Champions Creed

Chapter 112 Chapter 111: Roger works with full firepower, that's how it is (ask for monthly tickets!)
After the first quarter, Roger easily scored 12 points.

Steve Jones is now convinced: "Roger is indeed at the level of a scoring champion, at least I think so."

At the same time, he also didn't understand: "When is Coach George Karl going to let Payton defend Roger? Obviously, it is difficult for the other members of the SuperSonics to limit him."

Roger's performance was great and he won praise from almost everyone.

But after all his operations, the Magic only led by 3 points after the first quarter.

The Supersonics successfully narrowed the score in the transition period. Although Roger only rested for two minutes, it was enough for the Supersonics to turn the situation around.

Unlike the Magic, the Supersonics have better lineup depth.

In addition to the starters, they also have Nate McMillan on the bench, who has been selected into the All-Defensive Team as a substitute for two consecutive years.

There is Sam Perkins, Jordan's senior who is good at both offense and defense, accurate in three-point shooting, and always plays a role at critical moments.

There is Vincent Askew, a versatile guard with reliable jump shots and solid defense.

There was the tough white center Frank Blekowski who had a fight with Schrempf on the first day of training camp.

In the transition period between the starting lineup and the bench mixed lineup, the SuperSonics have more plug-and-play options.

The biggest problem for the Magic is that after Roger left the court, the team simply couldn't find a reliable scoring point.

In the regular season last season, Shark and Roger basically traveled at different times, with different rest times, leading the transitional segments separately, and then reunited at the right time to take the game directly.

But without the Shark at this time, once Roger left the court, the Magic would have no positional offensive ability at all.

For this reason, Brian Hill gave Marciulionis another chance, but he disappointed Brian Hill again and again.

In the two minutes of the transition period, Marciolionis made 2 of 0 shots and had 1 turnover.

George Karl took the opportunity to attack his former player crazily on the sidelines, causing Marciulionis to become less and less confident.

"Look, I knew you were a loser! Stop screwing over any NBA team and go back to Europe, where low-level competitions are more suitable for you!"

"Good shot. Every time I see you shoot, I feel relieved. When I see you shoot, I know our defense is successful!"

"Passing the ball to the cheerleaders? You're amazing. That's why we're getting rid of your contract. It's tragic that a piece of trash like you can make $200 million a year and get it for 97 years. You're not worth a penny. I'm glad we got rid of you!"

At the end of the first quarter, Marciulionis walked off the court dejected.

Roger high-fived him as he walked to the bench and patted him on the back: "Man, what happened? This is not your level, we all know it."

The European didn't answer, just waved his hand, then sat down on the bench, covering his head with a towel, more depressed than usual.

At this time, even NBC commentator Steve Jones joked: "When John brought Salu to Orlando, everyone thought the Magic had made a profit. But now it seems that Salu's only contribution may be teaching Roger the Eurostep."

Brian Hill is in a dilemma. As it stands now, the only way to maintain the advantage is to increase Roger's playing time.

But the Magic have lost the Shark and can no longer let Roger risk injury. His plan is for Roger to play 40 minutes per game, which is already a lot.

If it was the playoffs, Roger could play more minutes, but in the long regular season, more than 40 minutes would be too dangerous.

Therefore, Brian Hill can only let Roger carry as much as possible in the limited playing time and gain more advantages.

In the second quarter, Roger launched a fierce attack right from the start.

He first pulled out Schrempf and scored three points.

Then he cut in along the baseline and made a layup.

After a few rounds of silence, Roger once again used his excellent reading ability to catch Payton's passing route, rushed out at the right time to intercept his pass to Rainman, and counterattacked successfully.

Roger is still impeccable on the court, but the old problems still exist.

In the two minutes that Roger rested in the second quarter, the Magic only scored 4 points.

In the end, the Supersonics tied the score entering the second half.

George Karl was dissatisfied with the result. He yelled in the locker room: "You can't even beat a lame defending champion! If Shaq was here, wouldn't we be in a more passive position?"

No, Brian Hill found a very incredible problem - without Shark, the team's defense is better!

In last year's playoffs, Shark's change came from the argument between Roger and him in the decisive battle against the Knicks, and from the classic alley-oop of the century after the argument.

Brian Hill thought that O'Neal would be able to complete his transformation from then on, become a regular in the defensive lineup, and even compete for DPOY.

