Champions Creed

Chapter 54 054: Roger is the best teammate in history, Roger is the worst teammate in history

The Indiana Pacers passed away peacefully.

When people thought Roger couldn't maintain his touch in the fierce confrontation, his touch was maintained steadily in the second half.

The 188-centimeter Workman found it difficult to defend Roger and was still beaten in the third quarter.

There was no choice, the Pacers could only let Derek McKay defend Roger.

Then, Pippen finally got his chance.

Facing Workman, Pippen's cuts were unstoppable, and even his turnaround jump shots showed some Jordan-like confidence.

Roger was naturally not idle either. Although Derek McKay had excellent defensive skills, he was simply a Pacers version of the Little Prince.

But Roger was not directly locked down. In fact, all three of Roger's three-pointers today were made over McKay's head.

Although McKay is tall and has long arms, he is a forward after all, so he has to take a step back when defending Roger, otherwise it will be too easy for Roger to break through.

Although Larry Brown's defensive strategy doesn't mind the opponent's breakthrough, it won't work if the opponent can pass you in one step.

Roger took advantage of McKay's easing him up and made three three-pointers in the second half.

Three-pointers were not popular in the 90s, but that doesn’t mean they were completely useless. These three three-pointers put the Pacers at a complete disadvantage.

The Pacers' own offense was a bit weak.

The common problem of Larry Brown's team is that the offense is not good enough. His offense is too rigid, too slow, and too dogmatic. The Pacers can achieve great success in the playoffs, mainly relying on a very peculiar point of Reggie Miller - his offense in the playoffs is often stronger than that in the regular season.

Reggie Miller was selected to the third team only three times in the regular season, and only averaged more than 22 points per game in two seasons.

But once this guy hits the playoffs, it's like he's had his first chance.

In terms of NBA playoff win contribution history, Miller is ranked 28th and Barkley is ranked 29th.

In the NBA playoffs' historical true shooting percentage, Miller ranks 15th, and Durant, known as the Grim Reaper, ranks 18th.

In the NBA playoffs' historical offensive efficiency, Miller ranks 16th. Kobe ranks 17th and Harden ranks 18th.

You can look at the names ahead of Miller on these lists.

Miller is just a second-rate star in the regular season, but once he enters the playoffs, he will be like meeting Super Saiyan Frieza, transforming into his final form of 100% power and increasing his combat power several times.

Therefore, the Pacers are often able to go far in the playoffs thanks to Reggie Miller's magical performance.

It’s just a pity that Miller’s transformation is limited to the playoffs.

So today, Miller failed to help the team overcome the difficulties.

最终，罗杰全场拿下34分，斯科特.皮蓬18分8个助攻6个篮板2次盖帽2次抢断，公牛97比88拿下步行者。

The Zen Master finally found the most suitable way to use Roger and Pippen.

Roger also proved that even without Michael Jordan, the Bulls can still penetrate strong defensive teams!

After the game, Roger wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Coach Larry Brown's system made the Pacers' defense very difficult to deal with. It took me two full rounds to crack it. Larry was right. If I had played college basketball for another two years, I might have only needed one round to crack his defense. Alas, I was still too impatient. However, the scenery of the Eastern Back Garden is beautiful, and I don't regret my choice."

Although Roger kept talking about Larry Brown, everyone knew that the Pacers who defeated Larry Brown were just an accessory to Roger.

The real significance of this game is that Roger made people believe that without Michael Jordan, the Bulls still have a chance to beat the Knicks in the playoffs!
And Roger was deepening that impression.

In the following January, the Bulls only lost three games in the entire month and had an 1-11 record.

After Zen Master established Roger as the spearhead of the offense, the Bulls' performance became better and better.

There was still nothing to say between Roger and Pippen, and their communication was limited to press conferences.

When reporters asked Pippen how his relationship with Roger was, Pippen would answer nonchalantly: "We are very good colleagues."

When faced with the same question, Roger would often smile and tell reporters: "We are fine. What deep hatred could there be between you and your colleagues?"

The fact that they both emphasized the word "colleague" just shows how cold their relationship is.

But anyway, at least they didn't affect the game.

Pippen knew that although this mode reduced his shooting rights, it could indeed help him win the game. Moreover, he was at least the boss of the team.

Roger felt that as long as Pippen didn't cause trouble for him, he could maintain the status quo.

The team's steady improvement in record has made Chicago fans more and more confident about defeating the Knicks.

But before that, Chicago fans got other happiness first.

In February, the league announced the starting roster for the All-Star Game.

Roger will step onto the All-Star stage for the first time as the starting shooting guard for the Eastern Conference All-Stars.

