138: 078: Michael, who has lost face, resolves the locker room issue (Requesting monthly pass!)_3 138: 078: Michael, who has lost face, resolves the locker room issue (Requesting monthly pass!)_3 So Malone held his breath and shared his views after the game ended.
In the locker room after the game, Brian Hill was furious.
He wasn’t just angry because O’Neal didn’t defend the pick-and-roll, but because O’Neal had led the team to the bar the night before the game, which led to everyone’s poor performance today.
Harper, McKey, Cage, and Royal—who followed O’Neal out—none of them played well.
“I can fucking smell the alcohol on you guys!
You damn guys can do nothing but indulging yourselves!
I know this is just a regular season game, but this season we have a chance to compete for the championship, and you can’t treat the game with this attitude!
There’s no rest tomorrow morning, everyone, yes, everyone will be running laps as a punishment!”
Brian Hill was generally a laid-back person, but if his bottom line was touched, he could be very tough.
O’Neal didn’t retort, just hung his head low.
He knew the head coach had every reason to be angry.
But perhaps feeling that wasn’t enough, Brian Hill didn’t stop there; he started cursing even louder and turned his anger towards the instigating Shaq: “Shaq, do a few media praises make you think you’re so great?
You’re just a loser who’s never won a first-round playoff game!
During the game, were you still thinking about those exotic dancers, so you completely missed where Antoine Carr was?”
Roger spoke up at this moment, though the matter had nothing to do with him; he had not taken part in the previous night’s activities with O’Neal.
But seeing the locker room atmosphere getting tense, he had to speak.
To win the championship, he had to ensure the locker room was stable.
There could be no issues between players, and no issues between players and the coach.
Last season with the Bulls, Roger deliberately went against Pippen because he didn’t like him.
This season, he felt it was his duty to calm the locker room down.
“Coach, we’ll be on the practice court on time tomorrow,” Roger stepped up and patted Brian Hill’s shoulder.
“You’d better be!” With his rant interrupted, Brian Hill stopped venting his spleen and turned to leave the locker room.
The players still stood there, looking at each other in dismay, and once again, Roger played a role: “Alright, go home and rest, we still have training tomorrow morning.”
After Roger finished speaking, everyone began to change clothes and take showers, each attending to their own business.
Afterwards, Roger sat down next to Shaq alone, patted his shoulder: “Don’t take it to heart, Brian didn’t mean anything else, he just wants to win.”
Roger knew that O’Neal wasn’t the kind who would just take orders.
He bet that if he hadn’t intervened just now, if Brian Hill had said a few more words, O’Neal certainly would have exploded.
Last season, Shaq’s fight with captain Skiles was a similar situation; O’Neal was already willing to take his punishment, but Skiles kept nagging, which annoyed Shaq.
He wasn’t the type to take orders well.
O’Neal’s father was a military man who was very strict with him from childhood, treating even his child in a military manner.
He valued discipline, everything had to be done his way, with no room for negotiation.
But this only made Shaq crave freedom even more once he was out of his father’s control and hate obedience even more.
With Shaq’s large frame, at least half of it was rebellious.
He hadn’t erupted immediately just because he knew he was wrong, but this didn’t mean he would always submit.
O’Neal looked at Roger and patted his shoulder: “You were right not to go yesterday.”
“No, Shaq, I really wanted to go.
I know you’ve invited me several times, and I’ve declined, but…
can’t we just pick a night when there’s no game the next day?”
“Right, you’re correct.
We should pick a more suitable time, so…
will you go with me tomorrow night?
There’s no game the day after.” O’Neal laughed heartily without a care.
“Alright, alright, I’ll join you tomorrow night.
See, indulgence is your freedom, but after all, we are striving for the championship, so indulgence and championship aspirations should not conflict.
It’s children who make choices, we adults want it all.”
“Right Roger, you’re correct.
I promise there won’t be a next time.
For the rest of the season, on every game night’s eve, I will stay at home or in my hotel room.
By the way, Roger, did that ass Karl Malone say anything about the finals just now?”
See, it wasn’t so hard to calm the locker room down.
But before O’Neal could figure out what Karl Malone had said, the next day, someone else started making tough statements.
“I hate turning basketball into a personal competition, so I won’t comment on his 50-point night.
That night, it was the Orlando Magic who won, not Roger alone.
Plus, I haven’t had a night where I took 35 shots or had 20 free throws, I naturally don’t score 50 points that easily.
Can’t help it, if I did that, some old-timers would get upset.
So if you really want my opinion, I’ll say it’s not that impressive, Roger’s performance is overrated.
The only difference between Roger and me is that he takes more shots than I do.
If we had the same number of shots, Roger is nowhere near me.”
Trail Blazers guard Rod Strickland commented on Roger’s single-game 50 points in an interview with reporters.
This brother is also a rebel in the league—driving drunk in Washington, beating up teammates, frequenting nightclubs, fleeing the scene of an accident, skipping training in Portland without reason, and showing disrespect to coaches.