Champions Creed

Chapter 413 412: He wants to be everyone's father (please give me a monthly ticket!)
The Warriors' December results were pleasing.

Roger's performance in December was unprecedented.

With four buzzer-beaters in a single month, Sports Illustrated asked Roger to reproduce the classic look of the T-800 Terminator wearing sunglasses and leather jacket on the cover of the latest issue. The title also fits the cover very well: The most ruthless Terminator in NBA history.

Such praise is not an exaggeration at all, and it is not even enough to perfectly describe how great Roger's performance was in December.

After all, most of the time, a player who can contribute four buzzer-beaters in a season can be called a big-hearted player.

Four times a month, that's a miracle.

In the article, Sports Illustrated basketball editor Andrew Sharp claimed: "Roger is not cold-blooded. What runs through his veins is coolant. He froze the fans in the Holy City, froze the hearts of New Yorkers, froze the expectations of Los Angeles residents. Of course, he also destroyed the heroic story that originally belonged to LeBron James."

Roger ruined LBJ's first potential buzzer-beater, which doubled the pain for Cleveland fans.

LeBron James finally mustered up the courage to be a hero as the Cavaliers fans expected, but his heroic status only lasted for the duration of a timeout.

"I will not lose to Roger even once this season" has become the most hated sentence of Nike. This sentence makes LeBron James look like a fool who tied himself up and let Roger do whatever he wants.

In fact, Nike has realized a problem that they have been reluctant to admit all along - LeBron can't threaten Roger's position at all, and can't help the brand regain influence in the basketball market. He and Roger are not players of the same level, and they have never been close. This is a bloody fact.

There is a clear gap between him and the "core of a team that is sure to compete for the championship."

LBJ's current level of attention is the result of Nike's marketing efforts, which cost a lot of money. Without these marketing efforts, it's hard to say how much greater LBJ's influence would be than that of Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, who has already reached the finals.

In the past two seasons, Nike's marketing machine has repeatedly repeated a point: LeBron does not have a team as strong as Roger, nor teammates as strong as Roger. He is surrounded by either an aging Michael Jordan or a Michael Redd who doesn't like to defend or pass. If LBJ also has the same configuration as Roger, then he may also be able to achieve the same achievements as Roger.

But this season, when the Cleveland Cavaliers gathered a bunch of good players and the Golden State Warriors lacked a second-in-command, but LBJ still couldn't win a game from Roger, Nike's remarks completely failed.

It even made LeBron James' problems more serious.

If a star player cannot use his personal ability to change the fate of a team, but can only rely on better teammates to win, then what is the value of this star player's existence?
Nike doesn't want to think too much about this issue, they may even cover it up for LeBron James.

It turned out that even stars like Larry Hughes and Andrei Kirilenko could not save LBJ's career.

If LeBron James wants to succeed and become the one who breaks Roger's rule and takes over the scepter from him, there is only one way - to find a higher-level star to cooperate with.

If the Cleveland Cavaliers can't meet this requirement, LeBron James will have to find his own way out.

In short, he can't lose.

He represents more than just himself.

And all the capital behind him.

For Nike, LeBron James' season is no longer important.

From the moment he was defeated by Roger, all subsequent victories would become meaningless.

Even if he really led the team into the playoffs this season, he could not change the fact that he had never defeated Roger.

Now, Nike must focus on the future.

No matter who LeBron James teams up with, as long as he can win, Nike will find a way to get him the scepter!

After all, in the 20s, two historically large groups of players were marketed by them as the kings of the league.

In fact, Nike has already started to make efforts.

The fact that LBJ only wanted to renew his 1+1 contract with the Cavaliers became popular again due to their hype.

With only one year left on James' contract with the Cavaliers, this behavior is like a divorced young woman posting photos of herself in sexy pajamas on her WeChat Moments; it is sending a signal.

The honeymoon period between LeBron James and his hometown team was broken by Roger again, and Daniel Gilbert's heart, which had finally been put at ease, was weighed down again.

