Champions Creed

Chapter 415 Chapter 414: I am obsessed with victory too (ask for monthly tickets!)
After the regular season ended, Eric Spoelstra gave the entire team a day off.

But Roger still woke up early because he had an important date today.

At noon, there was a crowd outside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

If such a scene were seen by public intellectuals, they would certainly praise the noble sentiments and free souls of the American people, and then emphasize that Chinese museums are always relatively deserted, in order to highlight the nobility of the American people.

After all, in their eyes, even if American masters like to watch girls do splits, it must be because they know how to appreciate art.

But in fact, none of these onlookers went to the museum to see the exhibition. They were either reporters or Warriors fans, and they had no interest in today's exhibition.

Just look at the signs in their hands that say "We believe" and you'll know who they are here for.

Ten minutes later, a luxury car escorted by mounted police pulled up to the museum entrance.

The driver opened the door, and Roger, the king of the Bay Area, got out first. Then he leaned over slightly, and a lady put her hand on his arm and walked down gracefully.

The mounted police officer at the scene swore that the light from the numerous flashbulbs was more dazzling than the sun. If there really were aliens on Mars, they would probably need to wear sunglasses to avoid being blinded.

Every new girlfriend of Roger attracts a lot of attention, but Emily Vega, who just made her relationship with Roger public half a month ago, is very special.

The locations where she and Roger had dates were very unique, once at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and another time right here.

Today, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will open the first day of its Van Gogh immersive exhibition.

Upon learning of Roger's interest, the museum reserved a special session for Roger and Emily Vega on the first day and opened it to the public on the second day.

This is certainly not a loss for the museum, but it is an advertising endorsement that many brands would have to spend tens of millions to obtain.

Emily Vega likes art exhibitions and operas, but she doesn't try to make herself look high-end. Roger only found out after getting to know her that she is completely different from most people who come from ordinary families and enter the modeling circle after being discovered by scouts in foreign countries.

Emily Vega comes from a prominent Dominican family with royal blood. Even now, her family is still very well off.

Her grandfather is the vice president of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, the oldest institution of higher learning in the world. Her father is a very famous local doctor, and her mother was the champion of the 1980 Dominican beauty pageant when she was young.

She inherited her mother's angelic face and received a good education since childhood. She is very interested in art, design, musicals and writing.

So, she is not pretending to like reading, nor is she pretending to like art. To see whether a person really likes reading, you can see whether he will deliberately promote that point. Emily Vega never mentions her love for reading.

As for Roger, he didn't like art, but he didn't reject it either, so he agreed to come with Emily Vega.

However, after entering the first exhibition hall of the museum, Roger was still shocked by the scene before him and could not move.

He finally understood why it was called an “immersive art exhibition”.

The museum used the most advanced projection technology to completely reproduce a scene from Van Gogh's famous work "The Starry Night" in the exhibition hall, making Roger feel as if he was really in the village of Saint-Remy depicted in the painting.

The starry sky, rolling and surging like flames, was flowing above Roger's head. The line between madness and sanity had never been so blurred.

"So beautiful." Emily Vega held Roger's hand. "How much do you know about Van Gogh?"

"No more than the old lady on the street knows about him," Roger answered honestly.

Emily Vega smiled. Roger never put on airs. He would never make comments or pretend to know something he didn't understand well enough.

This made Emily Vega feel that getting along with Roger was a very pleasant thing.

Yes, she likes art and reading, but that doesn’t mean she is a woman who always talks about words like “thought” and “connotation”.

She asked Roger to accompany her to the exhibition, essentially hoping to spend some relaxing leisure time.

Being with Roger is very relaxing, and we can just treat each other with the utmost sincerity.

Roger looked around and added, "Although I don't know much about him, I quite admire him."

"Oh why?"

"He devoted his life to his art, became crazy about it, and lost his mind in the process, and the same thing happened to me with my obsession with winning."

