171: 088: Silent Roger, the Most Terrifying Presence (Two in One!) _4 171: 088: Silent Roger, the Most Terrifying Presence (Two in One!) _4 Unlike me, who never holds grudges despite having such a big picture.
David Robinson can testify that Shaq really thinks big.
He doesn’t beat you up himself; he has others do it for him.
Penny continued with the pick and roll, but this time his mid-range shot didn’t make it.
When it comes to shooting stability, Penny is nowhere near Roger.
After the miss, Penny quickly heard Roger clapping his hands, “You’ve just wasted your last chance to lead.”
“Ha, why don’t you take the lead over me once and then talk.”
“Just you wait, Anfernee, just you wait,” Roger said as he ran forward.
This round, O’Neal got the ball on the low block, and Gatling and Rozier hurriedly double-teamed the massive figure.
However, their double-team posed no threat to Shaq.
As Shaq turned around with a hook shot, the ball didn’t find its way into the hoop, but into the hands of Roger cutting along the baseline.
After receiving the basketball, Roger dunked it with both hands forcefully, his timing for cutting without the ball was impeccable, as he had exploited the Knicks last season with his exquisite off-ball offense.
6 to 6, Roger flaunted his all-round offensive skills, bringing the score back to even.
Afterwards, Penny passed the ball out to Sprewell on a drive, but Spree’s jump shot was disturbed just in time by Roger, missing the basket.
Any basketball fan knew how much Roger’s defense had improved this season, not just on-ball defense but his chase-down blocks had become much tighter.
The Warriors’ offense failed again, highlighting the limitations of a point guard.
No matter how good you are at passing, the final say on whether the ball scores lies with your teammates.
But Roger, he doesn’t need to look at his teammates’ faces to score.
On the next offense, Roger ran a pick and roll with Grant.
He shot a three-pointer the moment he rounded the screen, Gatling was a step slow in the switch, and despite his best effort raising his hand to contest, this little disturbance was negligible to Roger.
The three-pointer was good, 9 to 6, and Magic took the lead for the first time today.
Roger quickly racked up 9 points, leaving the fans at Oracle Arena somewhat unable to react.
They all thought the tragedy was about to repeat itself.
But tonight, Penny was not willing to just take the beating.
Warriors pressed on, and under the joint defense of Grant and McKey, Penny took off, scoring a beautiful layup through a narrow gap and drawing the foul from McKey.
At the free-throw line, Hardaway made the extra point.
Just as Roger was about to build momentum, Penny disrupted it with a beautiful 2+1.
9 to 9, the score was even!
The camera panned to Larry Miller, the Nike Basketball executive was grinning.
He believed that tonight, Penny would vindicate himself.
Spree patted Penny on the shoulder, “Nice shot, man, you should get in that jerk’s face a little, let him know who owns this place!”
Penny thought that made sense; he couldn’t let Roger be so arrogant all the time!
So he ran up to Roger, “It seems I’m about to take the lead for the second time.
Who do you think you are?
Don’t try to sound tough like Michael Jordan, you’re not him.
The only thing you’re better at than me is that you’ve made a fool of yourself in the finals, and that’s about it.
Nothing to be proud of.”
Roger shut up, even O’Neal was surprised that Roger had gone silent.
Just a moment ago, he and Penny had been exchanging barbs, but suddenly he went quiet.
Penny was very pleased with himself, feeling that he had the situation under control, that he could redeem himself.
He felt he had left Roger speechless.
Roger didn’t speak again, not a single word.
This round, as Harper brought the ball over the half-court line, he only saw Roger asking for the ball with his hand up.
But Roger’s expression had changed; he was gritting his teeth, with a heavy air of malevolence between his brows.
This was the first time he’d seen Roger with this expression.
Harper immediately passed the ball, even he felt a bit unsettled by Roger’s intense gaze.
“Is your toothache acting up, jerk?” Spree teased Roger, “Who do you think you can intimidate here?
No one is afraid of you.”
Roger still didn’t respond, and O’Neal watched all this, seeing the most uncharacteristic Roger he had ever seen.
He had a premonition that something was about to happen.
Roger made a couple of jab steps, faking left but exploding to the right.
Sprewell anticipated the direction correctly, but with a strong bump, Roger created a sliver of space from Spree, then scored off the jump shot.
“Nice shot, Roger!” O’Neal shouted.
But Roger just glanced at O’Neal, then retreated on defense.
No trash talk, no significant interaction with O’Neal.
Roger seemed to have become a different person, perhaps unbeknownst to himself, but he indeed had changed.
The game continued, and this time Hardaway’s layup was repelled by the rim under O’Neal’s defense.
This miss didn’t cause undue concern among the Warriors fans, as Hardaway’s efficiency had been quite high overall that night.
Even sharpshooters miss; not every shot can score, not even for Roger.
But Roger scored again.
A drive, between-the-legs dribble, step-back jump shot, and the basketball found its mark.
Magic extended their lead, Roger was like a ruthless agent, executing the kill, turning coldly, leaving without a word.
Even Magic’s own players were a bit scared, they had never seen Roger in this state.
“Buddy, are you okay?” Harper asked.
He received no reply.
“Damn it,” Harper didn’t know why he cursed, maybe he too sensed that things were getting out of control.
One round later, Penny’s pass found Gatling, but his jump shot didn’t make it.
Magic gained another opportunity to extend their lead.