Champions Creed

Chapter 87: The Most Hated Person (asking for monthly ticket)

O'Neal had a very happy night in New York. Although Ewing won the data, O'Neal once again won the victory.

In the past two years, he always couldn't win the game against the other three centers. But now, the Sharks are used to defeating them.

All this was because of Roger, who loved him more than anything.

The team defeated the Bulls and Knicks, two strong Eastern Conference rivals, in succession, which made the whole team particularly excited.

So after the game, O'Neal decided to take everyone to a nightclub. It's rare to come to the bright lights and nightlife of New York, so you must enjoy the nightlife and relax.

Of course, O'Neal did not break Roger's rule. The team did not have a game tomorrow, so according to Roger's rule, he could take his teammates out for a party, which would not make Zhenli unhappy.

Everyone gathered in O'Neal's room waiting for him to change his clothes. After changing his clothes, Shark called Roger and asked him to go out with him.

As a result, when the call was connected, people heard indescribable screams from the shark's phone.

"Oh~oh~come on baby~I'm coming!"

Then Roger's voice: "Oh Shaq, what's up?"

"Are you still going out with us tonight?"

"Come later, oh Yasmin, don't be so awkward. Shaq, tell me the location later, and order two glasses of juice for me, hang up first bro, I'm taking a fashion design course."

O'Neal:
"That damn shameless bastard, he didn't even know that girl last night! Damn it, I'm going to call the police to arrest him!" Shark roared indignantly after hanging up the phone.

"Let's go, Shaq," Harper smiled, "Don't disturb Roger from enjoying his exquisite dinner. You know, it's hard for him to have such a chance to fill his stomach without eating junk food."

The next day, the whole team got on the plane drunk. Brian Hill's face was full of unhappiness, but he held back his anger.

The team is in good form right now and there is no game today, so these little bastards can relax if they want.

O'Neal took out several posters of Yasmin Gary on the plane, attracting everyone to gather around to see the true appearance of this "Roger Girl".

"You should thank me. If it weren't for my assist, you wouldn't have been able to make that final shot last night." O'Neal teased Roger. He was talking about both Roger's dunk on Ewing and Roger's sprint on Yasmine.

"Thank you Shaq, I'll treat you next time we go to the club."

"You can treat us when we go to Los Angeles for an away game. Don't think you can send us away at a rubbish nightclub in Orlando!"

"I listen to you Shaq. I listen to you."

Shark and Roger are still basking in the joy of victory, completely unaware that the great Black Jesus is planning a freezing event of his own.

In the following half month, the Magic's smooth season encountered some twists and turns and suffered some injuries.

Grant rested for a while due to knee pain, Michael Cage also rested due to hamstring strain. Anthony Bowie, Donald Royer and other key players also experienced some time off due to injuries.

But with Shark and Roger, the Magic's record is still relatively stable.

Until losing to the SuperSonics on February 2 before the All-Star Game, the Magic were still temporarily ranked first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 3 wins and 34 losses.

The price was that Shark and Roger were almost exhausted.

In the game against the Supersonics, the Magic could only rotate 7 players. Although it was a 7-man rotation, the playing time of the five starters was more than 40 minutes.

Because even a player like Jeff Turner who only averaged 6+4 per game was forced to be pushed into the starting lineup, the strength of the remaining substitutes is self-evident.

In fact, this has been the case in recent games.

The recent games made Roger deeply realize why Tom Thibodeau would be the coach that players were least willing to play for in an anonymous vote in the future, and he deeply understood what the plantation style of play and the farmer's five-donkey tactics are.

No wonder OG Anunoby always complained about too little playing time when he was in the Raptors, but he dared not say a word when he went to Thibodeau's team.

No wonder playing 48 minutes in the playoffs is not Josh Hart’s limit, it’s the limit of the game time.

During the time when the Magic were experiencing a wave of injuries, they really interpreted "basketball is a five-person sport" to the extreme. It really was just five people playing from beginning to end.

Because they had just lost to the Pacers in the previous game and lost to the Supersonics in this game, suffering two consecutive losses, Roger thought he would be severely criticized by the media the next day.

