Champions Creed

Chapter 74 073: This is Shaq at this moment

Roger's performance in not giving Jordan any face at all during the press conference won unanimous praise from his teammates.

In the past, they were the only ones who were criticized by Jordan. But this time, someone finally represented everyone in criticizing Jordan.

They had never experienced such a pleasant experience before.

Roger finally realized that he had come to an "anti-Mike alliance".

Everyone was just a little happy when they won the defending championship, but criticizing Jordan made everyone go crazy.

In other words, Roger had found the G-spot of the entire locker room; he knew how to get these guys excited.

At the same time, Roger also touched Jordan's pain point.

Why did he return? Because he wanted to win so badly, he couldn't stand the idea of ​​someone replacing him, and that person was so disrespectful to him.

But after his return, he lost even more miserably than on the baseball field!
After losing to the New York Knicks, he was even labeled as "not as good as Roger".

This is simply a disgrace.

SportsCenter said it best: "I wouldn't say Michael has fallen, but Michael's reign does seem to be loosening a little."

In fact, it wasn't just the game where Jordan's dominance began to loosen.

In terms of sneakers, his dominance has also begun to be shaken.

Back in Florida, Reebok's latest Truth II has surpassed Nike's competing AJ IX in sales.

Although it only surpassed in Florida, in the past, AJ's sales completely dominated the entire United States.

So this is still a historic moment.

Sports Illustrated wrote this when introducing the Truth II: "The Truth II uses Reebok's exclusive PUMP technology, has a fast-inflating air cushion and a unique design. Okay, I know these are not the point. The point is that it is Roger's signature shoe."

Yes, that's the point.

Roger's fame made Reebok sneakers very popular.

Reebok is so happy, now they finally have a sneaker series that can stand out.

O'Neal is great, but his sneaker sales are not even a fraction of AJ's, let alone surpassing him.

There is no way. The center's shoes are too bulky. Even if they are placed on the shelf, you won't want to reach out and take them.

Roger's sneakers broke AJ's dominance and gave Reebok hope.

Yes, AJ's sales volume is still many times that of Reebok.

Jordan's commercial value remains immeasurable.

But this is the first time in many years that there is a man who can slightly move the rock called Michael Jordan.

And everyone knows that this person still has a lot of strength that he has not used yet.

That's true, because Roger and the Sharks are still reaping victories after the opener.

The season continued, and after defeating the defending champions, the Magic flew to Charlotte to challenge the Hornets without stopping.

Then people realized that Roger was not bragging when he said "61 points is nothing".

Because today, Roger and Shark scored a combined 72 points!
O'Neal scored 42 points, Roger scored 30 points, and the Magic defeated the Charlotte Hornets 130-122!
The Hornets' performance in this game was perfect. Alonso Mourning scored 26 points, the powerful Larry Johnson scored 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Dell Curry, the father of the dunk king, scored 20 points without using his dunking skills.

In addition, the Hornets made 22 of 11 three-pointers in the whole game. In this era when the Rockets can become the "team with the most three-pointers per game" by averaging 7 three-pointers per game, it is clear how strong the Hornets' three-pointers are today.

For the Hornets, this was a completely exceptional performance.

But it didn't work.

Roger and Shark used their stronger absolute strength to suppress the Wasp.

Mourning simply couldn't stand up to the Shark. He threatened to embarrass the Shark before the game, but this got him into trouble.

Mourning has a strong heart, but no matter how strong he is, he cannot change his height.

With the crazy Sharks and Roger's outside firepower, it would be useless even if the Hornets performed exceptionally well.

So after the game, Hornets coach Alan Bristow was very frustrated: "I have never encountered such an outrageous team in my career!"

The third game against the Philadelphia 76ers was another easy win.

O'Neal was very excited before the game because the 76ers had the big shot Bradley.

Well, poor Bamboo didn't actually provoke the Sharks, it was all the Philadelphia media saying things like "Bradley can outsmart O'Neal" and "Shaq won't score 20 points tonight".

But just like Jordan forced the team to trade Roger and in the end Krause took all the blame, Bamboo Pole became a victim of the Philadelphia media's nonsense.

O'Neal scored 32 points today and he completely destroyed Bradley.

During the game, Roger was worried about Bradley. He was really afraid that the guy would suddenly be broken in half during the fight.

Thanks to O'Neal, Roger only scored 19 points in this game.

Firstly, the Sharks had too many shots, and secondly, the game entered garbage time after three quarters.

What could Roger do? Score points in garbage time and let the media promote it as "fighting hard until the last minute"?
Forget it, Reebok doesn’t have that much media power.

After the game, O'Neal was very happy: "Sean, I'm really looking forward to the next matchup. You acted as if you didn't care after being dunked on. It was an excellent performance. I love watching this."

But he didn't forget Roger: "This man sacrificed his shot for me tonight, so I really don't understand why some people say he's selfish. Wait, you guys don't really want to leave Roger alone and let him pass the ball to Scott Pippen, right? Fortunately, Phil Jackson is not that kind of idiot."

In response to the shark's thanks, Roger just smiled.

He didn't intentionally give power to O'Neal today, but he really had it too easy playing in the interior, which led to the team always getting used to feeding the ball inside.

However, Roger's score was lower than that of the Sharks in two consecutive games, which undoubtedly gave some people an opportunity to seize.