But I didn't expect that the shark's serious defense could only be experienced for a limited time.

After an offseason, O'Neal's defense regressed. In the preseason, the Shark became the lazy Shark on the defensive end again.

At least in the preseason, O'Neal's defense is not outstanding. Will he be serious about defense in the regular season? Based on Brian Hill's understanding of him, that is nothing short of wishful thinking.

Today, without Shark, Michael Cage replaced him in the starting lineup. Although the team's rim protection has become relatively weaker, the rotation and help defense are as good as the Supersonics. This is the reason why they have not been able to overtake!

Roger opened up the score and went off the court to rest. Although the Magic's offense was weak in the transition period, their defense was still strong, at least preventing the Supersonics from overtaking directly in one wave.

Of course, if Shark was there, the Magic wouldn't even have to fight the Supersonics to the point of a one or two point difference.

But the team's excellent defense made Brian Hill more confident.

The Supersonics seemed close to victory, but they could never hold it firmly in their hands!
Brian Hill still told Roger: "Keep firing, fire, fire!"

After so many years, someone finally told Roger that he could shoot as he pleased.

Roger did so, and his firepower remained strong in the third quarter.

The Supersonics ran into some trouble.

Shawn Kemp made a lot of mid-range shots in the first half, but his touch fluctuated in the third quarter. Without good shooting, Kemp could only attack the basket. Although he has excellent athletic ability, he cannot ignore the defense and dunk.

Horace Grant used his experience on the defensive end and cooperated with Michael Cage's help defense to prevent Rain Man from making 4 of 1 shots in a single quarter.

At present, the Sonics' offense had problems, and the NBC commentators believed that the Sonics should use tighter defense to limit Roger, and it was time to use Payton to match up with Roger. However, George Karl was stubborn and did not want to change his strategy. In the fourth quarter, he still did not use Payton to defend Roger, but still used Schrempf to defend the smaller player.

It's like the 2024 Timberwolves still stubbornly used Gobert to switch to defend the outside in the final Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, and it turned out to be a fatal mistake.

George Karl made the same mistake.

In the fourth quarter, the Magic's rotation was different from the first three quarters.

Roger rested for the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, and then came back with 10 minutes left in the game, ready to reap the victory.

When he returned, the Supersonics led by only one point due to the Magic's excellent defense.

Payton wanted to save face: "From now on, we are in the lead! Without Shaq, you, a cancer, can't do anything!"

Roger thought that Payton said this to mean he would defend him personally, but when he attacked, it was still Schrempf who defended him.

Roger admired the iron will of this first-generation German tank, who had not yet been defeated by him. However, even if he did not collapse mentally, he had no way to limit Roger in terms of ability.

No matter how weak the prey is, it will not receive the lion's mercy. Roger will naturally not let poor Schrempf go.

He began to carry out a lot of off-ball offense. Although Harper was oppressed by Payton and felt very uncomfortable, don't forget that the Magic's two forwards Grant and McKay also have excellent passing abilities in the same position.

Schrempf began to slow down and was increasingly unable to keep up with Roger.

Roger caught the ball and made jump shots again and again, and the basketball went through the net again and again.

2 points, 4 points, 6 points, 9 points. Roger almost cruelly punished George Karl's defensive strategy, and his personal score increased to 43 points not long after he came on the court!
Schrempf tried very hard, and he did his best to interfere with every ball. But poor him, he could only watch Roger get rid of, fly, and shoot again and again, and then angrily scold Payton.

"The best thing George Karl did was not to let you guard me, otherwise you would be humiliated."

"I admit that you are very strong. Among the teams that can only play in the first round, you are indeed strong."

"Gary, please move, I'm about to fall asleep!"

Roger set the tone of eating up the opponent at the beginning of the fourth quarter, while Payton missed shots one after another on the offensive end.

The mid-range jump shot missed, the layup was blocked, and the pass was stolen by Roger
George Karl hopes to improve Payton's offensive stability by letting him save energy on the defensive end, but Payton himself is not a scorer. No matter how much he focuses on the offensive end, the ceiling of his scoring ability will not be too high.

With 7 minutes and 30 seconds left in the game, Payton took the ball and attacked.

He vowed to interrupt Roger's offensive momentum. He must not lose to Roger without the shark. If so, what would the media say about him?
In this round, Payton wanted to dribble past Harper, but Roger sandwiched him immediately.

