Champions Creed

Chapter 73 072: The defending champion was easily taken (asking for monthly tickets!)

Olajuwon is the only player on the Rockets who poses a threat to Roger on the defensive end. Since the beginning of the regular season last season, his wide defensive range has been bothering Roger.

Roger can blow up every guard and wing of the Rockets from the outside, but behind them, Olajuwon can always provide backup defense.

This was the case in last season's finals. Given that the Bulls had no offensive power in the interior, Olajuwon could devote all his energy to assisting defense.

But now, he can only stay beside the shark conscientiously, not relaxing for a moment, and dare not leave the shark at all.

This set the perfect stage for Roger's performance.

Roger controlled the ball and passed half court. The person responsible for defending Roger in this round was Robert Horry - he was more active at the three position during his time with the Rockets.

The Magic's offensive tactics are not complicated. They either open up space for the Sharks or for Rogers.

Roger watched Horry, calmly dribbling the ball from hand to hand. He was watching, watching the position of Horry's feet.

Roger dribbled the ball to the left between his legs, finally forcing Horry to take a step back with his right foot. He was preparing to defend against Roger's breakthrough on the left side.

Roger was waiting for this opportunity. He changed direction again and attacked Horry's front foot! In this way, Horry had no way to move sideways to block it immediately!

With the help of Spoelstra, Roger studied a lot of offensive and defensive details last summer, which benefited him a lot.

Horry was easily broken through by Roger. At this time, if it were last season, Olajuwon would definitely rush over to fill the gap.

But at this time, Dream could only watch Roger break through Horry and make a quick stop jump shot.

Horry still used his long arms to interfere with Roger, but this interference was completely useless to Roger.

The basketball went gently into the net and Roger finished!
"Ha! Well done! Just shoot like this, Roger, just shoot like this!" O'Neal was so happy. Finally, this season, there was someone who could support his waist when he couldn't hold on anymore.

With someone helping to push from behind, the backbone is really strong!

10 to 13, the difference was only 3 points.

But the Rockets are a team with balanced offense and defense. Although their defense failed, they can still make up for it with offense.

However, this time, after catching the ball, Dream took two big steps and attempted a hook shot against the Shark, but was violently slapped away by the Shark!

This time, the moment Dream received the ball, he was double-teamed by Grant. Why did Pat Williams only want defensive strikers instead of defensive centers? Because only strikers can ensure height and speed at the same time, and can better complete the defense task.

Dream had no space to perform fancy dance moves under double-teaming, and had no chance to pass the ball for the time being, so he just hooked the shot in front of O'Neal.

The sharks of this period had not yet become fat, so their jumping speed and jumping height were quite terrifying.

And the Shark has always been very enthusiastic in defending in the penalty area, and he will never allow anyone to make trouble in the penalty area he is guarding.

He might let you shoot, but in the paint? Sorry, the Sharks are dangerous.

Therefore, this hook shot that was not confusing at all was simply a gift to O'Neal.

The powerful shot blocked the ball directly out of bounds. Not to mention the fans, even Roger felt great at this moment!
Last season, facing Ewing and Hakeem O'Hara, the only way the Bulls could contain them inside was to take turns fouling.

Of course, Cartwright and AC Green worked hard, and Roger had no complaints about that.

But it is also true that the Bulls cannot defend any star inside player.

Roger had never dared to imagine the scene of Olajuwon flying directly.

Every time Ewing or Olajuwon received the ball in the paint, Roger was thinking about how to make up for the lost two points in the next round.

But now, he can finally see these super inside players failing on the offensive end!
Roger can step up and help O'Neal solve problems when the inside offense is limited.

O'Neal finally saved Roger from having to face the desperate situation of being completely destroyed in the interior.

A truly good combination is one that can make each other happy!

The Rockets took a sideline kick and the game continued.

This time, the Rockets handed the offense over to Vernon Maxwell.

