing is that Amar'e Stoudemire still thinks he can be one of the best defensive players in the league. If I were Roger, I would pull his Russian boss out of his woman's bed and tell him to trade Amar'e.

That kid has become delusional, just like Michael always has delusions that he is handsome, Amare is also terminally ill!"

Sir Flying Pig nodded his head and said, "I totally agree!"

The TNT show is just the tip of a series of reports criticizing Stoudemire. It's the same for rookies playing next to big stars, who tend to get too much attention.

If you play well, all this attention will turn into praise, but if you play poorly, all this attention will turn into pressure.

But these things did not affect Amare Stoudemire's enthusiasm in conducting basic defensive training on the second day. Today happened to be the day when Marcus Camby came to the Oracle Training Center for a physical examination.

Camby arrived early because he didn't want to delay his afternoon outing.

That's right, Marcus Camby didn't stay with the team even during the playoffs, and the number of times he went to watch games in person this season can be counted on one hand.

In this regard, he is not even as dedicated as Ben Simmons. Although Simmons can't play, he has never been lazy when it comes to throwing the towel.

After Marcus Camby finished his reexamination, Warriors chief team doctor Chelsea Ryan was overjoyed: "Your recovery is very good. You can play in July. Of course, the season will be over by then. But this means that you can spend a full preseason training camp next season to get back to your form without any problems."

"Yeah." Marcus Camby was not very happy about this because he had seen through it.

Playing basketball, what's the point of playing with your life? Just make money.

He doesn't care whether he can make it to the preseason training camp next season. He just wants to get a salary of several million dollars a year, and he doesn't care how he gets it.

Walking out of Chelsea Ryan's office, Marcus Camby passed by the training hall and heard people training inside.

He pushed the door open a crack and peeked inside, seeing the high school rookie practicing defensive fundamentals with a trainer.

At this time, there was still a full hour before the training started.

After finishing another set of training, the exhausted Stoudemire yelled to himself: "Why can't I do it? Why can't I do it!?"

Looking at the sweaty Stoudemire, Marcus Camby remembered his past self.

They are so similar.

Camby also went through such a period in New York, where he trained day and night to become better and help the team win.

So when Marcus Camby saw Stoudemire like this, he raised his mouth in disdain: "Oh, idiot!"

There's no point in anything you do, and training so hard is stupid.

Marcus Camby closed the door of the training ground and turned to walk towards the parking lot, wanting to leave before other teammates arrived.

He didn't want to fit in with the team or the game.

He just wants to get his salary on time.

Playing basketball, what's the point of playing with your life?

A day later, in Game 2 of Warriors vs. Mavericks, Dallas pulled one back in Oakland.

这场比赛德克.诺维茨基总算是找回了手感，以46%的命中率轰下23分。再辅以鲨鱼的34分17个篮板，小牛队以108比99大胜，系列赛总比分扳平。

But after returning to Dallas for Game 3, the Mavericks suffered their worst loss of the series as they were slaughtered by the Warriors 119-97.

In this game, Roger scored 42 points, while Alan Houston also scored 63 points with an exaggerated hit rate of 20%. Alan Houston's touch was extremely hot tonight. Except for some difficult jump shots that were interfered with by close range, Alan Houston almost made % of his regular jump shots.

In addition, the old cat Mobley also scored 16 points, leading the transition period to great success.

Under the Warriors' powerful firepower, Shark's 39 points and Dirk's 20 points were a bit underwhelming.

G4勇士依然有人能站出来，罗杰照例拿下37分11次助攻的漂亮数据，而今天斯蒂芬.杰克逊在三分线外7中4，拿下了23分。

Alan Houston's shooting percentage today was only 42%, not as exaggerated as 63% in the previous game, but he still scored 22 points.

3-1, the Warriors returned to Oakland with match point.

Shaquille O'Neal once again faced the dilemma of being eliminated by Roger. In fact, if the league had not changed the rules this year to make the first round a best-of-seven system, the Shark would have been eliminated.

At the press conference, Roger also said the famous sentence: "If it were last year, I would have already considered my next opponent."

O'Neill was furious, annoyed by Roger's contemptuous attitude.

He was determined to do his best to win in Game 5.

