Champions Creed

Chapter 435 434: The people you think are most likely to defeat me are all my fans (please give me a monthly ticket!)

Roger's understanding of the game is the key to his ability to control the game at will.

His strength is not limited to personal ability.

His ability to integrate the locker room.

His ability to inspire potential in his teammates.

His ability to read the game.

All of these have made up the Roger who now dominates the alliance.

In the eyes of most fans, a player's growth seems to be reflected only in his ability.

This is an extremely one-sided understanding.

The most typical example is Dirk Nowitzki. When many people mention Dirk's 11 championship, they will have an opinion: because he finally developed the back-to-the-basket technique, and because he mastered the unique skill of standing on one leg and stepping back, he won the championship.

In fact, Dirk's low-post offense has been very successful since 2007.

By 2011, Dirk's improvement wasn't in his skills, but in his mentality.

He won't collapse in a clutch situation and fail to make a free throw, and he won't get frustrated and give up on himself on a bad night.

In 2011, Nowitzki played more than one game in the playoffs where his efficiency was poor in the first three quarters, but he adjusted in the fourth quarter and carried the game strongly. He could not have done all this without a strong heart.

Objectively speaking, from being eliminated in the first round of the 07 NBA Draft to winning the championship in 11, Dirk Nowitzki did not make any technical progress. What he improved was his mentality.

The same example is LBJ. People say that he can win the championship because he developed a post-up after the painful loss in 11. But in fact, James' post-up was still ugly after the loss in 11, and it was ugly until 2025. He was able to win the championship because Wade's mentality changed. He made more sacrifices and gave up the position of the boss to prevent others from not focusing enough in the finals.

So sometimes, technological advancement is not the real key to changing the outcome.

The same is true for Roger. His technique was perfected a long time ago and was basically finalized during his time in Atlanta. Ten years ago, Roger didn't have the fancy post moves like Jordan and Olajuwon, and now, ten years later, he still doesn't have them. His post-up singles are still simple, just shaking his shoulders and then turning over directly.

But over the years, Roger's mentality, the way he gets along with his teammates, and his understanding of the game have all changed, and these changes have allowed him to continue to evolve even as his skills have become stable.

Until this season, although Roger had not made much progress in terms of skills, it could not stop him from evolving into a true basketball god.

Everything seemed so easy to Roger, as if just a few moves were enough to turn his opponent into ashes.

CCTV's Yu Jia was filled with emotion and he shared his feelings with fans during the live broadcast.

"To describe Roger now in one sentence, he is the best in the world and he is the only one who can defeat him. He is like an invincible swordsman. Looking at the whole world, there is no rival for him."

At the scene, the dazzling Los Angeles Lakers looked like a deflated girlfriend, no longer in glory.

You can imagine the mood of the Lakers players. They were the most watched team throughout the summer. They were considered the ultimate weapon to end the Roger era and the dream team to end all suspense.

ESPN senior writer Brian Windhorst posted a message before the season that he could simulate an 2-game winning streak using the Lakers' lineup in the 82K game.

All of these have made the Los Angeles Lakers the focus of attention.

As a result, they were about to face defeat in their first game of the new season.

Some people began to blame Phil Jackson, including Jeff Van Gundy, one of the commentators on the scene: "I don't know why he used LBJ to guard Roger in the final moments. It seems like LeBron has Roger phobia. He played well overall today, but he played terribly against Roger. Phil couldn't have failed to see this. Why did he make that choice? Even if Steph wanted to play pick-and-roll with Roger, he wouldn't have to arrange the tactics like this."

But Kobe knew it wasn't Phil Jackson's fault.

Ultimately, it was because James was fooled by Roger like a fool, giving Roger the opportunity to shoot easily.

If it was Billups, he would not jump rashly. He would force Roger to the mid-range, and then Howard would strangle him.

But LBJ screwed it up.

Kobe couldn't help but wonder, what would have happened if LBJ had been replaced by his close friend Caron Butler?
He didn't think about it any further, as it would be detrimental to unity.

Mike Breen has the same idea as Kobe. He thinks Phil Jackson is not wrong, but the players are wrong.

"Maybe it was Phil's fault, but in the end it was the players who played on the court. If I were the judge, I would find LeBron guilty. Look at Brandon Roy, he faced Kobe almost the entire game today, scored 18 points, 8 assists and 0 turnovers, and did not let Kobe go completely crazy. He almost never made mistakes on the court, which is the best performance a second-in-command can give. And LBJ made mistakes in almost all the rounds against Roger! As a helper, he was completely inferior to Brandon today!"

Regardless of whether James or Zen Master should take the blame in the end, the fact that the Lakers are about to lose the game cannot be changed.

Kobe also tried to save the game. After the timeout, he hit a difficult fadeaway three-pointer, bringing the score difference back to 5 points, and the Lakers immediately fouled Roy who had the ball.

But Roy made two free throws to make the Lakers' efforts in vain, and the No. 7 kept the buff of "never make mistakes" until the end.

His calmness was in stark contrast to James's impatience just now.

The score difference was 7 points again, and in the next round Roy was still defending Kobe seriously, not giving him an easy chance to shoot.

Kobe made a strong shot for the second consecutive round, but even he couldn't make such a difficult long shot continuously.

With Kobe's three-pointer hitting the rim, the game was officially over.

Roger ended everything, and Brandon Roy, who was ridiculed by the media before the season, played a perfect debut in the new season.