O'Neal had just blocked Olajuwon, and his emotions were completely mobilized. So in this round, he frantically fought with Dream in the paint, and the two sides fought very fiercely, resulting in the Rockets' ball not being passed in at all.

So the ball was given to Maxwell. Rockets' No. 4 Otis Thorpe originally wanted to go out and set a screen for Maxwell, but the championship shooting guard waved his hand: "No need, Otis! It's easier for me to deal with him myself!"

Good guy, Harper on the side exclaimed.

After spending some time with Roger, Harper had a better understanding of him, so he was sure that Maxwell was finished.

Not this round, but tonight he is finished.

Maxwell's original intention was not to provoke Roger, but he was afraid of Horace Grant's switching defense ability. Thorpe's pick-and-roll would bring Grant out instead.

If you fight Roger alone, you just need to kill Roger alone.

Maxwell felt that with his ability, it shouldn't be a problem to beat Roger. In last season's finals, he had several successful duels against Roger.

He had no idea of ​​Roger's progress this summer.

Maxwell first created some distance, then changed direction and took a step to the free throw line.

At this position, he suddenly stopped and raised his head to shoot.

If it was Roger from last season, he would probably have been tricked into raising his center of gravity to block the shot.

But this season, Roger has a better control over details.

He saw Maxwell's left foot preparing to exert force, and thus determined the direction of his opponent's breakthrough.

Then, at the moment Maxwell scored the ball, Roger reached out and grabbed it.

Spoelstra, who was watching the game, felt that Roger was still too impatient.

For this ball, he actually only needed to block the breakthrough route, and there was no need to steal the ball.

A more advanced attacker would use this to their advantage.

He decided to cut this round out and put it into the next video lesson.

Spoelstra's idea is correct. Roger's defense cannot reach the top level in just one year. If it were a higher-level attacker, he would definitely use Roger's steal to change direction again, or directly pull up.

But now standing opposite Roger was just Maxwell.

So the next second, Rockets fans only saw Roger steal the ball from Maxwell's hand, counterattack directly, and end the performance with a two-handed dunk.

O'Neal was as excited as if he had taken stimulants: "Hahahaha, great! You are worthy of being my truth, and you are worthy of being me!"

Roger ran back and glared at Maxwell, but said nothing. Roger liked to talk trash, but only to those who were willing to talk trash with him.

If the other person is not an expert at trash talking, Roger will often not bother to talk back because he finds it boring.

Although Roger didn't say anything, Harper on the side reminded Maxwell: "Man, you are unlucky tonight."

Maxwell realized he had said the wrong thing, but it was too late.

In this round, Dream missed the turnaround jump shot and the Magic continued to attack.

McKay held the ball at the top of the arc, Harper set an off-ball screen for Roger, and Roger ran towards the baseline.

The main purpose of this ball was to force the Rockets to switch defense and force Maxwell to defend Roger.

After the switch, McKay passed the ball to Harper at 45 degrees, and Harper passed it to Roger in the bottom corner.

Roger got the chance to challenge Maxwell.

Roger took a tentative step and Maxwell retreated. Roger immediately took his step back and shot a three-pointer.

"brush!"

The score is over!

"Pay attention, Orlando's scoring machine is running at full speed! Without Hakeem's protection, the Rockets' defense is extremely vulnerable in front of Roger!" NBC commentator Steve Jones shook his head. Jerry Krause, Jerry Krause, look at what you have done!
How could you allow Roger and Shaq to play together!

Which head did you use to come up with this deal?
Olajuwon can't help defend, and if he doesn't help defend, the Rockets' defense will be like Roger's own Disneyland.

Two bottles of poison, both highly toxic!
Chicago people must admit the fact that Roger's trade made the Magic too strong!

After the ball went in, the defending champion called a halt to the game in embarrassment.

Tomjanovich must change the current situation. He can see that Roger is in good form today and continuing to defend him alone will not produce any results.

Last season, with Olajuwon's help in defense, Roger was still able to average 29.3 points per game in the finals.

How many points could Roger score without Olajuwon's help defense? Tomjanovich didn't even dare to try.

