173: 088: Silent Roger, the Most Terrifying Presence (Two in One!) _6 173: 088: Silent Roger, the Most Terrifying Presence (Two in One!) _6 “The ball is in!
That’s insane, it’s practically a one-against-five scoring play!
Roger scored 40 points in just half the game with 15 out of 21 shots!”
He scored 40 points in just half the game!
He completely tore apart the Warriors, entirely crushing their playoff hopes!
The Magic Team went into the second half with a 28-point lead, and the Warriors had no chance left, they were deflated!
Anfernee Hardaway got skinned and boned by Roger!”
After the half, Roger finally spoke.
As he walked off the court, he looked towards Coach Brian Hill and said nonchalantly, “It’s done.”
Brian Hill was stunned; it was the first time he heard a player say this to him after just half a game.
And that too, in such a calm tone.
It was as if he had just popped a balloon.
In the second half, Roger indeed did not play again.
And the Warriors, who had already lost their spirit, could not manage any effective counter-attack.
At the end, the Orlando Magic breezed through the game with a 136 to 98 victory, decisively killing the Warriors and Hardaway’s playoff hopes.
Roger ended the half with 40 points, 2 assists, and 3 rebounds, while Hardaway finished the game with 23 points and 7 assists.
Roger didn’t just win against Penny; he destroyed Penny.
Penny used his foolish trash talk to provide a wrong example for the whole world.
What else is there to say?
This is Roger’s night.
It’s tough for me to describe what happened in the first half; I just want to remind everyone, when Roger stops talking, you all should be alert.
— Derrick McKey discussing Roger’s 40-point half.
The coolest thing about this story is, Roger didn’t play again after the game was already decided.
Isn’t someone who can score 40 points in one half and then refuse to score more in garbage time more respectable than those who rack up 71 points?
— O’Neal said deliberately during an interview with a reporter.
Penny did say that even if Roger scored 40 points today, he would still try his hardest to win, but he didn’t expect Roger to do it in just half the game.
We don’t need to discuss Penny and Roger anymore, it’s pointless to talk about players of different levels together.
— Ron Harper on Roger and Penny.
Larry Miller, the vice president of Nike’s basketball division, who had chosen Penny over Roger, angrily left the arena as soon as the half was over.
The reason was simple; he knew he had made the biggest mistake of his life, and few people can confront their own mistakes.
— NBC’s live commentator Bob Costas.
Cruelty is the people of Oakland just spent a lot of money keeping what they thought was their future, only for Roger to immediately declare they have no future, none at all!
— NBC sideline reporter Hannah Storm.
After the game, Roger did an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated reporter Andrew Sharp:
“Roger, congratulations, this was a great victory.”
“What happened in the first half?”
“Nothing much, just Penny said some things that upset me.”
“Can you share some details?”
“About my skin color, along with some profanity, I don’t want to say it on camera.”
“So you were angered, you went berserk, do you often get into that state?”
“Not really, it’s rare for anyone to actually anger me.
I’m pretty easy-going, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to stand Shaq’s awful rap albums.”
“I’ve heard that for a period during the first half, you almost didn’t talk to the opponent, why is that?”
“No particular reason, would you talk to the dead?” Roger said with a smile.
After the interview, Roger returned to the locker room where his teammates had prepared several buckets of ice water to pour over his head.
Roger ended up drenched but was beaming with smiles.
He was happy he had beautifully finished the last task before the playoffs began.
Keeping Penny out of the playoffs was just as important as making the Magic the top team in the East.
For Penny, Roger delivered the final blow.
From now on, no one would compare him to himself.
When people mention him and Penny, they will always remember—Roger destroyed that $72 million bust in just one half.
Now, it was time to deal with the playoffs.
The Magic won the remaining games of the regular season without any surprises.
In the end, they finished with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses, tied for first place in the league with the Spurs.
The Magic also became the only team in the East to win 60 games this season.
Shaq and Roger, these two youngsters, experienced for the first time the feeling of viewing all others as beneath them.
But they knew very well they were only halfway up the mountain.
The honor at the summit was still waiting for them.
As the regular season ended, the first-round playoff matchups were also revealed.
The top-seeded Magic in the East would face the eighth-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round.
This Celtics team, although possessing the essence of the movie “Legend,” actually lacked real playoff strength.
Because if they were in the West, they wouldn’t even make the top ten.
In the first game of the series, the Magic proved this point by beating the Celtics by 40 points.
That made Roger marvel at the incredibility of losing by 58 points in the playoffs.
The Celtics were already weak, but winning by 40 points in the playoffs was already quite rare.
What does winning by 58 points even mean?
In the second game, the movie “Legend” put his dignity on the line to score 24 points and 7 rebounds, but O’Neal dominated the game with a 30+17 double-double, making the Legend feel deeply powerless.
In the following third game, the Celtics completely gave up the match, with O’Neal scoring 20 points, 21 rebounds, and Roger 28 points.
3-0, and the Magic advanced easily.
Last year, after finishing the first round, Roger said in an interview, “I’m three games closer to Pat Riley.”
Back then, the 18-year-old Roger had only one thing in mind: to take down Riley in the playoffs.
A year later, his ambitions were entirely different.
Facing the meticulously made-up Hannah, Roger showed three fingers:
“I’m three games closer to the championship!”