For the Lakers, Kobe scored 26 points, James scored 22 points, Howard scored 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Billups scored 13 points and 7 assists.

They had a balanced performance, but Roger's 43 points and 7 assists and Roy's 20 points and 8 assists ended the four of them.

Is this the end of the shame?

No, after the game, another extremely controversial scene occurred.

After experiencing this embarrassing defeat, Dwight Howard actually went to Roger to exchange jerseys with a smile on his face!

As a kid growing up in Atlanta, Howard had always been a fan of Roger's. Why was he so dedicated to something as selfless as saving souls? Because Roger had done it, too.

When he was a kid, Howard saw Roger changing his girlfriends one after another in the newspaper, and he vowed that he would be as great as Roger one day. There are many definitions of greatness, why must the number of championships represent greatness? What Howard wants to follow is another kind of greatness of Roger.

Don't worry about how Roger inspired Howard, just talk about whether he inspired him or not.

Los Angeles fans were completely enraged. In an occasion like tonight, Howard's behavior of going to Roger to exchange jerseys was really incomprehensible.

Now Los Angeles fans finally understand why the sleepy-eyed McGrady can't stand Howard so much, and finally understand why they broke up.

Howard's personality really makes anyone who wants to win angry.

Howard took Roger's jersey with satisfaction, and then Roger looked at the camera and shrugged: "Look, the people you think are most likely to beat me are all my fucking fans."

Obviously, this sentence is said to the Los Angeles fans, by Nike and their mouthpiece.

After seeing this scene on the TV in the locker room, Kobe kicked the trash can in the locker room away.

Suddenly, he felt that this team was not as good as it seemed.

Caron Butler will never make stupid mistakes at critical moments.

Theo Ratliff would never run up to his opponent and wag his tail after a loss.

Kobe recalled Caron Butler's cry to the sky after he hit a crucial shot at the last moment of the 2006 Western Conference Finals: "This is our war, too!"

And Theo Ratliff's response: "Our entire team is your reinforcement. This is a war for all of us!"

That was the moment in Kobe's career when he trusted his teammates and believed in the team the most.

The sounds faded away, and the memories vanished like the wind.

And now, what is Kobe looking at?

What he saw was James biting his nails and Howard running to Roger to ask for a jersey.

The impact of this scene is no less than when you come home from get off work and see your wife practicing double yoga with a personal trainer, and your son live streaming in the room wearing women's clothing.

If it weren't for Kobe's skin color, people would have seen him blushing.

Was it really the right thing to do to break up that team and build this roster?

Kobe's emotions were on the verge of exploding.

At the press conference after the game, Kobe tried hard to make the players nervous and let everyone remember today's shame, so he took the lead in exonerating Phil Jackson.

"As players, we have to shoulder all the responsibility for the loss. It's ridiculous to blame Phil. Yes, the coach can give us a game plan, but the coach is not the one playing on the court. All players, everyone, are responsible for today's failure. We should reflect on ourselves, work harder, be stricter with ourselves, and be more like men!"

Kobe doesn't want anyone to think that "the loss is not my fault, it's the coach's fault."

But then, James' answer broke Kobe's defense.

When the reporter asked James, "How do you feel about losing this game, the 13th consecutive game you lost to Roger in your career?" James actually said what he said to Rich Paul.

"It doesn't bother me, and all those people who want me to fail can cheer all they want. But at the end of the day, they're going to wake up tomorrow and live the same life they did before they woke up today, with the same personal problems they have today, and I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live, do the things I want to do, and do with my family, and I'm happy about that. They may be happy for a few days or even months because of my failure or the failure of the Los Angeles Lakers, but it won't affect me in any way."

Considering that LBJ did not read much and only liked to read the title page of a book, it was difficult for him to express his thoughts accurately.

In fact, all the things he said can be summed up in one word: "It doesn't matter."

If I lose, I lose. What else can I feel? Life will always go on and I will win again next time.

Rich Paul could accept James' idea, but at this time, sitting next to James was Kobe.

Kobe almost wanted to pick up the microphone and hit James on the head, but he didn't do it. He is a mature Kobe.

After returning to the locker room, everyone was changing clothes. Suddenly, Kobe picked up the bench and smashed it in the middle of the locker room.

He doesn't want to lose his temper in front of outsiders, but that doesn't mean he won't lose his temper in the locker room.

He is a mature Kobe, but that doesn't mean he has no temper.

"No one is allowed to leave. We are going to practice jump shots for an extra hour."

James was stunned because he found that Kobe was staring into his eyes, as if he was angry with him.

Howard was stunned. He had just made an appointment with two girls to go to the largest nightclub in Mission Bay.

So he approached Kobe with a smile and said, "Man, can't it be tomorrow?"

"Get out of here! Shut up! Right now, go practice shooting! I found out I was wrong. Everyone thought that the players of this Los Angeles Lakers team needed to care about each other and get along like friends. No, you shouldn't love me, you should hate me! Hate me! Because I will hone you from eight in the morning, because I will force you to challenge your limits, because I will make you desire greatness, and greatness requires everything at all costs! Caring for each other? Let's talk about it after we win!"

Kobe decided to change the way he got along with this group of people.

LeBron James was shocked.

Kobe reminded him of a former teammate of his - Michael Jordan.

Phil Jackson swallowed his saliva. He was almost certain of one thing:

If the Lakers fail to win the championship this season, then this Lakers team will only exist for one season and become the brilliant fireworks in Roger's last dance.

(End of this chapter)