Champions Creed

Chapter 62 061: We are entering the Roger era (Please subscribe!)
Scott Pippen felt confused, puzzled, and unbelievable about Phil Jackson's decisiveness.

He thought his threat would be very powerful, but Phil Jackson made the cruelest decision for Pippen in the gentlest tone.

He was ignored.

His anger, his unwillingness, all of these are worthless in front of Phil Jackson.

Once again, Pippen tried to emulate Michael Jordan and failed miserably.

From the first day of training camp, Pippen was imitating Jordan.

He wanted to use the rookie to establish himself as an authority, but failed.

He wanted to convince the entire locker room with his outstanding performance during the season, but failed.

Now, he wanted to get the ball back as toughly as Jordan did, but failed again.

People always say Roger wanted to replace Jordan, but in fact Pippen was the one who wanted to replace Jordan the most. He imitated Jordan because he wanted to be Jordan.

But his strength made it impossible for everyone to see his intentions.

Pippen was now extremely angry because the Zen Master had embarrassed him in front of the whole team.

She is now like a woman who has to show off in front of her friends, asking her boyfriend to buy her a luxury bag in public, and making a scene that they will break up if he doesn't buy her, in order to show off her status in the relationship.

In the end, the man said calmly, "It's a deal."

Phil Jackson continued to arrange tactics until assistant coach Winter leaned over to his ear and said, "Phil, Scott seems to be serious. He's not coming!"

"What do you mean by not coming?"

Phil Jackson thought Pippen was just speaking in anger, but he would not really abandon the team at this moment, so he walked up to Pippen in person.

"Scott, are you still going to fight or not?"

Pippen threw off the towel on his shoulders, pointed directly at Phil Jackson and shouted excitedly: "Go to hell, Phil, with your 18-year-old rookie and that damn tactic! I will not play, never! The whole world will know next time that you foolishly put your best player on the bench at the decisive moment! Without me, you can't win at all!"

Pippen tried to threaten the Zen Master again, but he hadn't realized that he couldn't be Michael Jordan.

This world is unfair. The dance of a slim beauty and the dance of an old lady doing square dance are completely different.

Michael Jordan can be willful, but obviously Scott Pippen can't.

The Zen Master refused to give in and deliberately yelled, "Pete, you take over the sideline pass for Scott and prepare to execute this final attack!"

The NBC commentator keenly noticed the commotion on the Bulls bench: "There seems to be some quarrel on the Bulls bench. Scott is pointing at Phil and cursing. Can anyone tell me what happened?"

The director also promptly cut the camera to the Bulls bench, and then all the fans saw that when the Bulls players who were going to execute the final attack stood up and prepared to go on the court, Scott Pippen sat at the very end of the bench, cursing.

Steve Jones raised his voice in surprise: "What's going on? At the critical moment, Coach Phil Jackson actually wants to keep Scott on the bench?"

Pat Riley also discovered that among the last five players of the Bulls, Pippen, the team's strongest deputy, was not included.

How ridiculous is this?
This is indeed ridiculous. Although the Zen Master had just been tough, he couldn't believe in his heart that Pippen really abandoned the team at such a critical moment.

After the Zen Master arranged the tactics, Roger walked towards Pippen.

Pippen sat on the bench with his chin slightly raised.

He felt that Roger would come to beg him.

Because he didn't hold himself back, Roger had no chance at all.

"Scott."

"Rookie, you say."

"Fuck you."

"What!?" Pippen's proud expression instantly turned into horror. How can you beg someone like this?

"Are you sure you want me to say it again? Fuck you, Scott! No matter how much unhappiness there is between us, I have never abandoned the team halfway. And you, at the moment of life and death, abandoned all of us! You damned shrew and coward, sit on the bench with your eyes wide open and see what a man should do at this time!"

After Roger finished speaking, he turned and left. The other players followed Roger and left, leaving Pippen alone at the end of the bench.

The other players on the Bulls might not have dared to confront Pippen directly, but they followed Roger's actions and stood in line.

Pippen stared at Cartwright, his old friend in the locker room and the only person still standing in front of him.

But Cartwright also left: "Sorry Scott, but Roger is the one leading us in the chase for victory, you have let us down."

Pippen's status in the locker room began to waver after he was beaten up by Roger in the training camp, and now it has completely collapsed!
Jerry Krause was watching the game on TV at this time, his face flushed and he felt dizzy. His blood pressure, which was already at the warning line due to obesity, was about to burst his blood vessels.

