Champions Creed

Chapter 94 093: Players who ignore targeted arrangements, Dad, I'm a failure! (Seeking monthly tickets)

Dominique Wilkins was beaten into retirement by Roger and the Sharks.

Pat Riley was beaten by Roger and the Sharks to the point of resigning.

Patrick Ewing was made the enemy of New York fans by Roger and the Sharks.

Everyone who played against the Magic in the playoffs ended up with a miserable outcome.

Now, people are wondering what fate Michael Jordan will face.

Will he also end up in such a tragic way?

But obviously, the two opponents Michael Jordan and the Magic encountered before were different.

After all, the last time Jordan lost a series was in 1990.

Since the Bad Boys, no one has been able to break Jordan's undefeated streak in the playoffs.

Magic Johnson couldn't do it, Drexler couldn't do it, and even Barkley, who won the MVP, couldn't do it.

Jordan was undoubtedly terrifying in the playoffs. He could gamble until the early morning in Atlantic City the night before, and then still beat the New York Knicks' tough defense the next day.

He can average 41 points per game over the MVP and win the championship, and he can throw in 6 three-pointers in the second half with the stupid words "If he dares, he can beat us with three-pointers" and then shrug his shoulders.

All these are the differences between Jordan, Ewing and the movie highlights.

And to this day, Michael Jordan's domination of the playoffs continues. Reggie Miller was also initially thought to have a chance to beat Jordan No. 45, but now Miller can only break a few corns to catch black bass.

On one side is the absolute ruler of the past, and on the other side is the rising strongest combination.

Such a confrontation is already attractive enough.

Not to mention the personal grudge between Roger and Jordan and the Bulls.

All these grudges reached a climax because of Roger's words, "I beat him four times this season."

Michael Jordan was deeply offended by Roger's disdainful attitude and contemptuous tone.

This wasn't the first time Roger had offended Jordan, but Jordan assured him that this would be the one Roger would regret the most.

Before the Eastern Conference Finals began, the league announced this year's best lineup.

Roger, Jordan, Pippen, Malone and David Robinson became the five-man team of this year's best team.

Roger achieved a double jump. He was only selected to the best third team last season, but this year he jumped to become the best first team guard.

Stockton, Miller, Payton, Hardaway and others were all trampled under Roger's feet.

This also broke a record that even Roger himself had become tired of - at the age of 19 years and 269 days, he was the youngest player in NBA history to be selected into the All-NBA First Team.

Although fans are already tired of Roger's series of "youngest" records, the media are still touting this achievement.

After all, many stars were not selected into their respective league's best team in the NCAA when they were 19 years old.

Unlike Roger who returned home with honors, O'Neal was very dissatisfied with the selection of the best team.

He finished second to his arch-rival, the Admiral. Of course, the Sharks complained about this in an interview after practice: "None of those rubbish reporters who voted for him understand basketball! Big Aristotle is pissed, and the Admiral better pray that he doesn't meet me in the finals!"

The Shark swore that he would tear the Admiral apart in the finals, but in fact O'Neal would never get his revenge.

Because if nothing unexpected happens, the Admiral will be tied up and publicly executed by Olajuwon in the Western Conference Finals.

Every time Olajuwon encountered the Admiral's one-on-one defense, he would choose an offensive option from his menu to defeat the opponent.

If you think that Gobert, the best defensive player, was fooled by Jokic, it was bad enough, then the Admiral was probably twice as bad as Gobert.

Because Gobert was not shaken off by Jokic on many occasions, the defense was very effective, and the reason why he couldn't be defended was simply because Jokic's touch was too amazing.

But the admiral was really confused and fooled many times.

It was one of the most brutal massacres of stars in NBA playoff history.

Roger is not as aggressive as Shark. After being selected into the All-NBA First Team, the first thing he thought of during an interview was gratitude.

"Thank you Chicago, thank you great Michael. If they hadn't traded me, I would just be 'Michael's little brother' now, and I would never be able to be on par with him and enter the best team. It was this deal that put my career on the right track, and I thank them all."

Roger's ridicule put the Chicago Bulls, or more precisely, Michael Jordan, at the forefront again.

You can replace all the "thank you" Roger said in the interview with "Fvck" and it won't affect his meaning. -- John Anderson, host of "SportsCenter", joked.

There is only one kind of true stupidity in this world, that is to trade a first-team player for a bust No. 1 pick and three completely worthless draft picks. Can you believe it? As it stands now, Nick Anderson is actually the best bargaining chip in this deal. God, this is like we traded young athletes for grandmas in the swimsuit issue! If it weren't for Michael's "conditions", this deal would never have happened. - Sports Illustrated, a well-known magazine about life's unhappiness.

