Champions Creed

Chapter 351 Chapter 350: There is more than one level difference between us! (Seeking monthly ticket)

The last time Roger played in a Game 1999 of a series was in 7, when Paul Pierce was still a complete rookie and messed up everything in the final moments of Game .

At that time, Roger had not yet established a dynasty in Atlanta, and there was still a lot of controversy about who was stronger between him and Michael.

Now, time flies to 2004. The young Paul Pierce has become the new generation soul of the Pacers after Reggie Miller. Latrell Sprewell, who killed the game in G7, has also had an experience of messing up everything in a life-and-death battle in the series, and the controversy between Roger and Jordan has long disappeared.

From the perspective of most mainstream media, Roger is now the most qualified person to be the GOAT. After all, at the press conference at the end of the regular season, even Michael Jordan himself admitted that it was a "fact that I don't want to accept but cannot change."

Every step Roger takes now is making history. There is another interesting point in his game, which is whether he can defend his kingdom.

There is always a misunderstanding when judging GOAT, which is to only look at how many wins a player has.

There is actually another criterion that is intentionally or unintentionally ignored: how much a player loses.

In the original timeline, the reason why Michael Jordan convinced everyone was because he lost so little during his peak period.

From 1991 to 1998, the Chicago Bulls only lost to the New York Knicks and the Magic. The loss to the Knicks had nothing to do with Michael Jordan because he was playing baseball at the time.

The six championships and very few losses during his peak period established Michael Jordan's unsurpassed status.

The same goes for Roger. It is certainly amazing that he has seven championships, but what is even more amazing is that he has never missed the playoffs in his career and has only lost three times in the playoffs.

When a player wins many championships, you must not forget how many runner-up titles he has won.

You can't lose in the series every other day, and then find a lot of brothers to help you get a few championships and say you can be the GOAT.

Losing too many times means having no dominance, which means that almost everyone who can be named in this league has beaten you at one time, and such a player can never be the true best in history.

So, having already won enough, Roger now has to avoid losing too much.

Roger could have chosen to retire right where he is. As long as he didn't play, he would never lose, just like people always boast that Michael Jordan never lost the finals. That is, Michael Jordan was beaten by Roger in the second half of the 90s and couldn't even enter the finals, so of course he would not lose the finals.

In Roger's view, "not fighting means not losing" is tantamount to running away. He will not leave the alliance until he is tired of winning.

From another perspective, Roger is still a person who can be pulled down from the altar.

As long as he loses enough, people will have reason to strip him of the GOAT title.

And Kobe was very eager for it, and Roger was still playing, which gave everyone the opportunity to surpass him or destroy him.

This is the opportunity Kobe wanted.

If he lost the Game 1999 in 2004, he could lose it in as well.

No one cares about what Spoelstra said before, because no one in the world can have both Kevin Garnett's defensive influence and top-level offensive ability in the same game.

All reporters and the Lakers coaching staff thought that Spoelstra was intimidating his opponents and boosting morale.

Novice coaches generally like to bluff and think that they can confuse their opponents.

On the night of Game 7, Kobe Bryant was changing his jersey in the Lakers locker room.

Unlike most team leaders, Kobe has a cold relationship with almost everyone in the Lakers locker room.

He was never willing to talk to his teammates about what happened in Colorado, and his teammates did not dare to ask too many questions because of his aloof attitude.

The amount of personal conversations he had with his teammates in the locker room totaled less than 10 in one season.

But at the same time, he never pissed off anyone like he pissed off the shark.

Kobe Bryant is like a guy with a dual personality, who keeps his life and game separate.

Therefore, you can't expect him to give any passionate speech as the team leader before this crucial game.

He always just silently does what he is supposed to do, and uses practical actions and performance to make his teammates trust him and follow him.

For Phil Jackson, Kobe's leadership was enough.

The Zen Master doesn't need his players to be as close as family, nor does he need to give them chicken soup for the "championship spirit" like Tom Janovich did.

He only needs the "staircase theory" in his locker room to remain intact, and as long as everyone acknowledges that Kobe is at the top of the stairs and then does their job for Kobe, his team will be able to continue to run stably.

So, before the big game, the Lakers locker room was very quiet, very quiet, as quiet as if they had lit a cigarette in advance.

But everyone knows that after this unique calm, there will be a storm led by Kobe!
On the other hand, the Warriors locker room looked completely different.

The whole locker room was bustling with activity, everyone was cheering each other on and shouting.