Maybe others don’t know what happened to the Bulls, but based on Krause’s understanding of Pippen, he can guess roughly.

That damn idiot, he definitely didn't get the ball on that final possession.

Yes, this team has problems. From the regular season to now, there have been problems.

At this time, the only right thing to do is to deal with the person who caused the problem.

Klaus had wanted to do this a long time ago!

In fact, he will do so as soon as the offseason begins!

At the game, two NBC commentators were talking about Scott Pippen who was not on the court at all.

"I don't know if it was Phil's tactic or something unexpected happened, but Scott didn't participate in the Bulls' final attack. Moreover, he sat alone at the end of the bench, looking like he was isolated."

"Scott played well today. Phil had no reason to exclude him at the crucial moment. I am more inclined to believe that Scott was unwilling to play for some reason. Judging from his reaction just now, he seemed to have a conflict with Phil and Roger. In any case, Chicago fans have to accept the fact that there is no Scott Pippen in the decisive moment."

Then, the camera zoomed in on Roger again.

The entire Madison Square Garden crowd was yelling from the stands, “You missed the shot last time!”

New York's strongest sixth man, Spike Lee, shouted at the sidelines: "MJ is better than you at shooting with his feet, you're going to miss this time! You won't win a single game!"

The Knicks also deliberately replaced Anthony Mason Jr. to defend Roger at this last moment.

Anthony Mason Jr.'s defensive ability is indeed very strong, but the most important point is that Pat Riley wants to use this to put pressure on Roger, because the last time Roger missed a buzzer-beater, it was Anthony Mason Jr. who was responsible for defending him.

Most players will feel a lot of psychological pressure when facing someone who has defeated you before.

Mason is an old hand at this, so he certainly knows what to do: "Hey, I'm here to deconstruct the truth again."

Spike Lee's yelling, the New York fans' taunting and Mason's trash talk were bad enough, not to mention Scott Pippen barking like a mad dog on the bench.

It is not difficult to imagine how much pressure Roger was under at this time. Facing the attacks from the whole audience, Roger remained silent with a firm expression.

The Chicago fans in front of the TV were so nervous that they were breathing rapidly. They couldn't imagine how an 18-year-old rookie on TV could bear all this.

The referee gave the ball to Pete Meyers, who was to serve the sideline ball. He was only responsible for serving, but it seemed that it took great courage.

The referee blew the whistle, Pete Meyers took the basketball, and the game began!
Roger was not as impatient as last time. He was like a alert cheetah, observing every move on the field.

His best friend in the team, Toni Kukoc, had made solid preparations for the screen. Roger took advantage of the opportunity, broke free from Anthony Mason Jr., bypassed the iron wall set up by Kukoc, and successfully received the sideline ball.

But the opportunity did not come, and Charles Oakley, who was responsible for defending Kukoc, switched out.

Last time, Roger hurriedly wanted to shoot after getting the ball. But this time, he didn't shoot directly in the limited time, but dribbled to break through!

Oakley hurriedly caught up. If this was a regular round, Roger could easily defeat Oakley with his speed.

But there were only 2.8 seconds between Roger receiving the ball and the end of the game. If some time was left for the shot, he would have even less time to break through.

Therefore, before Roger could completely shake off Oakley, he had to jump and shoot from the free throw line.

Because he was only half a body away from Oakley, Roger did not shoot in the usual way. He used his auxiliary hand to separate Oakley, then held up the basketball with his left hand and flicked it lightly.

This is an unconventional move.

But this time, he found a weak gap in the Knicks' iron wall. There was no overwhelming impact, nor an exaggerated fadeaway. Roger once again performed his fingertip magic, and the basketball immediately went into the net.

The score was 94 to 93, the game time was frozen at 0 seconds, and the red light on the backboard was so dazzling.

The lore curse lingering over Roger's head and Scott Pippen's willfulness all became ridiculous bubbles at this moment!

"Roger! He did it! He did it this time! 94 to 93, the Chicago Bulls, the Chicago Bulls without Michael Jordan, lead 1 to 0 in the Eastern Conference Finals! Truth comes in the playoffs!"

Amid the roar of NBC's live commentary, all the Bulls players except Pippen roared and rushed onto the court to hug Roger.

