Champions Creed

Chapter 387 Chapter 386: The Demolition Team of Human Souls (asking for monthly tickets!)

Vince Carter has never wanted to win as badly as he did in 2005.

As we all know, most NBA players were only good at basketball in their high school and at most played football on the side.

But Vince Carter does a lot of things.

He played basketball, captained the volleyball team, played saxophone and baritone in the high school band, was a drummer in the marching band, and wrote poetry for the school magazine.

American high schools require athletes to have an average grade of C, and many high school players have to do everything they can just to meet the standard. But Carter can easily achieve a B while doing so many things at the same time.

You could say basketball is just one part of Vince Carter's rich life.

During his time with the Raptors, Carter's "more than just basketball" mentality was fully demonstrated.

The most famous one is the "graduation ceremony incident". For Toronto fans, the seventh game against the Philadelphia 01ers in 76 is the most important game in the team's history so far.

From fans to players, everyone is preparing for the seventh game with this mentality.

As a result, Carter decided to fly to North Carolina at 9 a.m. on the day of the game to attend the graduation ceremony, and then return to participate in the game on the same day.

Not only the fans, but even people in the locker room have complaints about Carter.

You can imagine that you and your brothers are guarding the trenches, about to face a life-and-death battle, and you put your lives in each other's hands.

As a result, your leader ran away to another place on the day the battle started, claiming that he needed to celebrate his girlfriend's birthday before coming back.

This is very ridiculous.

But in Carter's opinion, the college graduation ceremony and the playoff game seven are equally important, and his life cannot be filled with the playoff game seven.

This is the impression that the Toronto Flyers give to people. He is not the kind of guy who is crazy about competitiveness.

But this year, Vince Carter's mentality changed.

He was completely infuriated by the Toronto fans, the Raptors management and Roger.

This anger made him want to have a great career, want to win, want to win championships.

And an interview before the game doubled Carter's anger.

A reporter on the sidelines asked Carter before the game: "What kind of dunk will you offer today?"

This reporter may just want to praise Carter's dunking ability, but just like in 2024 when Shawn Marion said "My favorite Chinese player is Rui Hachimura" in order to get close to Chinese fans, he originally wanted to flatter but ended up getting a slap in the face.

Carter doesn't like people always labeling him as a dunker, so he replied viciously: "I may not be able to dunk, but I will tear apart the Warriors' shield!"

This was probably the most ferocious Vince Carter has ever been in front of the media cameras.

However, at the beginning of the game, Vince Carter still dunked.

Dirk Nowitzki assisted with a back-to-the-basket mid-range shot, and Carter cut into the air and shot up immediately after receiving the ball.

The Shaq blocked Marcus Camby, so Carter easily completed a two-handed dunk.

After scoring the goal, Carter put his hands beside his head, twisted the throttle of the motorcycle frantically, and remained serious.

But the Warriors did not let the Mavericks gain momentum. One round later, Roger and Stoudemire played a classic pick-and-roll.

It's a strategy the Dallas Mavericks have not been able to counter to this day.

Neither Terry nor Devin Harris has the ability to pressure Roger from the outside.

In fact, the pressure the Mavericks put on Roger was not as strong as before the trade.

Last season, the Dallas Mavericks still had an offensive gangster like Raja Bell, but he was traded last summer.

At the beginning of the season, Josh Howard's defense was enough to put some pressure on Roger, but he was traded away because of Carter.

From the beginning to the end, Mark Cuban has been using his "basketball game team building method" to recruit players.

Their defense was poor and this shortcoming did not improve from beginning to end.

After setting a screen, Dirk Nowitzki switched defense to Roger.

This is no less than sending a Victoria's Secret model into Roger's room, which is simply walking into a tiger's mouth.

The German has always been underestimated, but there is one thing the media really didn't wrong him, and that is that his defense is extremely mediocre.

No, Dirk's role on the defensive end during this period was even worse than mediocre.