As a result, many media criticized Jordan the next day.

In the "Sports Center" program, John Anderson directly asked a question: "Shawn Kemp's defensive ability made Shaq and Grant very uncomfortable yesterday, but can you believe it? Michael Jordan actually rejected the deal. He refused to get this person who could help the team. If the Bulls fail this season, how will he be held responsible?"

I don't know how to be responsible, but Jordan knows how to embarrass Roger and Shark in the All-Star Game.

The season was temporarily suspended, and Shark and Roger finally got a chance to breathe after being devastated by the plantation tactics. After the All-Star Game, the Magic's lineup will gradually become complete.

Jordan also finally had time to ask his old friends to relax and discuss his "plan".

Anfernee Hardaway was very excited. He didn't expect to be invited to Jordan's private party.

He has always admired this big brother who is also under Nike. He feels that if he can attend such parties and enter Jordan's circle, he would be a big shot.

Walking into Jordan's luxurious villa in Chicago, Hardaway first met Joe Dumars.

He was the only player in the Bad Boys who could be called personable, and he was also one of the few people in that Pistons team who did not become enemies with Jordan but became friends with him instead.

The two-time championship guard greeted Penny enthusiastically: "Anfernee, there aren't many guards who make the All-Star starting lineup in their sophomore year. Congratulations."

"Thanks, Joe, where are Michael and the others?"

"They're playing cards in the room. I suggest you wear a gas mask. They've made a mess in there. Damn, it's even scarier than a fire scene."

After entering the room, Penny felt that he should have listened to Dumas.

Jordan, Barkley, Pippen, Ewing and a few other people he didn't know were all smoking cigars, filling the room with smoke. At one point, Hardaway couldn't even open his eyes because of the smoke.

Seeing Hardaway walk into the room, Jordan stood up from his chair and hugged him warmly: "Guys, let me introduce my little brother, Anfernee, you can also call him Penny."

In fact, Jordan didn't need to introduce Penny to everyone in the room. Jordan just wanted to tell Hardaway and everyone present with such an intimate act: "He is my man, and you can trust him as much as I do."

"Want to play cards?" Jordan put his arm around Hardaway's shoulders and asked him to sit next to him.

"Okay." Hardaway was very excited. He felt that he had also entered the upper class of the NBA circle.

As soon as he sat down, Jordan called the servant: "Hey, give Penny a cup of coffee and a cigar. Damn, do I have to shout? My friend can't just sit there!"

The game began. Jordan had good luck tonight and won tens of thousands of dollars in just a few hands.

What was this little money to him? In order to shut up Juanita, he was willing to pay tens of millions.

Of course, Jordan's buyout offer was rejected, but Juanita still signed a long-term contract with Jordan using the child as a threat.

So you see, tens of millions of dollars are not even worth a woman’s attention in the NBA circle, let alone tens of thousands of dollars.

But Jordan was still very happy. In fact, the joy of gambling had nothing to do with money for Jordan.

He just loves winning the unknown.

With the victory almost won, Jordan, in high spirits, began to talk business: "Guys, I have a plan for this year's All-Star Game. Hey, call Joe in too."

After Dumars sat down, Jordan dealt the cards while describing his plan: "Let me be frank. I want to isolate Roger and the Sharks."

Joe Dumars was a little surprised, he knew what the assassin had done to Jordan, so he didn't expect Jordan to use the same method to deal with his juniors.

Has he forgotten why he hated assassins so much?

Why did he become the person he hated back then?

Ewing and Pippen knew about this a long time ago, so they did not comment.

Barkley laughed and said, "Michael, I think you are really angry about losing. It's just the All-Star Game, what's the big deal?"

Jordan didn't laugh: "I just want him to understand one thing, that is, they don't have the final say in this league, we are still here. It's up to you, Charles, you want to be beaten by the shark in your home court, I don't care. Everyone knows that you are afraid of that shark."

"Shut up Michael, the only thing that guy is better than me is that it takes ten dogs to finish his toilet!" Barkley had no problem with Roger, but he didn't like O'Neal. So when Jordan mentioned this, Barkley got angry.