Roger was lifted up by his teammates, who celebrated wildly in Madison Square Garden.

On the bench, Scott Pippen sat there alone, staring blankly at everything happening before his eyes.

Without himself, Roger really won.

Pat Riley shook his head, then turned and walked into the player tunnel, kicking the innocent trash can away.

The arrogant coach with four championship rings thought that without Jordan, the Knicks would have no rivals in the East. He thought the only place he would run into trouble was in the finals.

As a result, in the last round, the skinny Reggie Miller forced the Knicks, a steel army, to a Game 18. In the first game of this round, the Knicks were hit hard by an -year-old rookie!
Where did all these monsters suddenly appear from?
Before today, Riley had never considered Roger an opponent.

He thought Roger was just a hot-blooded kid who didn't know his own limitations.

But today, his team fell into the hands of this little devil!
The bright red color of Chicago is like its own curse!

On the court, after celebrating with his teammates, Roger strode towards Scott Pippen at the end of the bench.

He bent down and hugged Pippen's neck, and put his forehead against Pippen's head: "Do you see clearly, Ms. Scott? This is what a man should do!"

After saying that, Roger let go and walked into the player tunnel amid the curses of New York fans, ending this great night.

Roger was pleased, but not ecstatic.

Because he knows the series isn't over yet.

His revenge on Pat Riley is not over yet.

This is just the beginning!
In the locker room after the game, Cartwright cursed Pippen directly, and his curses were even harsher than Roger's.

When he was moved, he couldn't help but burst into tears and cried with Pippen.

They had been through so much together, and they knew this was their best chance to win without relying on Michael Jordan. But Pippen had just taken the initiative to give up this opportunity.

Pippen finally realized his stupidity. He reflected and apologized to the whole team, including Phil Jackson and Roger, in the locker room: "I am frustrated with the way the game ended. I promise that something like this will never happen again! I will do my best to win!"

But such a tragic drama failed to prevent the complete collapse of Pippen's leadership image, which he had worked hard to build for a season.

From the moment he cried and apologized, the era of two decision-makers in the Chicago Bulls ended.

From now on, the entire Eastern Conference Finals will be led by 18-year-old Roger!

After that, in order not to cause unnecessary trouble, the Zen Master attended the press conference alone, without Roger or Pippen.

He was afraid that the two guys would start quarreling again under the inducement of the reporters.

At the press conference, the Zen Master also talked about Pippen's refusal to play.

So the next day, media all over the United States criticized Pippen, and Pippen became the laughing stock of everyone.

The Chicago Sun-Times was brutally merciless: "Tell me, if your kid came up to you today and asked you why Scott didn't play in the final moments of the game, how would you explain that his hero is a crybaby?"

The New York Morning Post next door couldn't help but mock Pippen: "What Scott Pippen did made Charles Oakley, who was defeated by an 18-year-old kid, not so embarrassed."

The Sports Center program naturally did not miss this hot topic: "The most embarrassing thing is that the Bulls proved that they could win the game even without Scott, which made all of Scott's threats ridiculous."

Michael Jordan couldn't believe that Pippen had done something so stupid.

Last night, Jordan personally called Cartwright to ask him what happened.

Cartwright told the whole story. After listening, Jordan said, "I don't understand Pippen's behavior, but I was shocked."

Of course, not everyone was busy mocking Pippen.

After all, the protagonist of yesterday was Roger, who completed the revenge buzzer beater in the playoffs.

More people began to pay attention to the super genius who was invincible in the playoffs.

Magic Johnson said: "That was the most difficult left-handed buzzer beater I have ever seen in my life. It is definitely one of the greatest buzzer beaters in NBA playoff history!"

O'Neal, who had already gone to the Wechiwa River to fish, put down his fishing rod and praised Roger highly: "Let's put it this way, my brother is simply a basketball artist. Chris? He's a basketball comedian."

North Carolina guard Stackhouse tried to tell people that he was Roger's lifelong enemy, but everyone treated him as a psychopath.

However, the news that irritates someone the most is undoubtedly the following.

At the age of 18, Roger has become the real master of Chicago. He played a wild buzzer beater in the playoffs, became the best rookie, and was successfully selected to the third team of the best team as an 18-year-old rookie. That's right, not the best rookie team, but the best team! So, we can completely forget about Michael and the glory of the past, we are entering the Roger era! - Chicago Tribune.

(End of this chapter)