Champions Creed

Chapter 422 421: The man who looks closest to Roger (asking for monthly votes!)

Roger's will represents the will of the warriors.

Bob Bass has made Brandon Roy his top pick for this year's draft.

As for the boss's opinion? It doesn't matter. Or rather, he has no opinion at all.

If you give him a list of 2006 draft picks now, he probably won't know more than five people.

He handed over the decision-making power of the Warriors to Bob Buss and Roger's team. He only did three things when he came to the United States: spend money, win championships, and fuck American girls.

In the words of Mikhail Prokhorov: "Even if Roger wants to use the first pick to select a 36D female basketball player, I won't have any objection."

Roger has always had a lot to say in the draft, and of course, he also gave reasons why he favored Roy.

First, Brandon Roy is a senior rookie. This means that he doesn't have much potential to tap, and he is now very close to his final form. But it also means that his immediate combat effectiveness is very strong and he can be plug-and-play in a championship-contending team.

Second, Brandon Roy is a low-key, selfless player with a high basketball IQ. In China, Roy would later be nicknamed "Yellow Mamba," which caused a great misunderstanding of his playing style. In fact, his playing style is not much similar to Kobe's. In the United States, his nickname is "Natural."

What this means is that he can always make the right decisions naturally on the basketball court. You can understand his playing style as Tim Duncan at the guard position.

This kind of mature player will not do stupid things like a problem teenager like Monta Ellis, nor will he need time to develop like Amare Stoudemire.

As soon as he arrives in Mission Bay, he can immediately contribute to the team's dominance.

So, the Golden State Warriors sent a tryout invitation to Brandon Roy.

To Bob Buss's surprise, Roy accepted the Warriors' invitation but also rejected the Charlotte Bobcats' tryout request.

When a reporter asked him why, he replied: "It was great to play for Michael, but I live in Roger's era. Who doesn't want to play alongside the GOAT?"

Unlike Stoudemire, who grew up in Orlando and was deeply influenced by Roger, Brandon Roy was born and raised in Seattle. From childhood to adulthood, all the stories of his basketball career took place in Seattle.

Yes, Roy played for the University of Washington. But as we all know, the University of Washington is in Seattle, not Washington, DC.

Roger's career has never had any connection with Seattle. The only connection is that in 1996, he and the Sharks smashed the NBA team in Seattle.

Even so, Brandon Roy still regards Roger as his idol.

Roger's influence is no longer limited to the places where he has worked, but radiates throughout the world.

It seems that Roy is also very eager to play for the Warriors.

This seemed like it would be a perfect two-way trip.

Roger fantasized about the good things that would happen after Roy joined the team. In many sports legends, the last memory left by a player is usually tragic, difficult, and dangerous.

In the original timeline, even if Michael Jordan ended his career with his sixth championship, that ending would have been very difficult.

He and his Bulls have never been in as much danger as they were in 1998.

And if Brandon Roy could come, Roger believed that he could realize his dream - leaving behind an unsurpassed brilliant figure.

In the original timeline, Michael Jordan's back in 1998 was brilliant, but there was also discussion like this: "If the Jazz or the Pacers try a little harder, they can kill Michael. If Michael plays another year, he will be defeated."

This is not the kind of back view Roger wants to create. He hopes to bring real despair to the entire league.

The kind of despair that "if he doesn't retire, no one else will have any chance at all."

He doesn't need to be in danger or have many obstacles.

He hopes that the last year of his career will still give the world a shock that cannot be defeated.

This is what Roger wanted.

Only in this way can Roger retire peacefully.

Of course, it’s too far away to think about that now.

If we don't take this step well, everything will be in vain.

The Warriors were already leading 2-0, but Roger never thought that Kobe Bryant was an opponent that could be easily defeated.

That guy is tough, just as tough as Michael.

The series will not be that easy, Kobe and the Lakers will definitely fight back fiercely in the next game.

It turns out Roger knew Kobe very well, as his predictions came true in Game 3 and Game 4.

In Mission Bay, the Los Angeles Lakers fought two heroic battles.

In Game 3 of the series, when the Lakers and their fans arrived at Mission Bay, they saw Warriors posters everywhere.

What’s odd is that the poster doesn’t feature any Warriors player, but a portrait of Mark Twain, with the caption: “The deep sea of ​​the Bay Area will drown the Lakers.”