His physical fitness limits his defensive ceiling, while his immature defensive awareness and the non-existent defensive spirit in the entire team leave his defense full of loopholes.

Such a defender is actually not much different from having no defense in front of Roger, who has been the scoring champion for ten consecutive years.

After Roger got over the screen, he just stopped suddenly and looked at the basket, allowing Nowitzki to throw his weight aside and prepare to block the shot.

Roger keenly captured the German's change in center of gravity, passed by him, and calmly made a layup despite the Shark's unpleasant defense.

The ball goes in, 2-2.

Against the Dallas Mavericks, the strategy is always the same: attack against attack.

Their offensive talent is terrifying. If the Pistons have the ultimate positional defense, then the Dallas Mavericks have the ultimate positional offense, especially after Vince Carter joined.

Their offense covers 360 degrees from the basket to outside the three-point line.

Even for the Warriors, it is almost impossible to completely contain this team through defense.

So, Eric Spoelstra won't let Roger match up against either Carter or Dirk.

He wanted Roger to focus all his energy on the offensive end.

In the past, when Roger scored a goal over Shark's head, he would definitely use all kinds of exquisite words to humiliate Shark.

But today, Roger said nothing, turned around and walked away, then found Carter: "You can only win in one kind of competition, and that is a non-confrontational juggling show like the dunk contest."

Carter said he would pass Roger over the second round, and Roger was not really that angry about this. But as a person who has already reached the top, Roger has the same attitude towards anyone who tries to snatch the crown: let him die.

One round later, Carter hit a three-pointer. If Carter has any unique advantage over the other three of the four shooting guards, it is the three-pointer.

His three-point shooting output and efficiency are significantly higher than the other three.

And he has always been very stable outside the three-point line.

With his relatively mediocre breakthroughs and mid-range shots, Carter relies on his excellent three-point ability to improve his efficiency.

5 to 3, Carter spread his hands and said: "So, your defense is not as good as the dunk contest!"

However, before the Mavericks fans had time to celebrate, the Warriors recovered the 3 points.

After this pick-and-roll, Carter from the weak side came over and double-teamed Roger with Dirk.

He thought Roger would not be able to pass the ball to Tayshaun Prince on the weak side immediately.

As a result, Roger hit the ball from Carter's crotch to Tayshaun Prince, who successfully responded to the open space, 5-5.

Roger's passing ability has been evolving. It is hard to imagine that the player who prevented Pippen from receiving a single assist for an entire season can now average 7.5 assists per game.

Because his left and right hands are balanced and he has an excellent feel for the ball, Roger can always make accurate ground passes during an emergency stop.

Of course, Roger's passing ability has not yet reached the level of Nash and Kidd.

According to Caron Butler in an interview, Nash's passing has reached the level of "not only accurate, he even knows everyone's shooting habits. He will pass the ball to your favorite height so that you can shoot comfortably without adjusting, allowing you to be in perfect rhythm at all times."

Roger obviously can't reach this level, but for a player who can win the scoring title himself, his current passing ability is enough.

One round later, Dirk Nowitzki made a layup after facing the basket, but Roger also responded with a breakthrough, leaning on the German tank to make a layup, and the score was tied again!
In these few possessions, the Dallas Mavericks showed why they are the most terrifying offensive team.

And Roger also showed why he is called the greatest offensive player in history.

He has top three-point shooting ability, top mid-range shooting ability, and even top finishing ability at the basket. In addition, his passing can motivate his teammates. Moreover, most of his points are scored with the ball. In other words, he does not need to rely on the system, and can solve the offense by himself. In addition, Roger's endurance has always been strong.

He has almost no shortcomings on the offensive end.

You can say that he still has shortcomings on the defensive end. After all, he is a guard. Even though he has won DPOY, his height and weight defects on the defensive end cannot be ignored.

But on offense, Roger was simply flawless.

