Champions Creed

Chapter 436 435: This season, I want to be the MVP (ask for monthly tickets!)
What Kobe Bryant did in the locker room caught Phil Jackson off guard.

Kobe has changed and matured.

But something essential about him never changed.

He couldn't stand anyone disrespecting Victory.

This is also the real source of the conflict between him and Shaquille O'Neal.

Dwight Howard's behavior and LeBron James' remarks after losing the opening game are as offensive to someone like Kobe as putting pineapple on Italian pizza or houttuynia cordata on egg tarts.

This completely ignited him.

Howard, James and Kobe, Phil Jackson believes it is difficult for these three to coexist for a long time.

But Phil Jackson doesn't care about the Lakers' long-term plan. He just needs to ensure that the team can stay normal and competitive this season.

If this season is truly Roger's last dance, the team that beats Roger will be remembered forever in history, as will the head coach of that team.

Phil Jackson is very interested in participating in such historical events. He has always been this kind of person, always on the road of chasing greatness. He is like a hound with a sensitive nose. Once there is an opportunity to chase greatness, he will appear.

He wants to be the coach who beats Roger, and only the Lakers' roster can do that.

Therefore, he has to ensure that everything goes well for the team this season and make sure that this brilliant Lakers team will not become fireworks to bid farewell to Roger.

The Zen Master was not sure what subtle changes would happen in the Lakers locker room after Kobe made that locker room speech. That night, no one disobeyed Kobe, everyone practiced jump shots for an hour, and Kobe practiced for an hour and a half by himself, without any conflicts or contradictions.

But the fact that no one disobeyed him at that time does not mean that everyone was not dissatisfied.

Maybe the crack is still small now. But as the season progresses, who knows whether the crack will expand. The atmosphere in the locker room is like the only GOAT in the history of the Nets, Ben Simmons. When you think he is already very bad, remember that he can be even worse.

Kobe treats his teammates in his own way. Phil Jackson once tried to change Kobe, but now he knows that is impossible.

You can't stop a guy like Kobe from accidentally creating rifts in the locker room.

So now, Phil Jackson's method is simple - he will use glue to temporarily seal the crack.

The relationship between Kobe and James is the key to the Lakers' success this year.

One day after the regular season opener, the Lakers team flew back to Los Angeles exhausted.

Everyone was tired, but Lakers veteran defensive coach Michael Cooper didn't take it seriously.

This is how the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Pat Riley in the 80s, spent almost every day.

The Lakers should feel fortunate now, as there are not many coaches who still like to manage their teams the way they manage farms.

Although there were some minor unpleasantness last night, the overall atmosphere of the team was normal today.

James and Kobe sat together, talking and laughing.

Not only towards James, Kobe's attitude towards everyone has returned to normal.

He would joke with Dwight Howard and imitate Sasha Vujacic's haircut during free throws, making the whole team laugh.

He seemed to have forgotten what he said in the locker room last night: "You shouldn't love me, you should hate me."

But then Kobe told the whole team: "Everyone take a good rest today. Tomorrow morning, training will start half an hour earlier, which means you have to arrive at the training ground at least 45 minutes earlier to be considered late. No discussion, no leave allowed."

He forgot nothing, he remembered everything.

He may not be the lonely bastard in real life anymore, but he will make everyone hate him on the training ground.

Phil Jackson saw all of this and was satisfied with the current situation.

Very good, at least the cracks are not so severe that the glue cannot seal them.

As long as he uses the glue in his hand in time, the collapse can be avoided.

After getting off the plane, Phil Jackson found James and asked, "Are you free tonight, LeBron?"

"Sure, what's up Phil?"

"I want to have dinner with you."

James glanced at the Zen Master with some caution: "Just you and me? No Kobe?"

"Just you and me."

"Time, place, I'll be there." James did not refuse because he knew this was not just about eating.

"I'll send it to you later."

James could probably guess why Phil Jackson asked him out for dinner alone. It must be because of what happened in the locker room last night.

That night, James arrived at the restaurant chosen by Phil Jackson on time.

The Zen master booked an entire floor to ensure that no one would disturb them.

When James sat down, he saw a new book on the table that had not yet been opened.

James had heard that Phil Jackson liked to give books to players, but he never expected that this would happen to him one day.

The book was Don Quixote, a 17th-century Spanish writer Cervantes Saavedra, a chivalric novel that was an anti-chivalric novel. James had heard of the book a long time ago, but had never read it.