When the Magic were winning games one after another, the Chicago Bulls were also on the winning track because Michael Jordan started to show his power.

Roger's victory and ridicule made Jordan angry, and the angry Jordan was the most terrifying existence in the basketball world.

After losing to the Knicks, in the second game against the Washington Bullets, Jordan won the game with a drifting jump shot in the last 5.9 seconds.

Something even more terrifying happened three days later. Facing the Indiana Pacers, Jordan scored 45 points, the highest single-game score since his comeback!
It has to be admitted that Michael Jordan is in good shape after a complete preparation period. When the team's running-in was not satisfactory, Jordan relied on his personal ability to lead the team to two wins.

Of course, Jordan only had 45 assists on his 2-point night.

You can imagine what Pippen would have said if Roger had played a game like this last season.

Selfish, autocratic, unreasonable, not a team player, there are a lot of words that can be used to criticize Roger.

But after Jordan did this, Pippen said: "Everyone around Michael believes that he is invincible. This is his strength!"

So licking!

Those professional teachers in Japan are not necessarily better at licking than Pippen.

He would deliberately lose to Jordan in every little gamble before the game.

He would find different ways to say good things about Jordan.

Most importantly, he is not yet able to threaten Jordan's position.

With Pippen around, how could Jordan not be spoiled?

After the game, Jordan was also sarcastic: "At least I won't rely on the big guys to win. If I can win by scoring 19 points in every game, then who can't win? I even won by dragging a big guy who couldn't make free throws."

This is a mockery of Roger's scoring being lower than Shark's in two consecutive games.

This is also a mockery of Chris Webber's incompetence.

Webber's fantasy about Jordan and his vision for Chicago have been completely shattered after three games.

He found himself simply moving from one cage to another.

Shaq is annoying, but at least he won't stop you from drinking water!
Roger really wants to play a game with the Bulls as soon as possible, but the first showdown between the two sides will have to wait until early December.

The long wait made Roger a little depressed.

Shark was obviously in a much better mood than Roger. The day after beating the 76ers, he did a big job for the whole team.

Seeing that Roger's Ferrari was always the focus of the team this season, O'Neal secretly bought two, removed the head and tail of one, cut the other in the middle, and then welded the two cars into a "stretched executive Ferrari."

The next day, he dragged the stretched Ferrari to the parking lot and enjoyed the looks of his teammates: "See, I told you mine is cooler than Roger's! Shaq is the coolest and richest guy on the team!"

O'Neal likes to be in the spotlight. Even in such boring things, he would compete with Roger for victory or defeat and must be the focus of the team.

In order to beat Roger in this regard, he instantly spent more money than most people could earn in their entire lives.

Logically speaking, this is a dangerous signal.

O'Neal wants to suppress Roger.

But Roger was still very happy after this happened.

This was all because of the afternoon when the "stretched executive Ferrari" farce occurred.

After training that afternoon, O'Neal could only look at Roger pitifully: "Can you take me home? Damn, no one told me that the stretched Ferrari couldn't be driven on the road at all!"

After that, he struggled to twist his legs and squeezed himself into Roger's normal Ferrari. He even occupied Roger's main driving space, causing Roger to drive sideways and turn his head the whole time!
"Shit, this is why I need a stretch Ferrari!"

"Shut up Shaq, don't move, I can't see in the rearview mirror!"

Then, in this crowded and extremely uncomfortable environment, the shark asked Roger:
"Michael scored 45 points last night. Are you upset?"

"It doesn't matter, I will make him unhappy when we play against the Bulls in December." Roger replied coldly.

"I knew you were unhappy. Hey, Zhenli, I have a suggestion."

"You want to get off and push the cart? That's great. My leather seat is almost broken by you!"

"No, let's be serious, man. Look, last game you let me beat up Sean Bradley, and the game before that you let me beat up Alonzo Mourning. How about next time, I let you beat up Michael Jordan?

In December against the Bulls, if you were feeling good that day, I would set up a pick-and-roll for you and you could block it as many times as you wanted. I was also willing to take fewer shots that day and pass the ball to you more.

Don't worry, even if I don't shoot much, the Bulls will double-team me, and I can still create one-on-one space for you.

Michael is talking a lot of bullshit, you don't have to rely on me to win. Go give Michael a hard time and shut that old man up, I know you've been waiting for that moment for a long time."

Roger didn't know why O'Neill suddenly wanted to say something so serious at such a funny moment.

Maybe he really is a child, and he wants to outwit Roger on the Ferrari issue just for fun.

Because as of now, he has no intention of surpassing Roger on the basketball court.

People are indeed complex and they change.

The Shaq once wore Kobe's jersey to play in the game, just to defend his younger brother who was suspended. At that time, who could have thought that the OK combination would be destroyed?
You can't equate the current O'Neal with the future O'Neal.

Now O'Neal sees that Roger has reduced his shooting opportunities, and he also wants to do the same for Roger.

You can call it childish, you can call it loyalty. Either way, this is Shaq at this moment.

Roger braked and stopped the car, looking seriously into the shark's eyes.

This sudden affectionate gaze made the shameless O'Neal shy: "Damn it, why did you stop the car? Stop staring at me like that. You don't have to make the atmosphere so touching."

"No Shaq," Roger covered his forehead, "I think we have a flat tire!"

(End of this chapter)