After the timeout, Roger walked off the court while high-fiving his teammates.

The shark also walked over to Roger, and Roger held out his hand to high-five him.

As a result, O'Neal put his arms around Roger's head and kissed him on the face.

"That's great Roger, that's great! If I were a woman, I would marry you tonight! I knew you would be a superstar when I saw you at the Sunshine Classic!"

"I can't pedal a bike this big, Shaq."

"what?"

"nothing."

Roger and O'Neal were smiling brightly on the basketball court, but all the Rockets members who had just won the championship rings had gloomy faces.

Their journey to defend the title seemed to be going against the flow from the very beginning.

In fact, this is just the beginning of the Rockets' difficult journey to defend their title this year.

Tomjanovich held the tactical board and looked at Otis Thorpe at the fourth position: "You guard Shaq."

Thorpe was confused. He had always worked diligently and conscientiously for the team, so he didn't understand why the head coach would try to murder him.

"Put away your useless expression, I certainly won't let you defend him alone," Coach Tang said, and then looked at Horry, "Robert, once Shaq gets the ball, you will be the first to double-team him and help Otis deal with him. Hakeem, you can now be free from Shaq to deal with Roger. Cheer up, guys, this is only the first quarter, I have never seen a defending champion defeated in one quarter!"

After adjusting their defensive strategy and getting a shot of chicken soup, the Rockets got back on the court.

Otis Thorpe glanced at Horry nervously: "Man, you're not going to abandon me, are you?"

Horry pounded his chest and pointed at Thorpe: "I will always protect you, let's deal with the shark!"

The game continued, and this time, Dream turned around and made a jump shot the moment he received the basketball.

15 to 15, the Rockets tied the score.

This is a good start. The star player should stand up and boost morale when the team is in trouble.

After scoring the goal, Olajuwon clapped his hands and yelled, "Defend one, defend one!"

Then O'Neal found that Olajuwon went to defend Grant, and the Rockets actually used Thorpe to defend him. He immediately raised his hand to ask for the ball, and Thorpe went straight to the front to defend, and sat on O'Neal's legs.

Roger saw something and quickly called Grant to come up and play pick-and-roll with him.

After the screen, the familiar pressure came back. Hakeem Olajuwon was like a huge net blocking Roger, and Roger was like a small fish, unable to escape.

No, it was difficult to escape last season. Now, Roger has plenty of ways to tear this net apart.

Facing Olajuwon's defense, Roger immediately passed the ball to Grant who bounced out after the pick-and-roll.

Roger knew the opportunity was at the basket, but with Olajuwon completely covering him, his passing ability was not enough to directly assist the Shark. Therefore, he needed to pass the ball to Grant first.

Although Roger has a low number of assists, it's not that he doesn't pass the ball at all, he just doesn't make direct assists.

Just like last season, Roger didn't assist Pippen once in the entire season, but that doesn't mean he didn't pass the ball to Pippen. These are two different concepts.

Not every pass will result in an assist.

After Roger gave the ball to Grant, Olajuwon rushed over because he knew Grant had the ability to shoot from mid-range.

But Grant didn't shoot. He passed the ball to the Shark before Dream caught up.

Here we have to talk about another feature of the Magic's lineup - the three supporting roles in the starting lineup can all pass the ball, and their playing style is very team-like.

Not to mention Harper, he has always been a combo guard.

Derek McKay and Horace Grant are different from most defensive players. Although they have tough defense, they also have excellent passing skills and delicate game reading ability.

Derek McKay averaged 4.3 assists per game last season, and Grant can serve as a supporting point in the triangle offense.

As forwards, their passing ability is undoubtedly outstanding.

Thorpe was at the basket at the time and saw the giant catch the ball - although the baby shark was not as scary as the lake shark, it was still a real giant.

At that moment, Thorpe was in a dilemma.

Don’t defend it, I’m sorry teammates.

Be careful, I’m sorry parents!