Payton immediately passed the ball to Hawkins, but McKay completed the rotation perfectly. Hawkins had to pass the ball to Schrempf, but the moment Schrempf received the ball, Harper rotated in again.

The defense of the defending champions is greatly underestimated. NBC commentator Steve Jones has revealed the truth: "The scary thing about the Magic is not just Roger who can easily score 40 points, but also their defense!"

With the team's perfect rotation, Schrempf could only pass the ball back to Payton, who used a back-run to get out of the three-point line.

At this time, it was Roger who was chasing Payton.

Seeing that he had a little space, Payton shot directly, trying to score a goal over Roger's head.

But Roger's interference was more intense than Payton expected. Payton missed the three-pointer due to Roger's interference and fell when he landed.

Payton pounded the floor unwillingly. The ball just now was almost there, but he was blocked by Roger!
Michael Cage grabbed the rebound and made a long pass to Roger who was already running to the frontcourt.

But the experienced Schrempf appeared in time, jumped up and slapped away Magic's long pass.

Payton, who was returning to defense near the midfield line, just received the destroyed basketball. He immediately turned around and ran to where he had just fallen, preparing to take another three-pointer while the Magic was not able to react.

This time he was full of confidence. Man, it is impossible for him to fall in the same place twice!
However, when Payton dribbled to the position where he had just shot, he inexplicably did a street dance move on the floor without any confrontation and successfully fell twice in the same place!
When Payton fell for the first time, the floor was covered with sweat, so the floor became very slippery. In the end, Payton ended this crucial attack in a rather funny way.

Roger went to the mid-range position and received the pass from McKay.

Payton, who had fallen down twice and lost face, immediately attacked from both sides, determined to capture Roger alive with Schrempf.

But Roger decisively turned around and made a jump shot with two defenders.

Schrempf didn't react. He didn't expect Roger to shoot directly, so he didn't jump at all.

Payton jumped forward, but Roger turned around and increased the distance between them. Payton, who was only 193 cm tall, could not interfere at all.

This was undoubtedly an outrageous attack. According to reasonable play, Roger should have passed the ball.

However, no one may believe it when I tell you.

The coach told him to do that.

The basketball went into the net. After Roger came on in the fourth quarter, he scored 2 points in 11 and a half minutes, giving the Magic a 9-point lead!
Roger's personal score instantly jumped to 45 points!
The whole world swallowed their saliva. It turned out that the only thing that could defend against Roger was a shark.

Roger looked at Payton and tilted his head: "People who keep shooting but can't make the shot or fall down when dribbling are the cancer, Gary. As for me? They all call me Truth!"

Gary Payton was completely defeated by Roger.

After that, the Supersonics adopted a more aggressive double-teaming strategy, but this resulted in a lot of missed players and missed boards.

Harper and McKay got their shooting bags back and started to pick up loose balls crazily. Horace Grant also took the opportunity to grab a lot of offensive rebounds. The Magic completely suppressed the Supersonics.

The final score was 108 to 98, and the defending champion Magic defeated the invading Supersonics with a double-digit advantage at home!
Roger scored 48 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. He easily scored the second-highest score in his career in the first game and made the entire league tremble in the opening game.

That's how Roger does things at full speed.

You know me. If it were me, Roger wouldn't have scored 48 points because the game would have ended in three quarters. Plato the Great is great, but Plato the Great plus Aristotle the Great is the strongest. — O'Neal, wearing a suit, answered the reporter with a smile.

That weak European bitch ruined it all. If he lets a player score 48 points on him without restraint, he should get out of the NBA! - George Karl fired at Schrempf in front of reporters.

48 points is not Roger's limit, but the limit of the Seattle SuperSonics. Roger broke the SuperSonics in two and a half minutes, which caused their defense to completely collapse in the second half of the fourth quarter, otherwise Roger would have scored more points. Well, I may be the easiest coach in the league because my tactics are to let Roger take the shot. - Brian Hill made a joke when talking about Roger.

Roger is a magical player. I have never seen such a powerful scorer. If he appeared in the FIBA ​​arena, he might be able to beat the Dream Team. Me? I don’t know what went wrong. Maybe it’s time for me to leave. —— Marciulionis was very depressed during the interview. He was the only depressed Magic player today.

(End of this chapter)