When Roger stood up, everyone shut up and followed him as if they had received some kind of order.

There is an unwritten rule in the Warriors that you must change clothes as fast as Roger, because when Roger stands up, everyone must make sure they are ready to follow him into battle at any time.

Roger looked around at his teammates and waved his hand, signaling everyone to form a circle.

"Guys, the trial begins!"

Players from both teams entered the court, and Warriors diehard John Cage stared at the TV.

Although he was unable to watch the game in person, he did not regret his decision since G1.

He believes Roger saw his encouragement, which made it all worthwhile.

Even at home, he was extremely concerned about the seventh game. He turned on the TV an hour in advance and was very nervous.

Who in Oakland isn't paying attention to this seventh game?
Well, his wife doesn't care.

"John, it's a rare day that the children are resting today, can't you go to bed early? I just bought a very sexy pair of pajamas." The wife looked at her husband expectantly at the bedroom door.

"Linda, sexiness isn't about the pajamas."

"what?"

"Nothing, I want to watch the game, you should get some rest early."

"Damn it John, damn it! Why did I marry you? You are willing to embarrass yourself in front of the national live camera, but you are not willing to take off your clothes in front of your wife! Go, go and spend the rest of your life with that damn basketball!"

"boom!"

His wife angrily closed the door, which made John Cage feel a little guilty. He was very busy taking care of the children and running the shop, and he often ignored his wife's feelings. He finally had some free time, but he ignored her.

Thinking of this, John couldn't help but slap himself.

I am such a piece of shit, thinking about these nonsense on such an important night of Game 7!
On TV, the game started quickly and Steve Nash dribbled the ball across half court.

But in the first round of offense, Steve Nash felt that something was wrong with the Warriors' defense.

When Spoelstra said Roger would be like a combination of the Timberwolves' three-headed monster, Nash guessed that the rookie coach might use Roger to defend Kobe directly from the first minute of the game.

This also seems like an extreme choice that a rookie coach would make.

As a result, in the first round of defense, Roger was neither matched against Kobe nor Nash.

Instead, he was defending George Lynch, who posed the least offensive threat in the Lakers' starting lineup.

Phil Jackson frowned after seeing this matchup. Was the rookie planning to let Roger save his energy on defense and then devote all his energy to offense?
No, that's not the Warriors' style, and that's not Spoelstra's style.

Although Spoelstra is a rookie coach, he already has his own distinctive coaching style, which is that he places great emphasis on defense.

Considering that he studied under Pat Riley and worked with Hubie Brown, a defensive stalwart, it's not surprising that his coaching style was formed.

Therefore, Spoelstra would never let Roger slack off on the defensive end.

For coaches like Pat Riley, Hubie Brown and Spoelstra, superstars must also do their best on the defensive end and have no privileges.

Therefore, there is only one possible purpose for Roger to face George Lynch today!
"This lunatic!" Phil Jackson cursed inwardly. He couldn't believe that he had made such an evaluation of a rookie head coach.

At the start of the attack, the Lakers used the most common triangle routine in their first attack. Nash passed the ball to Karl Malone, who was the fulcrum in the low post, and then Malone quickly transferred the ball, and Kobe came out to receive the ball, getting a one-on-one singles opportunity.

Facing Tayshaun Prince, Kobe, who had a clear advantage in the confrontation, chose to break through without hesitation.

Just as Kobe was planning his next move, Lakers No. 8 saw the annoying No. 14 appear in front of him, forming a double-team with Prince!

From the moment Nash passed the ball, Roger did not hesitate to abandon George Lynch and join in the defense of Kobe. George Lynch was like an abandoned child, completely ignored.

Seeing this, Kobe passed the ball back to Nash.

But Roger moved quickly and immediately followed Nash to continue assisting in defense.

Kobe and Nash, the two most threatening offensive points of the Lakers, are always surrounded by two people defending them!
Just as Phil Jackson thought, the reason why Roger faced George Lynch, who posed the least offensive threat, was because Roger was not facing a certain person today, but the entire Lakers team!
He wants to be like Kevin Garnett and fill every gap with his huge defensive influence!
Of course, considering Roger's body size, his help defense effect cannot be better than Kevin Garnett.

But with Roger's defensive experience and level, this is already a huge threat to the Lakers.

The reason for letting Roger focus on assisting defense is very simple. If he defends Kobe or Nash alone, he can only affect one of them.

Considering that both Kobe and Nash have the ability to kill the game, Roger can affect the offense of both of them at the same time by defending them as a help defender!

