174: 089: Secrets Beyond Basketball (Request for Monthly Votes!) 174: 089: Secrets Beyond Basketball (Request for Monthly Votes!) In the third year of his professional career, Shaquille O’Neal had tasted victory in a playoff series for the first time.
After this series, he adopted a new nickname for himself: Big Aristotle.
“Because Aristotle once said, ‘Excellence is not an act, but a habit,’ I will treat winning playoff series as a habit,” O’Neal said with a laugh at a press conference.
Of course, Shaq’s confidence was not solely from himself, he patted Roger on the shoulder:
“See this man next to me?
When you have a teammate who can score 40 points in a half, you understand what it means to say excellence is a habit.
I call him Plato, because without Plato, there would be no Aristotle.”
While Shaq was excited, Roger, who had just defeated the Celtics, showed little change in emotion.
But his phrase “We are three wins closer to the championship,” clearly showed his attitude.
He was determined to have the last laugh this year!
Roger and O’Neal were in the spotlight, but the man they defeated, a vital part of the film industry, was rather miserable.
Dominique Wilkins was tearful at the press conference: “My NBA career might well end here.”
The 35-year-old Wilkins was surprised as, up until now, no NBA team seemed interested in signing him.
Wilkins felt he had lowered his expectations quite a bit.
After all, he was 35, had suffered an Achilles tendon injury, and his average scores and shooting percentages this season had hit all-time lows for his career.
But with the salary cap rising considerably in the summer of ’95, asking for $4 million a year was reasonable, right?
However, reality was even bleaker than his lowered expectations.
Even at $4 million a year, no NBA team wanted to sign Wilkins.
The Celtics had early on stated they would not renew his contract for $4 million.
He had hoped to prove himself with a strong playoff performance, but the young players were unmerciful right out of the gate.
Forty points beaten right in the first game.
Wilkins had battled Jordan and Bird in his lifetime, but he did not anticipate being eliminated by two youngsters whom he hardly knew during most of his career.
The man who had fought Bird’s Celtics to a Game 7 in ’88 was ruthlessly ousted by this era.
The next day, Jordan, looking at the latest “Sports Illustrated” cover, was fuming.
This issue’s cover featured a photo of Roger and O’Neal, with several main headlines:
“New York Knicks easily advance to the second round.”
“For the eighth time in his career, John Stockton, the man with the most assists in NBA history.”
“1995 NBA Draft Predictions.”
“Dominique Wilkins, perhaps a tragic forecast for some.”
Jordan opened up the last article, inevitably penned by that damn Andrew Sharp.
Ever since the leak of Jordan’s All-Star freeze incident got Sharp a taste of success, he always liked to subtly poke at Jordan in his articles.
Basically, keeping him not mentioned, but never far from the topic.
How could there be such an author?
Such despicable people should be banished to Detroit!
There, today’s article, Andrew Sharp was again beating around the bush, using the ousted film essence.
“Dominique was once the best scorer in the league, in fact just last season, he ranked top five in average scoring.
But for veterans like him, a collapse could happen in an instant.
All the scoring titles, no matter how many times won, can’t help you win a series.
Roger and Shaq, are destroyers of the old order.”
Jordan tossed the “Sports Illustrated” into the trash: “Damn, don’t bring this trash magazine into the locker room ever again!
Who else bought this?
Nick Anderson opened his locker helplessly, pulling out his stack of “Sports Illustrated.”
The whole locker room knew it was an utterly foolish decision; throwing away “Sports Illustrated” wouldn’t make the Bulls any better, and Anderson was reluctant: “Well said, Michael!
We should burn all these damn magazines full of lies!”
Nick Anderson was a sincere man.
Jordan glanced at Nick Anderson’s stack of “Sports Illustrated,” and added, “Wait, except for the swimsuit issue!”
In fact, throwing away “Sports Illustrated” was indeed pointless, because it wasn’t just “Sports Illustrated”; many mainstream media thought that after watching Magic’s overwhelming victory in the first round of the playoffs, Roger and Shaq could reshuffle the East.
But Jordan wasn’t panicking; after all, Magic’s next opponent wasn’t him.
Let those two rookies beat the Knicks first.
No rush, just wage a battle of agents first.
For now, Chicago is safe.
In the original history of the 94-95 season, the Knicks had finished second in the East.
But now, they could only rank fourth.
This season, the Magic had beaten the Knicks 3 times, and the Bulls, featuring Jordan, had also beaten the Knicks 3 times in the regular season.
This left the Knicks with 5 fewer wins than in the original history, totaling only 50 wins.
However, for the Knicks, the regular-season ranking was not important.