Before the concept of "the greatest offensive player in history" was proposed, people never thought about how terrible Roger's performance was, because for many years, the whole world was accustomed to his amazing scoring performances.

But now, after Bill Simmons proposed this concept, when people look at Roger's performance again, they will sigh like Mike Breen at the scene: "Damn, why would anyone question this? We are enjoying the performance of the greatest offensive player in history. I don't think there will be another offensive player as good as Roger in NBA history!" In fact, Steve Nash's offensive performance is similar to Roger.

He can also pass the ball and make jump shots. People know that he is not good at confrontation, but few people know that Nash's finishing rate at the basket has been far higher than AI for many years.

But Nash's biggest problem is that he doesn't score enough points on his own, but for Roger, output has never been a problem.

So, the theme of the game changed.

It became a showdown between the strongest offensive team and the strongest offensive player in history.

Vince Carter played very well today, with three-pointers, assists, dunks, and almost everything else. Yes, in fact, Carter is also a wing who is good at passing the ball. He can make wonderful passes while controlling his turnovers very well.

His other skills on the basketball court are overshadowed by his dunks.

Dirk Nowitzki's jump shot gave Stoudemire a headache.

Shark and Yao Ming are Marcus Camby's biggest victims.

Coupled with Terry's occasional sudden attacks, the Mavericks' scoring points were very scattered, making it difficult to solve the problem with double-teaming and help defense.

Even in the transition period, the Mavericks can ensure that there are at least two strong offensive players on the court.

Their offensive firepower was endless, like a high-rate automatic rifle that would never explode or jam.

But the Mavericks were never able to widen the score because the Warriors only needed one opening move to dismember all of the Mavericks' defense - the pick-and-roll between Roger and Stoudemire.

In the last half of the game, Vince Carter began to actively defend Roger.

This lowered Roger's hit rate somewhat, but had a greater impact on Carter himself.

The fierce confrontation on the defensive end caused Carter to lose his touch outside the three-point line for a while. He made 5 three-pointers today, but in the last half of the quarter he didn't hit a single long shot.

In fact, Carter didn't score a single point in the last half of the quarter because Tayshaun Prince pressed Carter in every round, preventing him from shooting and forcing him to break through.

Carter is an excellent dunker, but after the serious injury, he is no longer a top finisher at the basket.

He is still better than most players, but against a team like the Warriors, Carter's finishing ability at the basket is far from enough.

The three-point shot was blocked, the finish at the basket was not effective, and Carter seemed to disappear in the last half of the quarter.

After all, he is not as versatile as Roger, and his influence on the offensive end is not as great as that of No. 14 on the opposite side.

However, thanks to the offense of Dirk and Shark, the Mavericks were still able to keep close to the score in the final moments.

Until the last 21 seconds of the game, the two sides were still tied.

At this time, the score was 121 to 120, with the Warriors leading by 1 point. This score was enough to illustrate the style of this game.

Roger scored 39 points and 12 assists, and Vince Carter scored 31 points.

The game continued, the Mavericks attacked, Jason Terry controlled the ball, trying to run out the playing time.

Because of the rule change, the Warriors cannot foul the Shark without the ball, and the hack-a-shark tactic cannot be used for the time being. Therefore, the Shark remains on the court as an inside containment point.

Dirk Nowitzki held the ball in the last 10 seconds, faked a shot and then broke through the basket.

But Amar'e Stoudemire cut the ball away at the moment the German passed the ball, and the basketball was destroyed and no one controlled it. Finally, Vince Carter picked up the basketball near the bottom corner on the left.

This position makes Carter and all Mavericks fans nervous because it may be the most special position for Carter.

In the last 2001 seconds of the 2 Game , Carter missed the shot from this position, which caused the Raptors to lose the most important game in team history. That was also the beginning of him being criticized by Toronto fans.

Carter wanted to pass the ball, after all, he hadn't scored a single point in the past half quarter.