The Warriors' perfect December ended amid panic in Cleveland, but in fact, the Warriors still exposed some problems in December.

Facing championship-level teams, they did not have a clear advantage, and almost every game went to the very last minute.

On the offensive end, the Warriors also relied too much on Roger and three-pointers.

They don't have a strong enough second ball-handler to add double insurance to the offense, which is an irreparable role loss.

The most typical game was the one against the Lakers. The Warriors' three-point shooting suddenly slowed down in the fourth quarter, almost allowing the Lakers to turn the tables.

If it's in the playoffs, you can't expect Roger to hit those key shots in every game.

So, even if the Warriors prove that they are indeed strong, this season is still the best chance to defeat the Warriors.

They are nowhere near as invincible as they were last season.

But so what? This cannot stop people from loving and praising this Warriors team. For sports columnists, the Warriors' performance fully meets all the definitions of a sports epic. A team with not-so-top talent, but relying on the desire for victory, passion and unity to shape its fighting power, with everyone shouting the slogan "We believe" to crush all strong opponents, will never become outdated in sports history.

Most sports writers were expecting a miracle to happen, and most fans were expecting this family-like team to achieve greatness.

The story of the Warriors attracted everyone's attention, and "We believe" became the loudest slogan in the entire league.

It is a very peculiar phenomenon that the Warriors have such high popularity, because most of the time, the team that is about to win three consecutive championships often plays the role of public enemy.

In the world of competitive sports, no one wants to watch the same team win all the time because that destroys the suspense.

This is why LBJ is so popular 20 years later.

He never won all the time, and he never dominated anyone. Who could not love such a player?

People like Kobe and Jordan, who have won two consecutive championships in the NBA, are the most hated.

The Golden State Warriors are an exception. They have won twice in a row, but many fans around the world still want to see them win a third time.

And this is the only time in NBA history that individual heroism and collective heroism are combined so perfectly.

If Roger can win the championship without Amar'e Stoudemire, it will be the ultimate portrayal of personal heroism.

But at the same time, the Warriors' perfect team atmosphere also allows the media to engage in a lot of collective heroic narratives.

Roger didn't know how much of a role Reebok played in this, but the Golden State Warriors did become the most watched and most supported team in the United States.

Bill Simmons was surprised by this phenomenon in his column: "Listen, I've watched basketball all my life, and I've never seen a team that's trying to win three consecutive championships gain such high popularity. I thought only a team composed of girls wearing sexy fitness clothes could have the unanimous support of fans."

Amid the loud shouts of "We believe", time passed and the year 2006 came.

Roger's career has officially entered its 13th year.

He has become an icon of the league, and his influence has continued from the golden age of live television to the current Internet era.

With the help of these two media, Roger can be said to be the most influential star in NBA history.

Bill Russell won 11 championships, but only a handful of people actually saw it.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar even hoped for his death on live television, because his most frail years were magnified infinitely by live television.

But Roger is different. He has been in a dominant position since he entered the league until now, and all the processes of these 13 years have been witnessed by the fans.

Under everyone's attention, he won 9 championships, 6 MVPs, 7 double-first teams, and monopolized the scoring title for 10 consecutive years.

He has won enough, and his overall honors are no worse than any player in history.

But look at what he did in December, he's still working tirelessly to win.

What is it that keeps him yearning for victory?
ESPN conducted an exclusive interview with Roger on this topic.

On January 1, the Warriors lost unexpectedly to the Memphis Grizzlies on the road, losing their first game of 3.

After the game, Roger left early and didn't even attend the press conference. It was not only because he was disappointed with the result of the game, but also because he had an appointment with the ESPN team for an exclusive interview in the hotel conference room tonight.

The interview footage will be broadcast in recorded form on tomorrow's "Sports Center" program.