Chicagoans could have celebrated their championship, but now they can only pray that they will not be defeated by the player they traded. Michael traded Roger for the team's status, but now he will lose more because of it. - Orlando Sentinel.

Michael's career has been going downhill since the All-Stars Frozen incident. Believe me, Michael will be the next after Essence and Pat Riley. - USA Today

Jerry Krause wanted to strangle Jordan when he saw these reports. If Roger was not traded, the Bulls would have three first-team players at the same time this season. They could win the championship with just a flick of their fingers!
If Roger had not been traded, you can't imagine any team in the world that could stop the outside line of Jordan + Roger + Pippen.

But all this is because of Jordan’s personal grudge, and we can only live in “if” forever!

Krause is very anxious because if the Bulls really lose to the Magic, he will become the dumbest general manager in history.

Even more anxious than Krause is Nike. The appeal of the most powerful spokesperson in their brand history is visibly declining.

This round of the series was Michael Jordan's final weakness.

Although in this year's regular season, the Bulls were severely trampled by the Magic not once, not twice, but four times.

But the regular season is the regular season after all, and even the most die-hard Roger fans have to admit that the regular season and the playoffs are different.

A team with a better regular season record does not necessarily win in the playoffs. There are countless examples in history to prove this.

The 93 Bulls had a record of 1 win and 3 losses against the Knicks in the regular season, but it was not Ewing who stood in front of the Jazz in the end.

Similarly, in 93, the SuperSonics beat the Suns three times in the regular season, but it was Flying Pig who fought against Jordan in the end.

Therefore, even though they were beaten four times in the regular season, Nike still had hope for Jordan.

They launched their own propaganda machine and tried to convince fans that Jordan was still dominant.

They also tried to make the Magic players feel fearful, thinking, "Damn, we're facing the great Michael Jordan, the guy who hasn't lost a series in five years."

Sometimes, the more the outside world nags in your ear about how powerful your opponent is, the more you will be overwhelmed by the pressure.

Nike believes that Jordan has such deterrent power. After all, Jordan's deterrent power is still very strong during the regular season.

This season, Jordan created a strange phenomenon throughout the league that had never been heard of before and will never happen again: in this league where everyone is a trash talker and everyone is eager to use the most vicious words to humiliate their opponents, many people actually dare not talk to Jordan.

There was even a reverse trash talk master like Byron Scott who used words like "Michael, that shot was awesome" to calm Jordan down.

So they believe that such public opinion effect can make the Magic lose their composure.

But this time, Nike's strategy was completely wrong.

Far from being frightened, Roger was actually excited by it.

If there really is someone in history who can defeat Michael Jordan in his prime and win the championship, how explosive will his commercial value be?
In the original history, although O'Neal and Penny beat Jordan, they failed to win the championship in the end. Moreover, they beat Jordan who only played 17 regular season games.

In short, in the original history, no one could benefit from the huge traffic of "defeating Jordan".

But now it is not necessarily the case. Defeat a complete Jordan and finally win the championship, which will be more exaggerated than the historical status bonus that Nowitzki will get by defeating the Big Three.

So, Roger felt that Nike was completely helping him.

The harder they promote Jordan, the greater the bonus they will get after they defeat Jordan.

What really annoyed Roger was that the media, who were close to Jordan, kept repeating one thing:

"Roger was just a runner-up."

"Roger can beat everyone, but he will always be inferior to Michael. Because with Michael, the Bulls won three consecutive championships, but without Michael, the Bulls are nothing. This is a gap that Roger will never be able to erase in his lifetime."

"Who said in the locker room that we don't need Michael, and then lost the championship in the finals? No, the Bulls don't need Roger, but they need Michael very much."

"Michael can lead Pippen to win the championship, but Roger can't. That's all I have to say. Even if the Magic beat the Bulls 100 times in the regular season, this fact will not change."

Roger knew that these sounds were illogical, but just like flies, they might not have any substantial impact on your life, but they were annoying.

Fortunately, he now has the chance to slap the fly to death.

Roger also admitted that the regular season and the playoffs cannot be lump together. If the regular season is used to determine wins and losses, the league should have awarded the championship trophy in April.

In an interview with the media, Roger also mentioned this: "It is indeed different. The playoffs and the regular season are different. But one thing will not change, we will beat the Chicago Bulls!"

Finally, Michael Jordan and Roger are going to work out all the problems.

After all, the Bulls can only win the championship with Jordan, but Roger can't.

Even after replacing Roger with Jordan, the Bulls couldn't even make it to the finals.