Many people may not believe it, but the template on O'Neal's draft report is Barkley. Therefore, as soon as O'Neal entered the league, people compared O'Neal to Feizhu.

O'Neal has played against Fliggy five times since he entered the league, and his statistics were much better than Barkley's in four of them. More and more people think that Shark is the most dominant fat man.

Barkley was helpless about this. He didn't play directly against the Shark at all, so why was there such a comparison?
Although he didn't say anything, Jordan knew that Barkley would definitely defend the Shark seriously in the All-Star Game.

They are the same kind of people, they all love to win. Unless you beat him with 40+ points in the series, Barkley will definitely fight you to the end.

Joe Dumars also expressed his opinion: "Michael, I'm sorry, I'm not saying I will support Roger and Shaq, but I don't want to deprive them of their right to perform. If they have a really good opportunity, I will still pass it to them."

Jordan nodded to show his understanding. Joe Dumars was just like the admiral, a good man in the true sense. In the Bad Boys, where everyone was trying to kill Jordan, Dumars never used any tricks, let alone trash talk, to Jordan. He always had his own principles and stuck to them, and would not be easily changed by the people around him.

Jordan also respected him as a person, so he would not force him: "It's okay Joe, I won't force anyone to do anything he doesn't want to do."

If Webber was there, he would have stood up and applauded for ten minutes with tears in his eyes for Jordan's words. Well, that was a damn good point!

Finally, Jordan looked at Penny and said, "What about you, man? Are you interested in showing Roger some tough defense in the All-Star Game?"

Penny nodded: "I always take every game seriously."

Penny really wants to beat Roger. He was completely defeated by Roger last season. He went from being the most popular rookie to being less popular than Roger and Grant Hill, who just entered the league. The gap is huge.

In the past, Nike didn't dare to offer Roger a contract of the same price as Penny.

But now, people are saying that Nike regrets choosing Penny.

Penny was very unwilling to accept his situation.

So no matter what the game was, as long as there was a chance, he wanted to beat Roger.

Jordan nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that except Dumars, everyone was willing to join him.

As for the other members of the Eastern Conference All-Stars, Jordan didn't need to give orders to them one by one. He believed that after seeing what he did on the court, the others would understand what he meant. No one would dare to go against him at that time. He had this confidence. Roger and Shaq were destined to be mediocre in the All-Star Game.

"Have a good weekend, gentlemen." Jordan took a puff of his cigar. He liked the feeling of being in control of everything.

This year's All-Star Weekend events are held in Phoenix, Barkley's home court.

Roger did not attend the activities in the first two days of the All-Star Weekend, although Reebok had always hoped that Roger could participate in the dunk contest, after all, it was a good opportunity to promote sneakers. In the 91 dunk contest, Reebok let Dean Brown participate and constantly demonstrated the function of inflating the air cushion of sneakers during the competition, which benefited Reebok a lot.

But Roger had no interest in that thing, and he didn't want to waste his energy on this kind of game. Some players might rely on dunk contests to gain popularity, but Roger felt that he didn't need it at all.

In an interview with reporters, Roger also said frankly: "At present, I have no plans to participate in the dunk contest."

After the interview, O'Neal criticized Roger for his low emotional intelligence: "You will lose popularity if you answer reporters like this, idiot."

"Then how can I answer to maintain the enthusiasm?"

"You should tell the reporters every year before the All-Stars that you are going to participate in the dunk contest, so that people will pay special attention to you. When the dunk contest is about to start, you can just find a random reason not to go, and repeat it the next year. People will always be on suspense and pay attention to you. You can do this until you are 30, maybe 40, and take advantage of the popularity of the dunk contest every year."

"Ah? Isn't that treating the fans like donkeys?"

"Just tell me if it's hot or not."

Roger felt that the shark was right, but this behavior always felt sheepish and did not suit his style.

In the past two days, Roger and O'Neal have basically been accompanying each other's families, except for some league care activities and Reebok's commercial activities.

Roger paid for his uncle to travel to Phoenix, and O'Neal also brought all his family members over.

And the day before the All-Star Game, the two arranged for their families to have a meal together.