But 0.1 second later, he changed his mind.

He will not be trapped by any curse, this position will not be a curse for him, and neither will Roger!
Seeing Carter choose to jump shot directly from that position, Mike Breen jumped up: "Vince, long two-point shot. Bang!!! Vince Carter!!! He made this shot and he killed the game! The curse of 2001 was bravely pierced by Vince at this moment! This is a game for the brave, and today Vince is the bravest fighter!"

Carter arrogantly twisted the throttle of his motorcycle and ran past Roger. With 2.1 seconds left in the game, Spoelstra called a timeout.

Mavericks coach Avery Johnson yelled, "Don't be in a hurry to celebrate, raise your heads, this may be the most important defense in your life!"

Junior General Avery Johnson played against Roger as a player in the 90s, and he lost like a dog, and the Admiral also lost like a dog. He looked down on the Admiral, the softie, and always had. Therefore, he hated any act of weakness.

He has been showing a tough attitude to the team in the locker room, and now it's time to show toughness on the defensive end.

2.1 seconds, Roger was as fast as lightning and still couldn't break through. Therefore, all the defense of the young general was set on the perimeter, mainly to prevent Roger from jumping shots.

What the hell is the greatest offensive player in history? He can’t handle him!
The game started and Vince Carter personally defended Roger.

Frenchman Boris Diaw was sent up to throw the sideline ball. He is one of the Warriors' most reliable passers.

The referee put the whistle in his mouth, and the race against time was about to begin.

The confrontation between the two sides had already started in advance. Stoudemire and Camby endured the impact to cover Roger, and Roger had several arms on his body.

Before everything started, Roger turned his head and looked at Carter: "Don't be too quick to be happy Vince, I told you."

"beep!"

The referee gave the ball to Dio, Stoudemire and Camby blocked the pursuers, but Carter still squeezed over and stuck close to Roger.

Roger's shooting threat touches the nerves of every Dallas fan, and everyone knows what the consequences are if he catches the basketball.

But Roger didn't receive the ball, but suddenly cut inside!

At the same time, the Frenchman boldly threw the ball high into the penalty area.

The Warriors want to go straight for an alley-oop!

God knows whether it was the French who drank too much red wine or Spoelstra who drank too much red wine. In Mike Brin's opinion, this was an extremely bold strategy that could not be thought of even if he didn't drink.

O'Neal immediately ran back to the basket, and Carter followed Roger into the restricted area.

The three men jumped almost at the same time, but Dio's pass was very accurate and Roger was just able to catch it.

But the confrontation in the air was inevitable. In the collision between the Shark and Carter, Roger lost his balance. In the end, with his body already tilted, he gently lifted the ball towards the basket with his five fingers.

He doesn't just have the most dangerous jump shot in history.

He also has the most threatening finishing around the basket.

He is the best offensive player in history.

"Beep!"

"brush!"

Vince Carter might be able to break the curse of the left corner.

But he couldn't break Roger's curse.

After an inspiring near-game winning shot, what greeted him was an unforgettable counter-game winning shot.

Carter's extreme anger brought him extreme disappointment, and he sat on the ground in extreme pain. The red light was like blood gushing out of his chest, splashing all over the place.

Roger, who was knocked down, stood up first and walked to the downtrodden Vince Carter amid deafening cheers.

"You can't get past the second round, not this year."

Shaquille O'Neal shook his head.

Once you are cursed, it is not easy to get rid of it.

You will continue to live with the pain Roger created, year after year.

Until one day you let go of your hatred.

or.
He tortured me to the point of losing all hope.

Carmelo Anthony watched TV and got goose bumps all over his body.

Before, he said Roger was an engineer of the human soul who built a little boy's basketball dream.

But now, with a chill on his spine, Melon couldn't help but hug his girlfriend Lala tightly.

"These bastards are a demolition crew of human souls!"

(End of this chapter)