150: 082: He is a better scorer than the scoring champion, and he is a badder bad boy than Dennis!
150: 082: He is a better scorer than the scoring champion, and he is a badder bad boy than Dennis!
The matchup between the first in the East and the first in the West was already getting a lot of attention.
On top of that, the grudge between O’Neal and the Admiral added even more fun to the game.
If that’s still not enough, what about the encounter between the rebel Roger and the bad boy Rodman?
The Alamodome stadium was bustling on January 10; everyone knew that this game was a potential preview of the Finals, but that alone wasn’t enough to draw so many fans.
What was most important was that Spurs fans despised the phrase “He’s a better scorer than the scoring king, he’s a worse bad boy than Dennis.”
That’s some real hot air!
Why don’t you just “outscore Dream with zero championships, surpass Jordan with one”?
So many Spurs fans came to the venue today for one thing—to watch their MVP and top scorer thrash Roger and Shaq, who were hyped up by the media.
The Magic Team warmed up an hour and a half early today, and coach Brian Hill explained it this way, “I know Gregg Popovich’s tricks, so we needed to come early to check if the air conditioning in the locker room was working and to see if there were any messy tricks in the players’ lockers.”
Ever since Popovich became the general manager of the Spurs this season, the frequency of air conditioning malfunctions in the away team’s locker room at the Alamodome had noticeably increased.
Everyone knew what was going on, so Brian Hill came early with the team to check the locker room.
Halfway through the Magic’s warmup, the Spurs slowly entered the arena.
O’Neal clapped Roger on the shoulder upon seeing David Robinson, whose physique was almost perfect like Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Terminator”: “That’s the guy!”
As one of the hosts of the Alamodome, Rodman was the first to extend a welcome to Roger.
The red-headed Rodman casually walked to the Magic’s half-court while chewing gum, with a disdainful look on his face: “Shaq, is this the help you got?
He just took advantage of the schedule, scoring 30+ against three lottery teams in a row, and this is the scoring ace you talked about?
The next game isn’t a preview of the Finals; it’s a preview of my David’s coronation ceremony.
I can squash you two chicks single-handedly.”
Roger wasn’t surprised by Rodman’s attitude and still held a great respect for David Robinson and was willing to fight for the Spurs.
Although everyone knew that he refused to help defend Dream in the 1995 Western Conference Finals, the reason wasn’t as simple as the phrase “An MVP should take care of his own man.”
Rodman wasn’t a fool; he certainly knew that different people on a team had their own roles, he was more than happy to help Jordan with defense during his time with the Bulls.
He clearly understood MVPs didn’t need to deal with their man alone.
The real reason Rodman was uncooperative was probably because, at the end of the season, Popovich, as the team’s general manager, didn’t offer Rodman a satisfactory contract.
When joining the Spurs, the then general manager Bob Bass had promised to renew Rodman’s contract for 7 million dollars a year the following year.
But once Popovich took over, he refused to acknowledge the promise.
So, Popovich not giving a contract and feeling tricked, Rodman sulked and refused to help defend Dream in the Western Finals, which was the real truth.
Indeed, Rodman didn’t just avoid Dream, but in that series of the Western Finals, Horry shot 42% from three-point range and made 17 three-pointers, the most in a single playoff round in his entire career.
While refusing to help defend Dream, he also allowed Horry to explode.
It’s clear that Rodman was messing around because he didn’t get the big contract, a defensive version of “releasing military power without fighting.”
Now, the conflict between Popovich and Rodman hadn’t escalated to a full-blown rupture.
Thus, Rodman still had a strong desire to win a championship alongside the Admiral.
Whoever caused trouble on the path to the championship, he’d take care of them for the Admiral.
If Magic was trouble, then let’s take care of the Magic.
But Roger felt these two guys were doomed from the start, they simply weren’t from the same world.
Rodman was outrageously arrogant, but what about the Admiral?
Despite all the trash talk before the game, when it was about to start, David Robinson still friendly shook hands, hugged, and wished every one of the Magic’s starters “Good luck.”
No matter how tough the Admiral talked, he couldn’t hide the fact that he was a good guy.
Rodman had finally brought out his momentum, but the Admiral pulled this stunt, leaving the Worm speechless.
But he still did things his way, not following David Robinson’s lead.
Before the game started, he glared at Roger with those devil-like eyes and made a throat-slashing gesture: “You and Shaq are just two big sacks of food, combine all twenty of your fingers and you still couldn’t come up with even one ring.”
Winning the mental battle was a very important point in Rodman’s defensive principles.
Most people chose to avoid Rodman’s annoying trash talk, but Roger didn’t back down: “Shut up, Dennis, you can’t even guard a woman.
I heard Madonna’s post-up left you powerless, scoring continuously in half an hour and making you surrender like a stray dog.
Trash, if it were me, she’d be the one to surrender.”
“You’re just jealous of me, Roger.”
I can bump into at least ten guys who’ve been with Madonna just by stepping out to buy a bottle of water, and I don’t like sharing a spot with so many people.
Only a no-fuss little puppy like you would treasure this and flaunt it everywhere.”