O'Neill's stepfather, Colonel Harrison, was a fat man wearing glasses. He was very friendly to Roger and did not behave like the "serious commander" that O'Neill described.

His mother kept telling Roger about O'Neal's embarrassing childhood stories: "When I was a child, I had to carry his birth certificate with me wherever I went. Otherwise, no matter if it was the bus driver, subway conductor or McDonald's cashier, they would not believe that the Sasquatch was only 8 years old."

Shark's grandmother Odessa is a kind old lady, but she looks not very healthy and can only sit in a wheelchair. She always looks at Roger with a smile and says vaguely: "Child, you will succeed, you will succeed."

As for O'Neal and his uncle, they got along even better. By the end of the meal, O'Neal had already called him brother.

"Bro, I'll introduce you to the girls. You can trust my judgment in this regard."

"Thank you Shaq."

"There's no need to be so polite between good brothers."

Roger pulled the shark to his side: "Asshole, that's my uncle!"

"I know. From now on, I will call you brother and you call me uncle. We can each talk about our own affairs."

"Screw you!"

Watching Roger and the Shark playing and fighting, O'Neal's mother smiled with satisfaction: "If they play together forever, how many championships can they win?"

Colonel Harrison shrugged his shoulders and replied meaningfully: "People's ambitions will swell, especially young people. They are too young."

"Mr. Colonel, does your answer have anything to do with my question?"

"It's okay, forget it, let's not worry about basketball."

It wasn't until the All-Star Game that Roger and Shark appeared on the basketball court.

Because of Roger, the famous scene of O'Neal and Jordan's one-on-one duel before the game did not happen, and perhaps it will never happen again.

After the game started, O'Neal and Roger quickly discovered something was wrong.

Pippen took the initiative to serve the baseline ball in almost every round, but the baseline ball was only served to Jordan.

Jordan became the guy holding the knife to divide the cake among everyone. He assisted Pippen to hit a three-pointer and sent an alley-oop to Grant Hill.

But the ball was never given to Roger or the Shark.

O'Neal finally grabbed an offensive rebound, but Barkley went in and double-teamed O'Neal, causing him to miss the layup.

The head coach of this year's Eastern Conference All-Stars team is Magic head coach Brian Hill, who saw through Jordan's little thoughts.

But he couldn't just keep Jordan and Pippen on the bench, because if he did that, Stern would probably come after him with a knife.

After half a quarter, Jordan, Pippen and O'Neal were all replaced.

This is not the first time that Shark has been bullied. He still remembers how he was targeted during his rookie season. He said, "What's the point of you doing this? Roger and I will beat you up after the All-Star Game."

"That's gotta wait till the end of the night, Shaq," Pippen laughed.

O'Neal returned to the bench and threw away his towel.

Yes, even if he could fight back in the future, tonight he and Roger could only watch others perform in frustration.

Why?
All the All-Star starters are chosen by fans one by one. Why should Roger and I have to suffer such a fate?

And O'Neal's family is here today. Is he going to perform a shuttle run in front of his family?

At this time, the Eastern team's substitute center Ewing came on the court.

Roger, who had not touched the ball for half a quarter, was about to receive the ball from the baseline, but Ewing ignored Roger and passed the ball to Joe Dumars who was farther away from him.

Roger smiled and shook his head: "What does Michael's dermatitis smell like?"

"what?"

"Don't you fucking like licking? Can't you taste it?"

"Shut up. I don't want to argue with you at the All-Star Game."

Then, Ewing sat in the paint and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

Dumars was in a dilemma. He didn't want to get involved in Jordan's "freezing incident," but he also didn't want to offend Ewing, who was also his friend.

Attack by yourself? Dumars faced off against a rookie Sprewell. He was starting in the All-Star Game for the first time and he treated the game like a playoff game. He defended very seriously. Dumars didn't want to get injured in the All-Star Game.

So he chose to pass the ball to Reggie Miller, who was temporarily without a position, so as not to offend anyone.

Dan Maalley, who was facing Miller, was much more sensible. Although he lowered his center of gravity and opened his arms, he gave Miller two big steps.

The meaning was obvious. He wanted Miller, who had just come on the court, to show off his three-point shot.