Of course, there are also disadvantages to doing this. Allowing a superstar to run unrestricted on the defensive end is even more tiring than asking Roger to defend Kobe alone, not to mention that Roger also needs to take care of offense at the same time.

Phil Jackson really didn't know whether to call Spoelstra a genius or a fool, so his evaluation of the young coach just now was a madman.

Only an extremely crazy person would do such a thing as using the scoring champion of the season to play crazy defense!

Spoelstra is indeed a madman, because he let James and Wade do this during the Heat's Big Three era.

Even James and Wade had to clean up the mess for the Heat's center, who was almost nonexistent, and use help defense to protect the rim.

But Roger's situation is not that bad. At least he has a reliable rim protector behind him, so it is not that difficult for him to execute such a defensive strategy.

Nash naturally would not be restrained by the double-team. Under the pressure of Roger and Alan Houston, he passed the ball to George Lynch who cut in.

However, passing the ball to George Lynch, the least threatening person, is exactly what Spoelstra would like to see most.

After receiving the ball, George Lynch made a direct mid-range shot, and Stoudemire immediately came to defend.

Although the interference effect is average, George Lynch's shooting level is even more average.

The basketball hit the rim and Marcus Camby grabbed the rebound steadily. The Warriors played an extremely oppressive defense in the first round!

"This is a very bold strategy. Eric really wants Roger to play KG on the defensive end. Is the Warriors going to strangle the Lakers with defense?" Mike Breen was also amazed at Spoelstra's courage. This rookie coach is by no means a mindless puppet coach.

The game continues and the Warriors attack.

Roger did not play one-on-one, but called on Stoudemire to come out and cover in the first round.

And after the pick-and-roll, he actively passed the ball to Stoudemire.

In this round of the series, Karl Malone finally realized how disgusting the pick-and-roll between him and Stockton was.

After receiving the ball, Stoudemire faked a shot to deceive Karl Malone, then directly challenged Theo Ratliff and made a tough layup.

In the Zen Master's opinion, this round was enough to prove that Eric Spoelstra was exaggerating.

Because after Roger gave his all on the defensive end, the consumption on the offensive end was obviously reduced.

Roger's decisive pass after the pick-and-roll was enough to prove that he had no intention of attacking himself from the beginning.

Roger may be KG today, but he can never attack and fill the defense alone. Yes, Roger's ability is abnormal, but no matter how abnormal it is, it is impossible to exceed the upper limit of human physical strength.

Attacking and defending for a whole game? That's not something a human can do.

The following few rounds seemed to confirm the Zen Master's conjecture, because Stoudemire's ball possession ratio in offense was significantly higher than in the previous six games.

It seems that he is the main attacking point in the seventh game.

Stoudemire has made great progress this season, from 13.5 points per game last season to 20.6 points per game. So far in the playoffs, he has averaged 22.3 points per game.

But he is not a champion-level attacker.

In the fifth minute of the first quarter, Stoudemire held the ball and faced Karl Malone. He used a triple-threat step to shake Karl Malone's center of gravity and accelerated the breakthrough, but the experienced Postman directly grabbed Stoudemire's jersey and immediately gave him a fierce confrontation, slowing down Stoudemire's breakthrough.

When Stoudemire got to the basket, he was caught in the double-team of Karl Malone and Theo Ratliff.

Stoudemire, who was not very good at passing the ball, had difficulty passing the ball back to Alan Houston on the outside, and the Warriors' regular tactics failed to be executed in this round.

At this time, Roger, who was standing at the top of the arc, raised his hand to ask for the ball, and then waved to signal everyone to move away.

Facing George Lynch, Roger changed hands continuously under his crotch, accelerated to the left, and after taking the first step, he immediately pulled the ball from the front of his body to the right.

When everyone thought that this time he was really going to speed up the breakthrough, Roger suddenly paused, switched the ball to his left hand, and then sprinted.

George Lynch tried his best to move sideways to block, but he heard a "bang" and the basketball was hit to the floor again. Roger changed direction again, accelerated, stopped suddenly, stepped back, and shot a three-pointer. This continuous change of direction and step back with excellent rhythm directly shook George Lynch away, allowing Roger to get an open shooting space and hit the ball steadily!

After this three-pointer, Phil Jackson had to suspend the game because the Warriors led by 8 points in just five minutes!
During these five minutes, Eric Spoelstra's strategy was fully revealed.

On the defensive end, Roger swept the entire half court like KG, making full use of the current defensive rules.