Like all the players who received Phil Jackson's book before, James didn't know what Phil Jackson wanted to express through the book, but he still accepted it with pleasure.

"Thank you, Phil. I will read every page carefully. You know, I love reading as much as I love basketball."

Phil Jackson smiled with satisfaction. James is indeed one of the few NBA players who has a habit of reading. He is a high school rookie, but his passion for reading is amazing. In two of the six preseason games, James walked from the bus to the player tunnel while reading. He would not miss any moment of reading, even if there were cameras all around him.

This is a good start. At least someone like James will not throw the book directly into the trash can like Kobe did when he was young.

Phil Jackson has also improved his way of doing things. He feels that with the average IQ of NBA players, it is difficult to understand what he means through books. Therefore, he will now give players some hints.

“The story of Don Quixote is actually very simple. It is about the contradiction between ideals and reality. Reality may not be as perfect as our ideals, and you will encounter many difficulties. The key to overcoming these difficulties lies in how much you want to achieve your goals.”

To the Zen Master's surprise, James was more frank than he had expected and went straight into the topic.

"I really want to achieve my goal at any cost. I left everything behind to come to Los Angeles and join forces with Kobe. Doesn't that show my determination to achieve my goal?"

LBJ is better at communicating than Phil Jackson imagined. Most players would not take the act of sending books seriously, but James is the only one who is willing to discuss in-depth topics with him.

Moreover, he directly mentioned the controversy surrounding his joining the Lakers.

This is easy to handle.

Phil Jackson could see that James didn't want to win, he just didn't hate losing that much.

As long as he wants to win, he still has the desire.

Only with desire can what Phil Jackson prepares next take effect.

Phil Jackson took out a velvet bag that looked like the kind used by British aristocrats from his LV carry-on bag and slammed it on the table.

Then he pulled out his five championship rings from the gorgeous bag. (3 for the coach and 2 for the player)
Then, he held all the rings in his hands, like a jungle witch tempting a child with candy, and stared at James seriously: "Want to win them?"

James was almost attracted by those five shiny objects. He never thought that he would be interested in these shiny things one day.

And Phil Jackson's eyes were like an abyss, sucking James in.

Without waiting for James to answer, Phil Jackson picked up one of the rings and handed it to James. It was the championship ring from 1993. Different from the previous ones, the 1993 ring had a huge ruby ​​made of the Bulls logo in addition to diamonds, making the whole ring look more conspicuous and gorgeous.

After placing the ring in James' palm, the Zen Master held his hand: "Take it, keep it. When you win a ring of your own, give it back to me. You can do it, I can see the potential in you. When you focus on the court, you will become the most valuable player of the Lakers, no, the league."

What Phil Jackson meant was: You are no worse than Kobe.

Tonight, at this moment, Phil Jackson personally shattered the "ladder theory" he created. He believes that this year's Lakers team can have more than one person standing at the top of the ladder.

He was avoiding this issue during the OK period, so OK broke up.

Now, he has to solve this problem himself.

James took the ring, held it between his thumb and index finger, and pointed it at the light above his head with a greedy look, just like Gollum in the movie "The Lord of the Rings" yelling: "This is my baby!"

Phil Jackson was very satisfied with LBJ's reaction. Just like he said, LBJ didn't want to win, he just didn't hate losing that much.

Nothing drives an adult more than desire.

The Zen Master immediately struck while the iron was hot: "I hope you and Kobe get along well. I'm not questioning the way you or Kobe handle problems, but if there are problems within you, you may pay the price for it. We have the opportunity to create a great season, and we have no reason to hand over the victory to Roger again."

"I don't have a problem with Kobe."

"LeBron, I want to hear the truth."

"There is no problem between me and Kobe. I know him. He is that kind of person, crazy about winning, but without any malice. I know that what he said yesterday was just because he hated the loss, not against anyone. Don't worry, I am not Shaq. Kobe and I will become a greater existence than the OK combination."

James' maturity gave Phil Jackson a glimmer of hope.

If Kobe and Shaq had been so mature back then, the Lakers would have won the O'Brien Trophy long ago.

The next day, Kobe arrived at the UCLA Health Center an hour and a half early.

When he asks his teammates to come earlier, he often leads by example and arrives at the training base first.

Just when Kobe thought he was first again, he walked into the training ground and saw James practicing his jump shot.