No matter which side loses, it will be a great humiliation.

For Jordan and Roger, this is not just a matter of winning or losing a series. This is a series that determines their historical status!

May 5, Orlando Arena.

Kobe Bryant and his father appeared here.

Roger gave Kobe some tickets to the Eastern Conference Finals. In exchange, Kobe promised to beat Jerry Stackhouse for Roger.

The Philadelphia 76ers, who got the third overall pick, will try out Stackhouse in the near future, so Stark will come to Philadelphia and take time to look for Kobe.

Jerry Stackhouse has already said, "I'm going to beat that high school kid up with my left hand and force that coward Roger out."

And just like that, Kobe showed up at the Orlando Arena.

"You will beat Michael tonight." Kobe said after greeting Roger.

"Aren't you his fan?"

"Not anymore. Your 40 points in the first half during the regular season changed my mind about you. I like your style of play."

"Don't try to learn my playing style after you enter the NBA. This is my advice." Roger couldn't even imagine how many years earlier the classic scene of Kobe shooting 47 out of 17 would come if Kobe learned how to shoot wildly from him.

After a brief chat with Kobe, Roger began to warm up on the court.

This was the first time O'Neal met Kobe: "Is he the talented kid you were talking about? The guy who was going to enter the draft right after graduating from high school like you did?"

Roger nodded. "Yes, he is likely the second high school guard to be selected in the lottery in the 90s."

O'Neal smiled: "Looking at him, he doesn't look like a super genius."

"Shaq, maybe you don't know this, but that guy has the potential to surpass Wilt Chamberlain in career scoring next season."

"So what? Do you care who is the NBA's all-time leading scorer?"

"It's different with Shaq. NBA players have different career lengths, so no one talks about total points. You can't say Jordan's scoring ability is not strong just because his historical total score ranking is not high enough. But everyone has four years in high school, the time is the same, so the first place in total points is still quite valuable."

"Well, that guy has some potential. Never mind. I won't be his teammate anyway," O'Neal muttered.

Michael Jordan and the Bulls came on the scene, interrupting their conversation. Last season, O'Neal was always angry when the red color appeared in the Orlando Arena.

Because he couldn't believe that the management actually let Roger go to the Bulls and kept trash like Chris Webber with him.

But this season, O'Neal gets very excited when he sees that hint of red.

Because this represents the opportunity to become famous.

Michael Jordan's eyes were sharp. This was the fourth time that Jordan did not greet anyone from the Magic team before the game.

NBA players in the future are a little too much like "good friends". They are friendly to each other, greet each other on social media, and the enthusiasm before each game is as warm as a reunion between college roommates.

But in the 90s, except for a few true friends, the basketball stars would not be too "polite" to each other before the game.

And this kind of thing does not exist at all between the Magic and the Bulls.

Jordan didn't even allow Kukoc to say hello to Roger: "I don't care how many girls you fucked together in the offseason, you are enemies now!"

The cold relationship between the two teams made the atmosphere of the game very serious from the beginning.

When reporters interviewed Jordan before the game, Jordan only said one sentence: "I can do more than Roger, which is why we led the same team, but he could only get runner-up."

Roger was tired of Jordan and his influencers constantly using the runner-up cliché.

He had only one way out of all this - making Jordan worse than even the runner-up.

The game started soon, and amid the pungent smell of gunpowder, the referee threw the ball.

At that moment, there was no turning back for Jordan and Roger, and their historical status would be changed because of this series.

In the Magic's first attack, O'Neal was knocked to the ground by Pippen and Luke Longley.

In order to deal with O'Neal, Phil Jackson did not hesitate to throw Kukoc to the bench.

Facing the Magic, what the Bulls need is not an organizer, but toughness in the interior.

The person defending O'Neal must be able to commit fouls without any burden, and even if he is sent off the court due to too many fouls, it will not affect the team's overall strategy.

The Zen Master also found that Kukoc is more suitable to play as the sixth man. In the transition period, he can play the three and four positions, which allows for more flexible rotation.

So the Zen Master threw the Australian giant into the starting lineup.

Therefore, the emergence of O'Neal directly improved the tactical status of these slow and clumsy big centers and solved their employment problems.

Shaquille O'Neal, the meat shield center, is the general manager of the Poverty Alleviation Office.

In the first round, Longley did show his value. O'Neal, who was fouled, made one of two free throws. His number of free throws has increased wildly in the playoffs. This is the targeting of the playoffs.

All teams would like to let O'Neal take more free throws. Yes, he does make accurate free throws sometimes, such as 1 of 9 in Game 9 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

O'Neal could occasionally help his team win one or two games by shooting free throws, but in a best-of-seven series, O'Neal's free throws could never kill the game.