But Miller's mouth corners unconsciously curled up, and then
When he had a wide open opportunity, he passed the ball to Roger!

Jordan on the bench clenched his fists, veins popping out. He thought that no one on this team would dare to disrespect him.

If you really don't want to participate, you can just attack on your own after getting the ball. But Reggie Miller went against Jordan and passed the ball to Roger even when there was a wide open space!

After passing the ball, Miller turned his head and looked at Jordan on the bench. His devilish smile made Jordan want to beat him up right away.

Roger was not polite. Facing Penny who was defending very seriously, Roger accelerated after a hesitation step, and scored a layup facing Olajuwon's block!
O'Neal waved a towel on the bench: "Beautiful Roger, beautiful! Block us? No way!"

A hole was broken in Jordan's blockade, and his desire for control began to be unsatisfied.

Roger quickly retreated and ran side by side with Miller: "Reggie, did you do this on purpose?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"Go away, I don't need you to thank me. You think I'm trying to curry favor with you? No, I won't curry favor with any of you bastards. But Michael thinks he controls the entire locker room, he thinks he's a god, and he thinks we all have to be afraid of him? My response is, fuck him, I'm going to fight him! Look at Mickey's expression, he's furious."

Reggie Miller became the first Eastern Conference star who dared to go against Jordan today, and sometimes, once the gap is opened, it will get bigger and bigger.

In the next round, Dumars passed the ball to Grant Hill under the tight defense of the madman.

Hill broke through with the ball, and Jordan was very pleased that this black sesame player with white inside and black outside was quite sensible.

But after attracting Olajuwon's defense, Hill changed his shot into a pass in the air and gave the ball to Roger who was cutting in.

Roger dunked with both hands and the whole audience cheered for him.

The cheers were so harsh to Jordan that they made him feel very uncomfortable.

He didn't expect that a good boy like Grant Hill would disobey him!
Jordan was overthinking it. Grant Hill was not as rebellious as Miller and Roger.

He didn't intentionally go against Jordan, he just treated it as a performance and had no intention of joining Jordan's "freeze game" at all.

In the eyes of people like Grant Hill, the NBA is not a sports league, but a global business company disguised as a sports league. What the league's top management does is to promote their "products" to the world, and then the players profit from it.

So, just perform well. He just wanted to perform and didn't want to get involved in anyone's feud.

Just now he was the one who ate the cake and had no chance to pass the ball. Now he also got the right to share the cake, and he didn't mind sharing it with Roger.

Two people have already started to "disobey", and Jordan feels very embarrassed now. How would Pippen see him? How would Ewing see him? How would his little brother Hardaway see him?
They will feel that they, as the boss, are incompetent and cannot control anything!

In the next attack, Miller received the ball again. Without thinking, he passed the ball to Roger and smiled at Jordan.

Jordan gritted his teeth and said, "Reggie, that son of a bitch!"

Roger continued to challenge Penny, which was also the match that people were looking forward to, and the cheers from the audience became louder and louder.

Penny defended very seriously, and Roger started to dribble between his legs continuously.

Suddenly, Roger started to the right, but just after taking a step, he swung to the left with a huge arc crossover.

Hardaway changed his center of gravity and tried to catch up immediately, but at this moment he slipped and fell to the ground sideways.

Roger easily shot and hit a jump shot in front of the falling Penny!
You can never shake off a person who doesn't defend seriously. Since Penny is so serious in playing as an All-Star, give him a little reward and let him be on the highlights.

Bill Walton raised his arms and cheered: "The best dribble performance in All-Star history! A beautiful scoring performance, Roger scored 6 points in a row! He should have started attacking earlier, this is the All-Star Game!"

After scoring the goal, Roger ignored Penny who was knocked down by him, and pointed at Jordan on the sidelines: "You can't suppress me, old man, or the entire Eastern Conference. No matter what method you use. Admit it, this is reality."

These words were like a bullet that hit Jordan's heart. He could even hear the sound of the bullet piercing his chest.

Now, the Smiling Assassin is no longer the person Michael Jordan hates the most.

Roger was promoted to first place in this position.

(End of this chapter)