Thorpe finally plucked up the courage to raise his arms and stick to the shark. At the same time, Robert Horry immediately rushed to the basket.

As a result, the Shark pushed Thorpe away with a back push, then turned around and faked Horry, and finally jumped over Thorpe and dunked violently under the basket. For him, dunking over Thorpe didn't require a running start at all!
Don't treat baby sharks as sharks.

It's easy to destroy a Thorpe or something like that.

O'Neal touched Roger's head happily. He knew that if Roger hadn't hurt the Rockets, Olajuwon would never have been able to leave the basket.

O'Neal had only played a formal game with Roger for less than ten minutes, but he had already fallen hopelessly in love with this man.

He felt that they could be teammates for life.

There will never be any accidents.

The Magic's goal was very damaging to the Rockets' morale because Thorpe and Horry did not make any mistakes in defense.

Thorpe showed his courage, and Horry also sandwiched the shark immediately.

But it was completely unable to stop the Sharks from easily taking 2 points.

Afterwards, Grant continued to double-team Dream on the defensive end, and Olajuwon passed the ball steadily to Horry who was released, but Horry's long two-point shot failed.

The Magic got a chance to widen the score, but Roger still chose to play pick-and-roll with Grant, but was stopped by Olajuwon who came to assist in defense as usual.

This time, Roger found a way to directly assist the Shark.

That is to throw the ball directly into the sky.

Yes, Roger didn't see where O'Neal was at all, but after experiencing that attack just now, Roger felt that assisting O'Neal was something that could be done with just his hands.

The man standing in the paint is no longer the aged Cartwright nor the 20cm-jumping Bill Wennington.

He is the best teammate he has ever met.

Well, better than Andre.

Not long after Roger threw the ball, he heard the sound of the basket being hit.

"Shaquille O'Neal dunks! Someone help poor Otis, help him, if he keeps going like this, Shaq will really tear him to pieces!" The NBC commentator already felt a little sympathetic towards Thorpe. What did this innocent man do wrong? Why was he tortured in this way?

It was also the first time that Roger discovered that getting assists in an official game was such a simple thing.

No wonder people say that you can’t judge a player’s organizational ability based solely on the number of assists. It’s true.

The Magic regained the lead by 4 points, but the gap was widened to 5 points after one round.

O'Neal continued to make trouble in the interior without Dream. This time, Thorpe and Horry directly hung on the Shark, finally preventing him from scoring.

But it is inevitable to be called for a foul.

What a familiar scene! This is what the Bulls had to do last season to contain their super inside players.

Now, it's finally someone else's turn to experience this pain.

O'Neal made one of two free throws and the Magic extended their lead.

The Sharks scored at the rim for three consecutive possessions, prompting Tomjanovich to start yelling at everyone on the court, "Hakeem, get back to the rim!"

Tomjanovich wanted to bet on Roger's touch. He wanted to limit the Shark and let Roger attack.

After all, Roger is also an outside shooter. The probability of him missing a shot is always higher than the probability of O'Neal missing a dunk.

With Kenny Smith missing a mid-range shot, the Magic regained the ball.

The Magic's role players have been working diligently on the defensive end, and Harper didn't give Kenny any chance just now.

After attacking, Roger soon discovered that Olajuwon returned to the basket to fight with the shark.

This means that the Rockets have abandoned their previous defensive strategy, which also means that Roger will take over the offense again.

The shark had no objection to this. He had just attacked three times, and now it was Roger's turn. This was fair.

Maxwell defended very seriously, and he also captured the details of Roger. So this time, he successfully judged the direction of Roger's breakthrough.

He thought his defense was successful, but after making physical contact with Roger, Maxwell found that he couldn't stop him!

Roger, who had gained another three kilograms this summer, was not strong enough, but he was by no means thin. Maxwell's small body could not stop Roger.

After pushing Maxwell away, Roger used this space to make another jump shot.

22 to 15, the Magic lead by 7 points!
People saw Roger's evolution. His one-on-one defense became stronger, he knew how to pass the ball to the right person on offense, and his body became stronger.

