Champions Creed

Chapter 76 075: Stepping over Michael Jordan (asking for monthly tickets!)
Scott Pippen was in tears.

He didn't expect Roger's impact to be so strong.

Even though Roger only weighs 3 kilograms, with inertia, the final weight acting on Pippen is far more than 3 kilograms.

As for Roger's trash talk, the damage was directly measured in tons.

Pippen slammed the floor hard. Damn it. Roger bullied me when Jordan was not back. Now that Jordan has come back, Roger still bullies me. Then Jordan’s comeback was in vain!
Why does it feel like whether Jordan makes a comeback or retires, he is the one who is hurt the most?
Jordan appeared in front of Pippen at this time and pulled him up.

Just like O'Neal and Kobe were not at odds from the beginning, there was no rift between Pippen and Jordan from the beginning.

Jordan now doesn't say how deep his feelings for Pippen are, but at least he treats him as his own.

When beating a dog, you have to consider the owner. Roger really went too far!
"Scott, stop sitting there like an idiot. You look humiliated!"

Pippen held Jordan's hand, and Jordan pulled hard, pulling the disheveled Pippen up.

Roger's violent dunk made the game tense from the start, and everyone was excited.

But this is not all good. If the anger is too strong, it may burn oneself.

In the Magic's next defensive round, O'Neal fouled too early because he was too angry.

In this round, Webber received the basketball in the high position and prepared to shoot.

The Shark rushed out of the penalty area and used a diamond arm to knock Weber over with the ball.

The referee blew the whistle and O'Neal was fouled just after the start of the game.

It doesn't matter that Roger just knocked over Kukoc and got a foul, after all, he is an outside shooter.

But it is different for inside players. Because they have to protect the rim, they are more likely to be called for fouls, so they need to better control their number of fouls.

But O'Neal had no intention of controlling the foul. In fact, this foul was requested by O'Neal himself.

There was no need for him to block the shot so roughly.

O'Neal did it on purpose. He just wanted to take Webber down and make the bastard who mentioned his grandmother feel painful.

Webber stood at the free throw line and made one of two free throws.

Jordan didn't scold him this time. He didn't want to waste his energy on such things.

Roger reminded the Shark: "Shaq, don't listen to Chris's nonsense. Calm down, you don't want to sit on the bench because of a foul, right?"

"I'll control myself man, I'll control it." O'Neal nodded.

One round later, O'Neal found Roger who was heading to the bottom corner during a double team attack.

He kept his word and will give more shots to Roger today.

But Roger's shot missed and the Magic failed to expand their lead.

O'Neal clapped his hands and said, "It's okay, man. Just keep shooting later."

It seemed that O'Neal was determined to play well. As a result, when the Bulls attacked this time, Webber secretly punched O'Neal in the neck when he was back-to-back.

O'Neal's heart, which had just cooled down a little, immediately became agitated again, and he immediately responded with an elbow strike. The worst thing was that it was an undisguised elbow strike!

The referee's whistle interrupted the game again. Just now, everyone's attention was on Jordan holding the ball, so they didn't know what happened. When people focused their attention on O'Neal, he was chasing the referee and yelling:

"You bunch of idiots, I really want to crack open your skulls to see if there's a brain inside! It was that despicable bastard who harassed me first, damn him!"

"Shut up and play well Shaq, don't force me to call a technical foul." The referee's response was tantamount to adding fuel to the fire.

Just as O'Neal was about to continue his rant, Magic coach Brian Hill replaced him with former rebounding champion Michael Cage.

O'Neal committed the two fouls too quickly and too early, and Brian Hill had to protect the Shark.

Also, replace him and let him calm down.

So, Roger now has to face the angry Bulls without the Shark!

Provoking O'Neal and getting him into foul trouble had been Webber's strategy today.

He may not be able to guard Shaq, but what if Shaq isn't there?

Michael Jordan disdains to gain an advantage in this way, but he is not crazy enough to criticize Webber for this.

Because in competitive sports, victory achieved with any tactics is victory, no matter what the tactics are. Whether it is ugly or gorgeous, the final victory is still victory.

Finding a way to make the opponent's main players get into foul trouble and leave the court is the most gentle way among many tricks. The methods of Bruce Bowen, Pachulia and others are more direct.

O'Neal sat on the bench and yelled angrily at Brian Hill.

Roger had no idea what they were arguing about, and it didn't matter anymore.

More importantly, the Magic's inside advantage is gone.

O'Neal did not fail to fulfill his promise. He did pass the ball to Roger and asked Roger to attack. However, he had to leave the court after one round.

Now Michael Cage plays the power forward position and Grant is pushed to the power forward position.