Because the game was over very late, and the recording team needed to prepare everything and wait in the hotel conference room early, Roger asked someone to send a gift to all the recording staff in advance, which was a box of Roger's own brand of Chinese dim sum. When Roger arrived at the hotel conference room, all kinds of fill lights and cameras of all sizes were ready.

The host of this interview program, Emily Vega, the 2003 Miss Universe champion, is eating the snacks that Roger gave her as a gift.

Before the political correctness trend swept Europe and the United States, causing female hosts, movie heroines and game heroines to become uglier and uglier, major sports channels often invited well-known models to host their programs. After all, no one doesn't like a beautiful appearance.

It was obvious that the long wait had made everyone hungry. Even Emily Vega, who was very careful about her figure, had almost finished the snacks in the gift box. In fact, when Roger saw her, she had already taken the last snack in the gift box and taken a bite.

Seeing Roger coming in, she immediately put the remaining half of the snack back into the gift box and quickly chewed the food. After the makeup artist confirmed that there was no food residue in her mouth, she turned around and showed a generous and beautiful smile: "Hello, Roger."

Roger finally understood why Al Horford, who was immersed in young flesh every day in the American college basketball arena, was obsessed with this woman.

Beauty is only one dimension that makes Emily Vega attractive. Her temperament and manners reveal an elegance and nobility.

Roger has seen all kinds of women, but not many of them can catch his eye.

But she succeeded in arousing Roger's interest.

This was the first time Roger had shown interest in a woman since he decided to get serious about finding a steady partner.

Of course, Roger was not a male dog who had never seen a woman.

He admired the woman, but didn't really want anything to happen between them.

Roger just nodded slightly, then shook hands with Emily Vega: "Sorry, I've rushed over as soon as possible."

"Don't say that. We are the ones who invaded your private space and time. These are the questions I will ask later. See if there is anything that needs to be modified." Emily Vega leaned forward slightly and handed over a piece of A4 paper with both hands.

Roger glanced at it casually and nodded: "No problem, let's get started."

The whole interview process went very smoothly. Roger has worked with many model guest hosts. The only reason they participated in the recorded program was that beneath their glamorous appearance, there might be a soul that can't even speak clearly.

Recorded programs can be free of NGs and edited, so they have a very high tolerance rate.

But Emily Vega had no such problem at all. Not only did she memorize the script, but she would also improvise and communicate with Roger when he was answering.

What impressed Roger the most was the question, "How did you get through those days when you couldn't make the school team in high school?"

Roger's answer was very honest: "In that era when the Internet was not well developed and there were no game videos to watch, I hand-painted all the tactics and pasted them all over the room. I practiced tirelessly, waiting for my chance. At that time, I never thought that I would become a player who established a dynasty in the NBA. I was so insignificant at that time."

Normally, the moderator will move directly to the next question.

But Emily Vega looked at Roger with admiration: "That's why people say that great people are not born great, but show their greatness in the process of growing up."

"Classic quotes from The Godfather. I thought no woman would watch this movie. Even if they read the original book, they might only read the title page." Roger simply broke away from the interview and chatted with her.

"Why not? Great works do not discriminate by gender. I have read the original book and the movie many times. Classics never go out of style."

"So, who in the alliance do you think is most like Fredo?" Roger asked with interest.
Seeing that Roger asked Emily in return and made the show completely deviate from the "script", the on-site assistant wanted to call a cut, but was stopped by the director: "Don't worry, Emily can pick up the topic. This kind of relaxed chat atmosphere is exactly what we need!"

Emily Vega was indeed calm. As someone who has really read the book, she will not hesitate no matter how you ask the question.

"Fredo is not simply bad, he is stupid, but he wants to prove that he is not stupid, he wants to find a sense of existence, so he does a lot of stupid things."

"Well, the more you talk, the more I think that guy is really like Fredo. He is weak, but he wants to prove that he is not weak, so he does a lot of stupid things. Then who do you think is more like the old Godfather Vito Corleone?"