Mark Twain's pen name Mark.Tawin is a sailing term, meaning a water depth of two juan - this was the depth limit at the time. Only waters deeper than two juan could accommodate ships, alluding to the Warriors' bottomless rotation depth.

However, the Lakers did not drown.

Instead, they turned Mission Bay upside down.

The Warriors had a chance to end it all.

With 3 seconds left in Game 5, the Warriors, who were leading by 1 point, threw a sideline ball.

They now have countless ways to make the series score 3-0 and push the Lakers off the cliff.

Roger was tightly guarded by the Lakers, so Boris Diaw had no choice but to pass the ball to Monta Ellis.

After receiving the ball outside the three-point line, the latter immediately used his speed to run with the ball, trying to compress the time left for the Lakers as much as possible.

With 2.6 seconds left in the game, Monta Ellis was finally caught by Caron Butler and sent to the free throw line.

At this time, the Warriors fans in the Oracle Arena were already celebrating in advance, with thousands of signs with the words "We believe" dancing in the air.

As Monta Ellis made the first free throw, the cheers at the scene reached their peak.

But Monta Ellis was just a rookie after all. Under tremendous pressure, Kobe said to him: "If you miss this free throw, I guarantee you'll be finished."

Monta Ellis missed his second free throw after coming to the line. The camera turned to Eric Spoelstra, who seemed to have foreseen what would happen and looked a little panicked.

"Damn it!" Monta Ellis threw the ball to the referee, and Kobe applauded beside him.

"Congratulations, you have earned the right to watch a great performance up close."

Then, came the most classic scene in Kobe's career.

At the last moment, the Lakers kicked the ball out from the sideline, and Kobe held the ball steadily. However, Roger, who was defending him personally, immediately followed him and completely blocked Kobe's offensive space.

Bryant tried to use his stronger body to penetrate the defense, just as he did last season.

But Roger fought hard and did not have any psychological burden because of the ribs broken by Kobe last season.

Seeing that he could not get space, Kobe chose to move laterally. When he reached the top of the arc, he jumped directly and made a drifting shot.

Roger's defense was flawless. He always stayed right in front of Kobe and reached out to interfere.

Roger almost blocked Kobe's shot, but the No. 15 in purple adjusted the arc and then.
"BUZZER!!! Kobe Bryant hit a three-pointer and killed the game in zero seconds! Miraculous buzzer-beater, incredible reversal! What else could Roger do? He did his best, but Kobe Bryant still killed the game!"

After the goal, the man with blood on his hands walked up to Monta Ellis and pointed to the score on the big screen: "See, I keep my word!"

1 to 2, the Los Angeles Lakers pulled one back when their life was hanging by a thread.

After the game, reporters asked Spoelstra: "When Monta missed the free throw, you seemed very nervous. Did you know what was going to happen next?"

Eric Spoelstra sighed: "I just know that the scene at that time was what people like Kobe Bryant dreamed of. He must have dreamed of countless times as a child. He was standing on the biggest stage in the world, in the final moments, the team was down by 2 points, and they needed a hero, so Kobe became the hero. I didn't know what would happen at the time, but I knew that Kobe was the kind of person who would be excited about this situation."

Finally, Eric Spoelstra added: "He is the player who has come closest to defeating Roger, always."

In series G4, the Warriors continued to play at home.

If the defending champions can return to Los Angeles with a 3-1 lead, the Warriors still have a great chance of winning.

But the Los Angeles Lakers are more determined than anyone expected.

In the second game at Mission Bay, Kobe Bryant did not shoot as crazily as usual.

Even though he had just hit an epic buzzer beater in the previous game, he did not insist on going on a crazy one-on-one play tonight. Instead, he continued to let Nash control the overall situation and used his offensive threat to create many opportunities for his teammates.

So, Steve Nash, Caron Butler and Shawn Marion all became the protagonists of tonight.

The Lakers scored evenly, with every point performing well and launching a multi-point attack that was hard to defend against.

But the Warriors are in good shape too. They are extremely eager to end it all at home and have been bravely fighting against the No. 1 team in the Western Conference.

With 1 minute and 02 seconds left in the game, the Warriors were still trailing by 3 points and the Lakers attacked.

It was another one of those hero-birth moments, one of Kobe Bryant's favorites.

He was also actively controlling the ball in this offense and trying to solve the problem himself.

But after seeing Roger and Stephen Jackson double-team him, Kobe Bryant did not force a shot in the double-team, but passed the ball to Shawn Marion who was left open.