Seeing Kobe, James, wearing a headscarf, laughed: "You won't always be No. 1, Kobe."

"But together we will be number one," Kobe said, joining the training.

The Lakers are getting better, and Phil Jackson temporarily solved the first crisis facing the team with glue.

But there is one crisis that the players can only solve on their own - defeating the Golden State Warriors.

During the offseason, when Monta Ellis and Marcus Camby left, it was generally believed that the Warriors' combat effectiveness would be affected to a certain extent.

Not fatal, but certainly had some impact.

As a result, the Warriors started this season quite strongly.

In the second game of the regular season, the Warriors easily defeated the Spurs, who were going through the pain of transformation. The Warriors directly played a super climax of 41 to 17 in the third quarter, which made Popovich choke and cough for a long time when drinking water at the end of the third quarter, and sprayed water all over the floor. Charles Barkley elegantly called it: "Craig experienced the ultimate climax and sprayed it. Believe me, Roger definitely has this ability."

In the third game, the Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets led by the fully evolved Anthony and eventually won by 16 points.

The list of victims continues to grow.

Cavaliers, Jazz, Mavericks with Kidd, Pistons, Clippers, Raptors.
The Golden State Warriors have been winning continuously since the start of the season, and the most important thing is that the Warriors win calmly and comfortably, as if winning every night is as natural as sleeping every night.

The biggest change for the Warriors compared to last season is that Brandon Roy's playing time has greatly increased and he has not missed any games.

In the past many seasons, when the Warriors only had Roger as the passing and controlling point, the Warriors' offense was unstoppable.

And when Roger had Roy by his side, their attack became unstoppable.

When Roger is double-teamed, Brandon Roy is not only a shooter who can respond to open space, but can also serve as the second starting point for offense.

Amar'e Stoudemire plays pick-and-roll with the two guards like a duck to water, and his offensive energy is almost uninterrupted.

The Warriors have been on a winning streak, with Brandon Roy's role completely filling the void left by Monta Ellis and Marcus Camby.

TNT even made a special program: Can Brandon compete for the position of Roger's strongest helper?

The debate between Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson ultimately produced no results.

But what is certain is that Roy is no less capable than any of his helpers.

When talking about Roger's best helpers, people will first think of Scott Pippen and Paul Pierce.

Compared to Pippen, Roy's defense is far inferior, and his passing and control abilities are similar, but Roy's ability to attack with the ball is something Pippen does not have. Pippen's offense has never been stable. Whether he was assisting Jordan or Roger, Pippen had single-digit scores in a single game in the playoffs, resulting in the team having to rely on Jordan and Roger to carry the team. Roy has proven in the playoffs last season that he is a player who can fight tough battles.

Compared to Pierce, Roy's defense and independent offensive abilities are similar to his, but Roy's passing and control are far better than Pierce.

Brandon Roy's words "I am also by Roger's side" are no longer ridiculed by the media and fans.

It turns out that he is indeed an extremely powerful number two.

With such helpers, a deep bench, and Roger, who has thoroughly understood the sport of basketball, the Golden State Warriors have won consecutive victories.

On November 11, the Golden State Warriors traveled to Seattle to challenge the Seattle SuperSonics, who were in a complete rebuilding period.

Seattleites are not very enthusiastic about basketball this season because they are not even sure whether the team will still be in Seattle next season.

So, no one cares whether Kevin Durant will become the future of Seattle.

In fact, Oklahomans care more about Durant's performance.

Because the team's current owner Clay Bennett has announced that once the team's lease with KeyArena expires, the team will move to Oklahoma City.

However, fans who were looking forward to KD's performance were disappointed, because he made only 12 of 2 shots in the game against the Warriors. The future superstar did not show any competitiveness against the current overlords.

At the end of the game, KD told reporters: "I'm lucky. If this season is really Roger's last season, it means I won't meet him again in my future career."

Roger didn't know what was going on in this world.

No. 23 said after losing a crucial game, "Your life will remain the same the next day."

No. 35 was actually feeling lucky that he would never meet Roger again.

And these two guys who were so indifferent to the defeat would actually become the kings of the league 10 years later.

Roger had no idea when the old-school competitive spirit had disappeared from this league.

All he knew was that 15 years ago, all the newcomers were eager to challenge Jordan, including Roger himself.