The Sharks' free throws are like Al Pacino's 167cm height, a rat dropping in a fine wine.

After the Bulls attacked, Jordan took the lead.

He just played a simple pick-and-roll with Webber, then broke through Harper and scored a layup after a rebound with O'Neal and Grant inside. A Dr. J-level rebound, easy for Jordan.

1:2.

Grant's assist defense was fast enough, and O'Neal filled the entire penalty area, but Jordan was still able to score.

He looked very strong, and most Jordan fans believed that he could beat the Magic when he entered playoff mode.

In the Magic's second attack, Roger controlled the ball outside the three-point line. He wanted to attack by himself, and was curious about what kind of targeted arrangement the Zen Master would use to deal with him.

But O'Neal, who was unwilling to accept the defeat, raised his hand to ask for the ball. He didn't believe that a damn white Australian could stop him from moving forward.

"Damn it, Roger, give me the ball!"

Roger passed the ball. He had shouted this to O'Neal countless times, so when the game was not yet critical, Roger would not refuse when O'Neal asked for the ball.

The moment the Shark got the ball, Jordan appeared beside him. Today, the Bulls' targeted arrangement against O'Neal was not just as simple as cutting the Shark. The Zen Master set up a complete double-team strategy for the Shark.

In the regular season, it was Kukoc and Webber who double-teamed the Sharks. But in this way, Grant would get many mid-range shooting opportunities.

And today, when the position is right, the Bulls will use the outside line to double-team the Sharks.

Not to mention that it is not easy for the Sharks to pass the ball, even if they can pass it, Jordan can get back to Harper in the first place with his ability, which is the essential difference between him and Webber. Webber always cannot find his original position after being double-teamed.

The only drawback to doing this is that it consumes too much energy from the Bulls' outside line, but in order to limit Shark, the Bulls must do this.

O'Neal tried to force a turnaround shot, but as soon as he turned around, the ball was cut off by Jordan.

Shark raised his arms high: "That Australian idiot almost tore my jersey, and that damn No. 45 almost swollen my hand!"

Such complaints are futile.

The Bulls once again defended the Sharks, and their targeted strategy worked.

Of course, Phil Jackson knew that this defense would not work every time. Jordan or anyone else who came in to double-team O'Neal would not be able to successfully cut the ball off every time or force the Sharks to pass the ball.

The Bulls can't defend O'Neal to death, but they can reduce O'Neal's efficiency to the level at which the Bulls should win, and that's enough.

The Bulls quickly counterattacked. After Jordan completed a steal, he made a long pass to Pippen. With his strong athletic ability, he easily scored with a two-handed dunk.

1:4.

Steve Jones of NBC said: "Black Jesus is still great. He exerts force on both offense and defense at the same time, and is determined to suppress the Magic from the beginning!"

Pippen also started laughing: "Roger, without you holding me back, I can finally win the championship."

"You mean the kind of dragging down of the team that still wins the game even when teammates refuse to play?"

"Fuck, shut up!"

"You were the one who spoke to me first, idiot."

In this verbal battle, Pippen was completely defeated by Roger.

But it doesn't matter, Pippen thinks it's enough as long as he can beat Roger in defense.

Pippen was very confident about this, because the Zen Master also prepared several targeted arrangements for Roger. As long as he followed them, he could kill that bastard!
This time when the Magic attacked, O'Neal didn't ask for the ball again.

After a series of failures, he needed to let Roger try.

Roger waved his hand and called Grant to come up and provide cover.

Pick-and-roll was Roger's weapon to destroy the Bulls' defense in the regular season. Chicagoans will never forget Roger's first game against the Bulls this season, when O'Neal fouled out and he slaughtered the Bulls with a career-high 50 points.

Roger's secret in that game was the pick-and-roll, and he played pick-and-roll with Grant like crazy. Thanks to Webber and Kukoc's poor switching ability, Roger seized every gap left after the pick-and-roll.

Roger will naturally continue to do so today. Grant is in position for the pick-and-roll, and Roger quickly goes around him, but Webber behind Grant expands aggressively. The Bulls intend to use a strong delay to limit Roger's breakthrough after the pick-and-roll!

This is indeed the best way to deal with offensive guards. Of course, any tactic has two sides. Because the inside line is too far outside, the most feared thing for a strong delay is that the ball holder quickly passes the ball.

Therefore, Pippen had already blocked Roger's passing route and was ready to cut it off at any time.