At the same time, Roger also became the youngest All-Star player in NBA history. After Roger was selected, Pat Riley expressed his confusion, just like he did last year, saying, "I don't understand why Roger can surpass John Starks to become an All-Star starter. This is even more incredible than Shaquille squeezing out Patrick for the second consecutive year. The current All-Star voting is simply nonsense. The No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference doesn't even have an All-Star starter. Isn't this nonsense?"

Riley's words made both Roger and Shark very angry.

O'Neal directly called out the players by name: "Hey, Truth and I are the All-Star starters selected by the fans. Who is Pat to point fingers at us? If we don't start in the All-Star Game, are we going to let the Knicks players perform 100 flagrant fouls in the All-Star Game?"

Roger didn't shout directly at Riley. He just called the Shark and told him: "Shaquille, my brother, I think we should really do something big in the All-Star Game."

With O'Neal's playful and playful personality, he naturally agreed without hesitation.

Then, the poor admiral inexplicably became the victim.

February 2th, the day of the All-Star Game in Minneapolis.

Both Roger and Shark were very active. In the first quarter, they took turns scoring crazily.

In the second quarter, Shark and Roger were still cooperating.

In the fifth minute of the second quarter, O'Neal and Roger played a pick-and-roll, and the Admiral retreated to the basket while preparing to fight for the rebound. Based on his understanding of Roger, he felt that Roger would definitely shoot himself.

As a result, Roger hit the ground and found the Shark who was following the pick-and-roll. After receiving the ball, the Shark rushed directly towards the Admiral.

"what?"

The admiral let out a confused cry, and in the next second he became the shark's toy.

There are two very peculiar things about this attack.

First, the Shark actually came out to set a screen.

Second, Roger actually passed the ball.

It is actually the most normal thing for the Admiral to become a background board. This is the inheritance of Spurs stars.

Two minutes later, O'Neal backed down the general in the low post. Just when the general thought he was about to force a move, O'Neal secretly let the ball slip and threw it to Roger who cut in.

Before the admiral could react, he was hit on the head and dunked by Roger.

These two goals marked the beginning of the performance of Shark and Roger.

In the subsequent games, these two players who were selected as All-Star starters at a young age cooperated well and made the old-school stars pale in comparison.

On the commentary stand of NBC TV, the magician who was the guest of honor shook his head and said, "Can you imagine what it would be like if magic had not missed the truth?"

Steve Jones on the side joked: "Will he become the next Magic and Skyhook?"

"Hahahaha, strictly speaking, Roger and I are not the same type of players. But look at what happened on the court, these two young men like each other, and they are even willing to do things for each other that they don't normally like to do. I believe that if they join forces, it will directly change the landscape of the league. I can't imagine who can stop them!"

After the All-Star Game, Shark, who scored 28 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks, was elected AMVP.

If Roger remembers correctly, the AMVP in 94 originally belonged to Pippen.

But with the appearance of Roger, Pippen's position as the younger brother was not shaken at all.

When giving his acceptance speech, Shark pulled Roger out of the crowd and handed him the trophy: "I think this AMVP trophy should belong to both of us. Roger is the best teammate in history."

"Roger is the worst teammate ever!"

An hour later, Pippen and Jordan, whom he had not seen for a long time, met privately in a nightclub in Minneapolis. Pippen, who had drunk a little, clenched his fists tightly and said the words just now.

"He gave five assists to that damned pufferfish in this game, and what about me? You may not know this, Michael, but Roger has never given me an assist so far this season, not even once!"

Then, Pippen looked at Jordan, who was practicing ball handling with a girl in one hand and a glass of wine in the other: "Michael, will you come back?"

Jordan's titanium alloy dog ​​eyes, which were originally a little blurry, suddenly became much clearer at that moment: "I don't know, Scott."

After a few seconds, Jordan's expression became serious: "But if I go back, the first thing I will do is..."

Jordan put his mouth close to Pippen's ear. No one knew what they said, but after they finished speaking, they both laughed happily and made "hehehe" sounds.

The next day, no matter how much Roger liked the Sharks, no matter how much Pippen missed Jordan, they had to return to each other.

Men are like this. No matter how intoxicated you were with the princess last night, you have to return to reality eventually.

On the plane back to Chicago, Roger and Pippen were silent as usual. Their relationship was just as they said, just colleagues.

But it is enough to maintain the status quo for now. They don’t have the extra energy to think about other things because the playoffs are coming and they must be prepared.

No matter how cold the relationship is, they have a common goal - to prove that the Bulls can go far in the playoffs even without MJ.

The New York Knicks are the biggest obstacle to achieving the goal.

Pat Riley and his New York gang were enough to keep Roger and Pippen's fragile relationship going.

(End of this chapter)