He is ready to take revenge on the Bulls!

Maxwell has begun to doubt his life. Without Olajuwon's protection, he can't defend Roger at all!
On the side, Harper shrugged at Maxwell: "I told you, man, you're going to have bad luck tonight. Next time when you talk to the future king, please pay attention to your tone and words. This is the most basic etiquette."

Great, Roger finally has his own bull terrier.

Harper would help Roger bark at others, and might even bite if necessary.

In the games that followed, the Rockets were completely unable to stop Roger and the Shark's offense.

Tomjanovich wanted to bet on Roger's touch, but he bet wrong.

Roger was holding his breath today, his mind kept flashing back to the defeat in the finals last season. So he became more and more excited, and the more he pitched, the hotter he became.

In Roger's eyes last season, Olajuwon was an insurmountable mountain, and he was frustrated about it the entire summer.

So tonight, Roger was determined to climb over this mountain!

The end result was that the Rockets fell behind by 10 points in the first quarter, allowing everyone to see the defending champions being defeated in the first quarter.

In the next three quarters, the Rockets were not completely without opportunities to change the situation. Their best chance came in the second quarter. When Roger and Shaq went off the court to rest, the Rockets narrowed the gap to just 2 points.

But Olajuwon's jump shot missed, and the Rockets lost the chance to tie the score.

After that, Shark and Roger returned to the field, ending all the suspense.

113 to 90, the Orlando Magic, who were eliminated in the first round last season, directly slaughtered the defending champion Rockets and ruined the Houston team's championship ring awarding night.

The furious Roger finished with 34 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Shark had 27 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block.

The two scored a combined 61 points, more than two-thirds of the Rockets' entire team's score!

NBC commentator Steve Jones couldn't help but complain: "Look, this is what Jerry Krause did. He not only caused a big trouble for the Bulls, but for the entire league!"

Krause is innocent because, to be precise, it was Michael Jordan who did it.

That extremely conceited guy said he could do such a magic trick? Haha, I hope he can.

For the first time, I found that Hakeem was not so unattainable. Roger provided me with strong support. We had already beaten the defending champions by more than 20 points. Who else could we not beat next? - Shaquille O'Neal talked about the first victory of the season.

I am proud of the team's performance, and I hope everyone will not ignore our excellent defense and the players who work hard on defense. We only allowed Hakeem to score 20 points today, with a shooting percentage of 49%. In the finals last season, he averaged nearly 30 points per game. -- Magic coach Brian Hill talked about the team's defense.

"Yes, I said this on the court. I said Roger is the future king. No, he never called himself the king in the locker room. I was the first to call him that. You can consider this as Roger's third nickname. Is there any objection to that? You all saw how great Roger is. Sooner or later, he will become a champion." - Ron Harper laughed at the trash talk he said to Maxwell.

"Roger, how does it feel to defeat the defending champion?"

"I'm excited. This time, I finally left more than just some scars on Hakeem. I'm sorry Hakeem, I know I hurt you tonight. Take good care of it. It might hurt more next time."

"You and Shaq, you scored 61 points together in your first official game together. How could you be so coordinated in the first game?"

"That just proves we don't have any chemistry. It's only 61 points. We can do better, right Shaq?"

O'Neal on the side saluted: "Yes sir!"

"Last question, what do you think of the Chicago Bulls' loss to the New York Knicks in the opening game?"

"There's nothing to comment on. Now the whole world knows that Michael Jordan is a boaster. Look, he said the Bulls could win the championship without me, but when he replaced me, the Bulls couldn't even beat the Knicks. The gap is obvious."

"But Michael scored 28 points in this game. He played very well."

"I averaged 29 points in the finals. Did Michael mention that? He kept calling me a piece of crap. If we lose, we lose. What the hell are the excuses for that?"

Brian Hill on the side sighed, it hurts, it hurts so much.

Jordan is probably in more pain now than if his orbital bone was broken.

(End of this chapter)