"you."

"Me? No. Vito Corleone is a master at playing with people, and I'm not good at that."

"Yes, Vito Corleone is good at playing with favors, but favors are just sugar coating to cover up the violence behind. Because he is strong enough, the favors can be returned. Because you are strong enough, Roger, those who were originally your enemies, Scott, Gary, Dominic, Paul, etc., will obey your leadership. In essence, you are the same."

Roger didn't expect this woman to say such a thing, and now he believed that she had watched the movie and the original novel more than once.

She is not only beautiful, she is also a truly interesting soul.

Emily Vega seemed to realize that the interview was a little off topic, so she immediately adjusted the rhythm: "Roger, last question."

"You said."

"Why do you still pursue victory so tirelessly after having won so many honors?"

"It's a good question. David Robinson also asked this question when Michael Jordan returned. He didn't understand why Michael, who had already achieved success, wanted to come back. Now I can tell you why. It's because Michael and I don't enjoy winning honors in themselves. We enjoy the process of winning and conquering. Just like fishing, many people will even let go of all the fish they catch after a few days of hard work, because that is not the goal, but the process is."

"Thank you for accepting our interview Roger, I hope you can still enjoy your journey this time."

"Thank you."

The interview was over and everyone relaxed.

Although it was a recorded program, there was not a single NG during the entire process.

Emily Vega completed the work with the highest efficiency.

The interview team quickly packed up and left because it was already late and Roger still needed to rest.

Emily Vega shakes hands with Roger: "It's a pleasure to work with you."

“Some of your points are interesting.”

"Your definition of victory is interesting, too."

"I never knew a beauty pageant champion loved reading so much."

“Just an interest.”

“I heard you have your own fashion brand store in Miami.”

"Yes."

“Next time I’m in Miami, I’ll check it out.”

"That's great. I won't refuse this kind of free publicity." Emily Vega made a lively joke and turned to leave.

Suddenly, she seemed to remember something, and quickly turned back and took away the gift box with only half a piece of snack left on the table: "Can I take the snack back? I like it very much."

Roger knew it was an almost empty box, as most of the staff had left their empty boxes in the conference room after their snacks.

But she chose an emotionally intelligent and respectful approach.

"of course can."

"Thank you."

After everyone left, Roger returned to his hotel room and opened the schedule.

He's looking to see when he'll play in Miami.

Two days later, the Golden State Warriors defeated their old rival, the Detroit Pistons, at home, immediately getting the team out of the shadow of being upset by the Grizzlies.

As expected, the Warriors and the Pistons fought until the very last moment of the game, but in the end the Warriors did not win by Roger's buzzer-beater, but by overall defense, which prevented the Pistons from scoring a single point in the last 1 minute and 05 seconds, thus winning the victory.

In this 1 minute and 05 seconds, Roger intercepted Billups' pass to Hamilton and blocked Rasheed Wallace's attack under the basket.

After the game, he roared at the Pistons' Big Five - he had beaten the Pistons many times, but never seemed to get tired of it and was always excited about his victories.

Charles Barkley summed it up this way on the TNT show.

"Regarding Roger's answer in the interview, I can give a simpler and more crude interpretation: Roger is not short of money, honors, or fame. He is not idle, and he does not play basketball purely for his love of basketball. He has been working tirelessly to win because he wants to be the master, he wants to be everyone's father. Although the media has analyzed the Warriors' shortcomings this season, just wait and see, he will still win in the playoffs."
-
Jay-Z is trying to buy the New Jersey Nets, and LBJ said he is not opposed to playing for Jay-Z. What does this mean? - Cleveland Plain Dealer

I don’t know when Roger will stop winning, but I think it won’t take more than five years, because there aren’t many people left who are worth conquering. - Slam Dunk

Monta Ellis was arrested for speeding and the Golden State Warriors have suspended him internally. - San Francisco Chronicle

(End of this chapter)