The Sharks in G5 were truly terrifying, a replica of G1. They had an extremely strong desire to attack and could do whatever they wanted over the heads of Stoudemire and Troy Murphy.

But O'Neal would never have thought that Dirk Nowitzki would actually make the biggest mistake in this life-and-death battle.

Throughout the game, Hubie Brown used Stephen Jackson and Little Prince to take turns defending Dirk. His style of play, which mainly relied on face-to-face shooting, encountered interference from Jackson and Little Prince, and his hit rate became very low.

The biggest difference between Nowitzki's early and late stages is actually his stability on the offensive end. In the later stages, Nowitzki began to work a lot in the low post, and his shooting stability became stronger. In addition, he met the right opponents, and with the right time, place and people, he reversed his career reputation in 11.

Nowitzki's shooting fluctuates greatly, and he has not been very successful in post-up shooting, which is the main reason why he has been mediocre in the playoffs.

Today's game is a concentrated reflection of Nowitzki's shortcomings.

He couldn't even beat Stephen Jackson, who was shorter than him, when he was posting up, and he just couldn't find his touch when shooting face to face.

In the end, Nowitzki made only 11 of 2 shots, including 6 of 1 from beyond the three-point line!

Fortunately, Nick Van Exel played well today and filled the firepower gap left by Nowitzki.

With Shark scoring 15+ in the playoffs for the 40th time in his career, the Mavericks kept the suspense until the end.

With 57 seconds left in the game, the Mavericks were only trailing by 6 points and still had a chance.

In this round, the Shark received the ball in the low post. He first pushed away Stoudemire, then leaned against Troy Murphy and made a direct layup.

The only thing Murphy could do was raise his arms high to stand between the basket and the shark, but this little obstruction was equivalent to nothing for the shark.

He pinned Murphy in the air and threw the ball into the basket with one hand.

The shark has a very good touch, and looking at the flight trajectory of the basketball, he thinks there is a high probability that this ball will go in.

But when the basketball was about to reach its highest point, Stoudemire came from behind with incredible speed and soared into the air, slapping the ball with his hand!

"Amar'e Stoudemire completed the block! He did not give up defense after being pushed away, but instead destroyed the Shark's most important shot tonight at the right time!"

Amid Mike Breen's exclamation, Stoudemire threw the ball to Roger who was already running to the frontcourt. Roger scored a fast break dunk, widening the gap to 50 points in the last 8 seconds.

Kill the game!
Then the Sharks fell into the quagmire of the Hack-a-Shaq tactic, and the impatient Sharks failed to create a miracle at the free throw line.

106 to 99, the Golden State Warriors won Game 5.

Gentleman Roger swept the Sharks and completed his domination once again!
After the game, O'Neal was so angry that he threw away his jersey and walked off the court without shaking hands with anyone.

Dirk Nowitzki covered his head with his hands and stared at his own data on the big screen. It was a lifetime shame.

In the stands of the Oakland Arena, a fan excitedly took off his shirt, shook his fat body and began to dance.

And on his white body was written a sentence in paint: "Roger is the eternal king!"

Soon, the fan was taken away by the security personnel, but all the fans in the stadium applauded him. When Roger saw this, he also smiled and pointed at him.

Seeing Roger respond to him, he struggled even more frantically to break free and started dancing again, this time even taking off his pants, and then was taken away by more security personnel.

Mike Breen laughed and said, "This is the first craziness Roger brought to the Bay Area fans, but it won't be the last, nor will it be the craziest."

Roger looked at Stoudemire, who did his best to block the Shark and helped the team secure the victory. He rubbed his hands excitedly and was full of expectations for the future.

Yeah, this won't be the craziest one.

In the second round, the Golden State Warriors lost 2-4 to the San Antonio Spurs, who were ranked first in the Western Conference. Roger's 02-03 season ended there.

But in the locker room after the series, Roger told Stephen Jackson: "I think we will regain the crown faster than expected."

"I know, you said that before the season, Roger. Two years to grow, and the third year to take everything back."

"No, no, no, that's the pre-season standard. I mean, it's faster than that!"

Stephen Jackson, who was changing his clothes, was stunned for a moment. Faster than this standard?
"No matter what, I will always follow you and trust you."

"And I never let down those who trust me Stephen, you know that."

"Of course, I never doubt the truth."

(End of this chapter)