Although Webber is not good at defense, Grant cannot completely dominate the basket.

Now, the anti-Michael alliance can only hope that Roger can beat up Michael Jordan.

The Bulls continued to attack. In this round, Jordan faced Harper with his back to the basket and made a smooth shot after turning around and leaning back.

3 to 2, the Bulls took the lead. Jordan did not waste time talking to Harper, but looked at Roger: "Without the big guy, you bastard has nowhere to hide now."

Orlando fans are starting to get a little scared, Michael Jordan seems to be starting to get stronger. Can Roger hold on until the Shark comes back?

But soon, Roger gave everyone reassurance.

In this round, Roger took advantage of the double screen of Michael Cage and Horace Grant to get rid of Pippen and went straight into the penalty area, where he made a layup from mid-range.

The long-distance layup has become Roger's signature move, because only Roger uses this move most frequently.

3 to 4, the cheers at the scene began to grow louder. Although there was no direct confrontation, Roger and Jordan had already begun to confront each other.

After scoring the goal, Roger pointed at Jordan and said, "Why should I hide, Michael? Why should I hide from someone who can't beat me at all?"

One round later, Webber made a low-post pass, assisting Jordan who cut in and dunked over Grant, and the Bulls took the lead again.

After scoring the goal, Jordan did not forget to rant: "This is the fate of leakers. You will go to hell with the rebels tonight. I will send you there myself!"

But before Jordan could show off for long, Roger's response came.

The way he scored was almost exactly the same as Jordan's, running back inside, receiving the pass from Grant, and then attacking the basket directly.

The difference is that Jordan just dunked directly, while Roger used a pull-up to avoid Webber and scored a layup.

5 to 6, the game entered a fierce battle of leads!
Roger and Jordan would not give in to each other, and even without O'Neal, he would not allow Jordan to take over the game!
The game continued at this pace, with Michael Jordan and Roger competing with each other.

They were like two fearless boxers, standing in the middle of the ring and exchanging punches crazily, which made the audience scream with excitement. Whenever Jordan scored, Roger would definitely respond.

Similarly, if Roger scored a goal, Jordan would immediately catch up with the score.

Although the score was always tense, Orlando fans were undoubtedly the happier side.

In the words of NBC commentator Mike Fratello: "Roger may be the only one in the league who can keep up with Michael's scoring pace. In the first quarter, he was on par with Michael!"

After Roger scored his 15th point in the first quarter with a quick stop and mid-range shot 15 seconds before the end of the first quarter, he once again caught up with Jordan in personal scoring and helped the team tie the score again.

Although the score was only tied, Michael Jordan was already angry: "Damn it, couldn't you defend him once? Even once! What the hell are you doing!?"

Even though the main center was forced to leave the game after playing only a few rounds, Roger was still able to hold on to the Bulls, which of course made Jordan very annoyed.

The Bulls players didn't dare to say anything under Jordan's roar, but Roger took over: "Really? The great Michael Jordan only knows how to complain about his teammates? If you have the guts, come and defend me yourself!"

Jordan didn't take this kind of trash talk seriously: "Shut up, bastard. You didn't dare to defend me either. Poor Ron Harper and Anthony Bowie silently took it all for you."

Roger and Jordan did not face each other in the first quarter. Although Jordan has strong defensive ability, the Zen Master would not be so stupid as to let him play both the father and mother on both offense and defense. In that case, even Jordan would be exhausted.

The same is true for Roger. Although Roger's one-on-one defense has improved a lot this season, Brian Hill needs Roger to focus all his energy on the offensive end. Pat Williams spent so much money to get a bunch of defensive stalwarts, not for Roger to deal with Jordan personally.

But this time, Roger told Jordan, "No, Michael, there's nothing to be afraid of." Roger looked directly into the eyes of No. 45, "I'm going to defend you this round!"

In the last 15 seconds, Roger decided to face off against Jordan.

The person who was responsible for defending Jordan before was Anthony Bowie, who voluntarily gave up his No. 14 jersey to Roger. He has always been conscientious, but his defense lacks aggressiveness.

Roger felt that he had let Jordan start too easily.

Now there are only 15 seconds, and Roger feels that he has a chance to prevent Jordan from shooting.

He had to personally press Jordan, put pressure on the entire court, and try his best to defend this possession.

Originally, the Bulls wanted to pass the ball to Kerr, but after hearing what Roger said, Jordan waved his hand and said, "Go away, Steve. I'll take the baseline ball. You have nothing to do here!"

Guard against me? Seeking death!
I will help you!
At the start of the game, Jordan used his much stronger body to block Roger and steadily received the serve at the baseline. Roger had no way to deal with it.