This certainly cannot be considered as passing the buck. The definition of passing the buck is dribbling the ball for 20 seconds, passing the ball at the last moment when everyone thinks he is going to attack, or immediately passing the ball to teammates after receiving the ball in the last few seconds.

This kind of obvious evasive behavior when responsibility needs to be taken can be called buck-passing.

This shot would surely shock Phil Jackson sitting at home.

When will the uncoachable, unreasonable, self-willed Kobe Bryant start playing legitimate basketball?

Shawn Marion, the pioneer of the previous dynasty did not disappoint Kobe.

He threw the ball with his own weird shooting posture, and when Stephen Jackson's fingertips sealed in front of Marion, the basketball had already flown into the air.

As the basketball went into the net, the Los Angeles Lakers extended their lead to 50 points in the final 6 seconds of the game.

Shawn Marion pumped his fist and high-fived Kobe.

Kobe then yelled, "One more defense, one more defense and we can go back home and take the lead!"

You can see that everyone on the Lakers is inspired by Kobe. He is no longer the lonely, misunderstood lone ranger who was always excluded from the team's social circle. Now that he is about to turn 28, he has become a true team leader.

The transformation in him was as obvious as Roger's transformation before him.

People are right, this is Kobe Bryant who is closest to Roger, and Kobe Bryant is indeed the man closest to defeating Roger.

Marion's key three-pointer secured the victory for the Lakers. One round later, Roger scored a mid-range goal, but Kobe made a foul on Marcus Camby by rushing to the basket and made two free throws to maintain the score difference until the end of the game.

After this game, Kobe imitated Roger and jumped onto the technical table, opened his arms, enjoyed the boos from the Warriors fans, and yelled: "The water here is too shallow, it's not even up to my chest!"

2 is better than 2!

The whole world thought that the Lakers were about to be defeated, but they tenaciously tied the score!
Kobe Bryant became the protagonist in his first competition with Roger and won unanimous praise from the world. He told the world why he was qualified to win the MVP.

The Warriors continued to win in the decisive Game 5 at the Staples Center, but it was still a hard win. In the last 31 seconds, the Warriors relied on a key three-pointer from Jason Richardson to seal the victory.

3 to 2, the Warriors continued to maintain the lead and won the match point.

But at this point, no one dared to ignore Kobe and his Lakers.

No one dares to say that the Golden State Warriors will definitely win the final victory.

The Warriors have experienced countless 3-2 leads, and most of these moments basically meant that the series was over.

Because at that time it basically meant that their opponents' spines had been broken and they had been skinned and drained by the Warriors.

But the Lakers are different. They are behind 2-3, but they are still holding on.

The next day, the cover of Sports Illustrated was a photo of Kobe and Roger looking at each other.

The title is the biggest suspense in the basketball world right now.

“Is the water deep enough in the Bay Area?”
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We will fight until the last second, until only one person is left, until the last drop of blood is shed. We will dye the blue waters of Mission Bay red with our blood, and make all Bay Area fans cry in fear! - Kobe Bryant on the win or go home Game 6.

Kobe is different now, we have to admit it. He is mature, he is stronger, he has become what we expect him to be, he is the well-deserved regular season MVP. There is a saying: this is the closest he is to Roger. -- Phil Jackson, who is retired at home, talks about Kobe Bryant who won the MVP this season.

LeBron James' contract extension negotiations with the Cleveland Cavaliers have changed again. They still haven't reached an agreement. LBJ is the only player among the top five picks in the 03 draft who has not yet signed a contract extension with the team. He is very likely to become a restricted free agent next summer. What does he want to do? Does he really want to follow Gary Payton's script? If so, he will probably join the Orlando Magic. But if he wins like that, is he really a winner? --Bill Simmons predicts LBJ's direction in his column.

"Roger, what an unexpected ending. Almost everyone thought that the Warriors should have ended all the suspense in Game 5. But now, the Lakers are going to Mission Bay to play Game 6 and have the opportunity to drag the series to Game 7. What do you think of this situation?"

"You know, Kobe is an extremely good player. I knew he would be special from the first time I saw him 11 years ago. But Eric was right. He predicted Kobe's ending a long time ago."

"Eric? What did he say?"

"He (Kobe) is the closest player to defeating Roger, always. And when we use the word 'closest' to describe a person, it usually means he is the loser."

——Roger accepted an exclusive interview with ESPN.

(End of this chapter)