On the offensive end, most of the regular offense is handled by Stoudemire. But when the team's tactics are dead, when it comes to hard solutions, when the offense becomes more difficult, Roger will step up and take over the offense!
Although Roger did not take as many shots and hold the ball as in the first six games, he was indeed playing offensively.

He really did accomplish by himself what the three-headed monster of the Timberwolves could only do together!
The ball went in and the game was stopped. Roger spread his hands to Karl Malone amid the worship of Oakland fans: "A wimp like you is only fit to capture underage girls!"

This was in response to Karl Malone's comment before Game 7, "We are capturing a megalomaniac who calls himself God."

Karl Malone's face was full of black lines. This was almost his last season, and he didn't want to fall at Roger's feet again at the last moment.

He didn't want to end his career with the shame of being insulted by Roger.

So during the timeout, Karl Malone expressed his personal opinion on the tactical arrangement for the first time this season: "If Steve and Kobe are struggling with the help defense of that bastard Roger, then give me the ball!"

Kobe was very uncomfortable after hearing this. What does it mean to have a hard time? Who does this old cowboy think he is?

But Kobe did not refute immediately, he did not want to cause trouble in the seventh game.

Phil Jackson thought for a while and thought that Roger's assist defense should be directed at Kobe and Nash, and it was unlikely that he would go to the inside.

So the Zen Master tapped the tactical board and said, "Next time, try to get the ball into the paint more often!"

During the timeout, Mike Breen was talking about Roger's brilliant performance in the past five minutes: "We seem to have really seen a combination of a three-headed monster. Roger is simply KG on the back line on the defensive end! Many media have predicted that Roger may win the DPOY this season. I think he deserves this award! The Warriors are one of the best defensive teams in the league this season, and Roger is the best defensive player on the Warriors. He is a well-deserved DPOY!"

Roger doesn't care about DPOY at all, he just wants to kill the Lakers steadily.

The game continued, and Steve Nash faithfully implemented the Zen Master's strategy. This time he passed the ball to Karl Malone who was about to get into position in the paint.

As soon as Marcus Camby saw Malone receive the ball, he became excited and started to fight against Karl Malone like crazy.

Malone felt the change in Camby's center of gravity, and then quickly turned around with him as the axis. At the same time, he also used his experience to raise his elbow to hit Camby, making it impossible for him to immediately chase and defend.

The familiar feeling of being hit by the elbow gave Malone confidence. He knew that he had completely gotten rid of Camby, who was clinging to him, so he prepared to rush to the basket.

But just as Karl Malone passed the ball, an arm suddenly appeared in front of him and poked the ball away just in time!
Roger's assist defense is not limited to the outside line, he will not let go even Karl Malone!

After the ball was poked away, Karl Malone immediately went after it, but now he is no longer the iron-blooded postman whose speed is comparable to that of a small forward.

He could only watch as Prince picked up the basketball and lobbed it to Roger, and then Roger scored with a two-handed dunk with no one guarding him!
Before the first quarter was over, the Warriors were leading by 10 points!
After Roger landed, he pointed at Karl Malone and said, "King, Jral, Kral, there is more than one level difference between us! Trash like you shouldn't hold the ball in Game 7. Besides dragging the team down and talking big, what else can you do, old rubbish?"

Karl Malone was very angry, but didn't say anything. He had seen everything clearly: if he wanted to win, he still had to rely on Nash and Kobe.

This determined the ultimate fate of his career.

But tonight, with Roger's omnipresent defense, can those two really dominate the offense?
Roger used his terrifying defense to strangle the Lakers in the first quarter, but Jeff Hornacek was also worried about the situation of the Warriors.

"Roger is too tired to defend like this! Even if he reduces the burden on the offensive end, his physical fitness is still facing a severe test. Are you sure Roger can hold on to the end?"

Eric Spoelstra's expression was firm. "This is a Game 7, Jeff. No one will hold back in a Game 7. Besides..."

The rookie coach turned around and raised his eyebrows at Jeff Hornacek. "Why can't this be a quick death game for the Lakers? Why must it be played to the end? In my opinion, they can't hold out for much longer. Roger has tied his pockets tight, and the Lakers will soon suffocate. Who said that a Game 7 must be fought to the end?"

Jeff Hornacek swallowed his saliva. This crazy young coach will definitely achieve great things in the future.

And when he's coaching the best player alive?

Well, then he'll be on to something big soon.

(End of this chapter)