Roger did look at Grant, who was following him, and seemed to be trying to pass the ball. Seeing this, Weber prepared to run to Grant. After all, he was just trying to delay Roger, not to attack him directly.

But the next second, Roger suddenly accelerated and broke through to Webber's side. Webber had no time to react and was easily beaten by Roger. Although he stretched out his arms to interfere with Roger's quick stop jump shot, this interference was negligible to Roger.

The ball went in, and 2 points were scored. Unlike the Sharks, the Bulls' targeted arrangement was completely useless to Roger!
The Zen Master's idea was right, but the person was wrong. With Webber's current defensive ability, he simply couldn't execute a strong delay that could limit Roger's quality.

3 to 4, the Bulls are only leading by 1 point.

In the next round, Jordan's fadeaway shot missed due to Harper's strenuous defense, and Roger got the chance to overtake.

The Bulls still planned to use strong delays to defend Roger and Grant's pick-and-roll, but Webber pressed too hard this time. Roger passed the ball to Grant, and Webber couldn't defend it at all. The latter easily scored a mid-range shot.

Roger looked at his old teammate Pippen with a smile and said, "Scott, miss last summer. Because you will soon find that you will not even be able to play in the finals."

5:4.

Tex Winter had seen enough: "This tactic is useless Phil. Unless we really have Shawn Kemp at the four position, any strong delay strategy of yours will be in vain! I think we should use my method!"

Winter's method was to let Pippen go off the line when defending the pick-and-roll, limit Roger's breakthrough, and force him to shoot from a distance. Because in the last round of games, Roger's three-pointer was not stable.

The Zen Master now has no choice but to try Winter's trick. Judging from the current effect of the forced delay trick, it is meaningless to stick with it. He must find a useful method as soon as possible in the first quarter.

During the Bulls' attack, Jordan passed the ball to Pippen under the double-team of Harper and Roger, and Pippen made a mid-range shot.

5 to 6, Jordan looked at Roger who double-teamed him and caused Pippen to be missed: "It seems that you also know that Black Jesus must be defended by two people?"

Roger didn't reply, but just ran forward with his head down.

At this time, the Zen Master on the sidelines blew a whistle, and Pippen and Webber instantly understood that the team had to change its defensive strategy against Roger.

Roger continued to use pick-and-roll and found that Pippen actually tried to go around Grant to block his breakthrough.

They don't think that limiting breakthroughs can hold back their scoring, right?
Without hesitation, Roger took a three-point shot.

"brush!"

The targeted measures were once again invalidated by Roger!
Roger's three-point shooting was indeed unstable in the last round, but that was because the Knicks' defense was too fierce. Both the main defender and the double-teamer put a lot of pressure on Roger.

On the Bulls side, only Pippen, the main defender, could put pressure on Roger, but the assisting defenders were unable to oppress Roger.

Therefore, his long-range shooting touch is still very good.

"Damn it, damn it, I knew it!" The Zen Master shook his head helplessly. The targeted arrangements he and Winter had made, and the research on defending against Roger's pick-and-roll, had turned into pages of waste paper and useless work since the beginning of the game!
When a player's offensive ability does not have too many shortcomings, even if the opponent uses targeted arrangements, it is difficult to achieve results. In this world, there are only a few players who can ignore your targeted arrangements and continue to output in the playoffs.

Jordan is such a player.

Unfortunately, so is Roger at this moment!
The Sharks may be restricted by the Zen Master's targeted arrangements, but Roger will not!
8 to 6, Roger dealt with the Bulls' targeted defense with ease.

After the goal, Roger finally responded to Jordan: "Under the truth of the real world, the myth of Black Jesus will eventually be shattered."

Joe Bryant looked at Roger, who was not afraid of Jordan in the playoffs, and turned to ask his son: "Do you know why Roger can keep scoring?"

He originally wanted to explain to his son how Roger remained calm when faced with different strategies, but his son's answer left Joe Bryant speechless.

"Because he always shoots decisively. As long as there is the slightest chance, no matter how many people are in front of him or who they are, as long as there is the slightest chance, he will shoot like crazy. He will only pass the ball when he has no other choice. I remember my father. I have failed to learn from him."

"Huh?" Joe Bryant suddenly felt that it would be better to watch less of Roger's games.

Roger led the team to overtake the score. The NBC commentator thought Jordan could suppress the Magic from the beginning, but his suppression could not even last three minutes.

This is sadly short.

At this moment, Jordan was only thinking about winning the game back and didn't care at all about Roger's trash talk.

But in fact, that statement was a prophecy of Jordan's fate.

The myth of Black Jesus will be completely shattered in the subsequent games.

(End of this chapter)