"This is the first time I've heard someone link Vincent Van Gogh and basketball. So, Mr. GOAT, aren't you afraid that you might lose your mind because of this obsession?"

"So what? When my uncle who raised me lives in a big house that I never dared to imagine before, when my future children and wife can have everything they want, when I crush my opponents year after year and win the championship trophy, it will all be worth it." Roger stared at the flowing starry sky, as if he was trapped in a painting, and seemed to be really going crazy.

"You are very real, Roger. More real than most people I have ever met." Emily Vega leaned her head gently on Roger's shoulder. Her 188 cm height and high heels allowed her to interact with Roger naturally.

The souls of the two met in the starry sky.

Those who know Roger know that the biggest difference between him and LBJ is probably that nothing he says is just a casual remark, even if it is to a woman.

He quickly demonstrated just how obsessed he was with winning.

In the first round of the playoffs, facing the Memphis Grizzlies led by Pau Gasol, who had upset the Warriors in the regular season, the highly anticipated defending champions advanced to the divisional semifinals with four consecutive wins, shattering the Grizzlies' hopes of winning their first playoff victory in team history.

The strength gap between the two sides is indeed huge. In the four games, the Warriors even sent the game into garbage time in three games.

At the intensity of the playoffs, Pau Gasol was completely isolated and helpless.

Former All-Star guard Eddie Jones could only contribute 10 points in this round of the series. Mike Miller, as a shooter with little ball-handling ability, averaged only 8 points per game under the Warriors' oppressive defense.

Roger's obsession with winning was reflected in the fact that he scored 40+ points in two of the four games.

Yes, the Memphis Grizzlies were sent into garbage time in three of their games, but this does not mean that Roger scored high because he dared to play and fight hard in garbage time.

In his two games where he scored 40+ points, he scored 40+ points after the third quarter.

In other words, even when facing the Memphis Grizzlies, whose lineup appeared weak on paper, Roger did not relax at all. If he could finish the battle in three quarters, he would never drag the game into the fourth quarter.

He showed the world what he was like in the playoffs in the first round. In this year's regular season, Roger's average score was an incredible 36.2 points per game, a career high, and he won the scoring title for the 11th consecutive season - this is something that Michael Jordan could have done if he had not retired to play baseball.

In the first round of the playoffs, Roger immediately proved that was not his limit by averaging 39 points per game in the series.

However, the Warriors are not complacent, because the first round is just a warm-up. For the Golden State Gang, the real test will begin in the second round.

Just one day after the Warriors eliminated the Grizzlies, the San Antonio Spurs easily swept the Los Angeles Clippers with a total score of 4-0.

Fateful rivals, the Warriors and the Spurs, Roger and Duncan, after a brief separation last season, these classic elements reappeared in the playoffs.

And what Craig Popovich said during the regular season was dug up by nosy reporters.

"Four buzzer beaters in a single month just shows that the Warriors are overly dependent on Roger this season. The Warriors lack talent, have no second player, and cannot dominate a championship team. Those buzzer beaters are just covering up these problems with victory. In the playoffs, these problems will collectively burst into flames."

Craig Popovich has always been very confident that he can defeat the Warriors.

His confidence is not unfounded. After all, the Spurs have created the best regular season record in team history this season.

Such a record is the result of Craig Popovich's keen judgment of the situation and timely adjustments to the team.

In the past, the San Antonio Spurs were a slow-moving team that relied on hard-nosed defense to fight off opponents.

But with the passing of the dark defensive era and the implementation of the No Handcheck rule, this style of play is no longer the standard answer to winning.

What will happen if you coach a team with outdated ideas? Craig Popovich's teacher, Larry Brown, whose reputation has been completely ruined, is a living example.

Also, Tim Duncan is no longer healthy.

The pain of plantar fasciitis plagued him, and every time he walked, ran, and jumped on the court, he would suffer severe pain. Someone on the Spurs had to step up to help him unload the burden.

The team can no longer expect Tim Duncan to solve all the problems as they did in the past.