But Roger still kept close to Jordan and tried his best to give Jordan strong confrontation.

Jordan's advance was blocked, but it was impossible to prevent the man who treated the scoring champion as water from even making it past half court. He finally turned around and passed Roger.

Jordan passed Roger, successfully advanced to the frontcourt, and approached the three-point line.

Just as Jordan was thinking about how to attack, he felt the ball in his hand being poked away.

It's Roger!
He seized the opportunity, touched the basketball in Jordan's hand from behind and completed the steal!

No one believed it, not even Michael Jordan himself, that he was actually defended by Roger!
Roger's grasp of the timing of steals has indeed improved a lot this season. Although steals have never been a criterion for measuring whether a player's defense is excellent, it does not mean that steals are completely useless.

After Roger successfully stole the ball from Jordan, he immediately dribbled back. Jordan, like an angry lion, bit Roger fiercely.

No one has ever dared to be so arrogant in front of him, and he defended himself as he was told.

Jordan, who is anxious to save his face, is determined to bite off Agent Zero's head himself!
The cheers from the audience were about to overturn the dome of the Orlando Arena. For two consecutive rounds, Roger and Jordan faced off directly, which was simply the happiest thing for the fans.

Jordan kept close to Roger, trying to stop Roger with a tough fight.

He succeeded.

Roger was eventually forced to stop outside the three-point line, and facing the pressure from Jordan, Roger didn't dare to change direction at will during the confrontation.

You can despise Michael Jordan with your attitude, but you can't be so stupid as to underestimate his strength.

Many people only remember that Jordan won a lot of scoring titles, but ignore that he also won three steals titles - second only to Chris Paul's six in history.

Jordan forced Roger to stop. Roger paused for a moment, adjusted his rhythm, and sprinted again to make a strong breakthrough.

But just as Jordan stepped back, Roger took a step back to the three-point line, creating a little space for the shot.

Jordan reacted quickly and interfered immediately.

Roger almost completed the shot at Jordan's fingertips. Jordan turned and looked at the basket after the interference, but his body was moving backwards due to inertia.

During this process, Jordan was accidentally tripped by Roger and fell to the ground.

At the same time he fell, Roger's three-pointer against Jordan's defense went directly into the net when the red light on the backboard appeared!

At the last moment of the first quarter, Roger scored a goal!

O'Neal and all the players on the Magic bench jumped up like crazy.

In the last 15 seconds, Roger beat Jordan once on both offense and defense!
And after this goal, Roger broke the balance between him and Jordan in the first quarter.

Before this, the two sides had been tied. But after this goal, Roger and Magic both ended the first quarter with a 3-point advantage!

However, people at this time did not know that this goal was not the final performance. In fact, it was basically just a warm-up show.

The real performance came after the goal. Roger looked at Jordan who was lying in front of him, and he stepped over him without hesitation!

While crossing over Jordan, Roger did not forget to keep in touch with him: "Michael, even if we are not on the same team, it cannot hide the fact that you can't compete with me!"

The entire Orlando Arena was boiling with excitement. O'Neal rushed directly onto the court, pushed Roger excitedly, and then hugged him.

Just now, Roger did something to Jordan that no one had ever done before. That was to score a goal over Jordan's head and humiliate him with the most arrogant attitude!

You can imagine how shocking the effect of this shot was. Allen Iverson stepped over Tyronn Lue in 2001, which became the most memorable scene in AI's career.

What if Tyronn Lue was replaced by Michael Jordan? The impact of this scene would undoubtedly be even greater.

That's what Roger just did!

"Damn it, I'm going to kill that bastard!" Michael Jordan was very emotional as he was being pulled by his teammates.

He couldn't believe that he was defeated in this head-on confrontation.

Moreover, he was defeated in the most humiliating way!
In the first quarter, when O'Neal hardly played, Roger stabilized the situation and changed the mentality of Pippen and Jordan.

He is not afraid of Jordan or the Bulls.

His desire to win is extremely high, he is the most bloodthirsty fighter today!
NBC commentator Mike Fratello shook his head after watching Roger's performance in the final moments of the first quarter:

"Admit it, admit it, admit it. The Chicago Bulls made perhaps the stupidest deal ever! They created a tough opponent for themselves!"

Phil Jackson sighed. Now it was his turn to take the bloody blow.

Just one blow might not be enough to completely defeat the powerful MJ.

But what if there are a few more cuts?
The Zen Master picked up the tactical board and said a fact helplessly: "Next, continue to find a way to make Shaq get into foul trouble. It is difficult for us to deal with Roger and Shaq firing at the same time!"

The Chicago Bulls were already overwhelmed by Roger alone.

(End of this chapter)