Ten years ago, young Kobe, AI and McGrady bravely challenged Roger.

And now, KD is actually glad that he will never meet Roger again. He hopes that he can avoid Roger instead of defeating him.

However, some people kept it old-school.

Brandon Roy is one of them.

At today's press conference, a reporter relayed a sentence from Kobe to him.

"Not only will I guard Brandon Roy, I will be the Defensive Player of the Year this season."

This sentence came after the game between the Lakers and the Magic. In that game, Kobe defended McGrady to a shooting percentage of only 32%. When the reporter asked him "Can you handle Brandon who is in the limelight this season?", Kobe replied like this.

Kobe is serious. The Lakers are too talented this season, and he doesn't need to take on all the responsibilities on offense. So he wants to use all his energy on defense like he did during the OK period.

Roy was not afraid of Kobe's challenge: "See you in Los Angeles."

The next meeting between the Warriors and the Lakers will be a Christmas game in Los Angeles.

Roy is only a second-year player, and Kobe, although he has no championship, the title of "the man closest to Roger" is enough to prove his current status.

Roy is great, but there is a huge gap in status between him and Kobe.

But he is not afraid. He is like an old-school fighter from the 90s, challenging the current powers.

This is probably why Roy's assistance has allowed the Warriors to continue winning until now.

The team left in the afternoon the day after the game. In the morning, Roger was invited by Roy to visit Seattle. He wanted to take Roger to visit his hometown.

After visiting several famous attractions, Roy drove to a dirty dock.

Looking at the workers on the dock, Roy opened the car window and said, "I once thought that I would work here for the rest of my life."

"I heard that you worked as a porter here for a while."

"Those were very difficult memories. Every night I carried heavy objects here. Within ten minutes of rest, the sweat on my body would freeze into ice. The heat and cold mixed together, and dreams and reality collided. Fortunately, I don't have to live that kind of life anymore."

"How did you hold on?" Roger asked.

But Roy didn't answer, he just drove away and took Roger back to his home - the house he lived in before he became famous.

Roger froze as Roy opened the door to his old room.

He thought he had traveled back to 1996.

It was 1996 years ago in 11, but Roger remembers the day he and Steve Smith went out to the community to surprise Andy, a boy with cancer.

Andy's room was covered with posters of Roger and Steve Smith, covering all the walls.

This situation is exactly the same as that one.

Brandon Roy's room is full of Roger's posters, and you can see that some of them are quite old.

Roy smiled, looked around the room, and opened his arms. "That's how I survived."

If we say that Amar'e Stoudemire's change came from Roger's words "raise your head".

What about Roy? Roger had never even met Roy before the Warriors drafted him.

But his influence is still evident in Roy.

Roger feels a great sense of accomplishment. A great player has more than just championships, but also the huge influence he brings.

Michael Jordan made everyone imitate his playing style, Roger made countless young athletes obsessed with winning and became tough, and LeBron is about to teach a new generation of players to take shortcuts and let the sense of competition continue to fade.

These influences are a greater legacy than championships.

Roger suddenly felt that Roy was like an incarnation of Andy.

He didn't die, he had the talent to play basketball, he persisted for himself, and then he fought alongside himself.

Roger has always trusted Roy, but at this moment, this trust has reached another level.

He believes that this young but tough defender will allow him to keep winning.

A day later, the Warriors defeated their arch-rival, the New York Knicks, at home.

Twelve consecutive wins at the start.

Roger had 33 points and 6 assists, and Brandon Roy had 21 points and 7 assists.

The Warriors' backcourt duo remains tight and unstoppable.

At the post-game press conference, Roy deliberately imitated Kobe: "I want to be the most improved player this season."

The reporters all laughed and looked at Roger.

Roger leaned closer to the microphone: "This season, I want to be the MVP."

The man who has been absent from the MVP position for three years seems to have finally remembered the award.

After Roger spoke, the reporters did not laugh, but asked questions.

"The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks both had excellent regular season records. To win the MVP, how many wins do you think the Warriors need to win at least?"

“Maybe, 70 wins?”

This is not what a man who was revealed to be playing the last season of his career should say.

He is breaking the traditional narrative of "last season of his career."

He doesn't want to win the championship the hard way.

Don't try to win hard.

Don’t want the old soldier’s last cry.

He wants to rule this alliance thoroughly one last time.

Moreover, it was an absolute crushing force.

(End of this chapter)