So this season, Craig Popovich was as avant-garde and bold as a girl who had just entered puberty. He broke the Spurs' tradition and shifted the focus of offense to the outside.

Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili got more opportunities, and Tim Duncan also took the initiative to sacrifice like his predecessor, the Admiral. This season, the great TD set many career low records, including average points per game. This is also the first time since his rookie season that his average number of shots per game is not the first in the team.

The reduced role on the offensive end did not cause any problems for the Spurs. This is also the "abnormal" part of the Spurs and the secret to their longevity.

From the Admiral to Tim Duncan, every generation of their leaders would silently choose to sacrifice for the team as if they were brainwashed. So when Kawhi Leonard, a normal star, didn't want to sacrifice, he seemed less normal.

In short, Duncan's sacrifice made the Spurs' transformation smooth and successful. If it weren't for the second generation of the Showtime Lakers, the Spurs would be the first in the Western Conference this season.

In addition to the shift in offensive focus, Craig Popovich also made a very unconventional move, which was to implement a space lineup of one big and four small players.

During the regular season, apart from Tim Duncan, who was an unshakable inside player, Rashou Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed were only fake starters, playing less than 20 minutes per game. Most of the time, the Spurs' on-court lineup was Parker, Ginobili/Raga Bell, Michael Finley, Bruce Bowen and Duncan.

In the playoffs, Craig Popovich didn't even pretend and directly let Bruce Bowen or Robert Horry start at the power forward position to open up offensive space.

Craig Popovich's series of changes have made the Spurs one of the best teams in the league in terms of space. Their three-point shooting percentage is second only to the Golden State Warriors, close to 40%. Tim Duncan can also focus more on the defensive end, allowing the Spurs to maintain top-level defense while greatly improving their offensive capabilities.

His changes to the Spurs have made the team perform stronger this season, making all Spurs fans look forward to the team replicating the glory of 2003.

They all had one thought in their heads: We beat Roger once in the playoffs, so why can't we beat him a second time?
In Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, two destined rivals met at the ATT Center, the home court of the San Antonio team.

Tim Duncan looked at Roger walking onto the court from the player tunnel with his eyes wide open. No one knew what he was thinking.

Although Tim Duncan has also been tortured by Roger over the years, he is probably the player who has suffered the least from Roger.

In his sophomore year, he tasted the championship in Roger's era.

Compared to Kobe Bryant and others who still don't have a ring, Tim Duncan is lucky.

Such results are also the reason why he and Popovich are still confident about "defeating Roger".

They had success in Roger's era, and although that was many years ago, once there is success, people will believe that it can be replicated.

Before the game started, Craig Popovich emphasized today's strategy again: "We must not relax for even a second and double-team him. As long as the other players have problems with their touch, we will win the game!"

Craig Popovich will double-team Roger in a very extreme way today, which is a lesson he learned during the regular season.

Without the second player, the Warriors would never win a series with Roger locked down.

Relying on the three-point shooting? It is impossible for them to have someone who can stand out in every game. Just like Craig Popovich said, a team without a second player is doomed to not go far in the playoffs. This question will definitely be a thunderbolt.

With this strategy, the Spurs' starting lineup of one big and four small players continued to set off.

Craig Popovich is grateful for Amar'e Stoudemire's absence, which allows him to use space lineups with confidence.

Before the game started, Roger's old rival, Raja Bell, who was known for his toughness and brutality, walked up to Roger while tucking his jersey into his pants.

"It's a shame that the three-peat has come to an end. You might only get 20 points tonight."

20 points is actually not a small number, but for a super scorer who averages 36 points per game, this is called an effective restriction.

Raja Bell is confident in Craig Popovich's strategy. During the regular season, when he and Bruce Bowen teamed up, the Spurs were able to effectively contain Roger.

This time, the Warriors didn't even have the chance to drag the game into a critical moment.

Roger looked at Raja Bell and replied with a disdainful smile.

"Which section?"

(End of this chapter)