205: 099: The Miracle of Houston, The Pleasure of Mastering the Locker Room (Request for Monthly Tickets!) _2 205: 099: The Miracle of Houston, The Pleasure of Mastering the Locker Room (Request for Monthly Tickets!) _2 The implication was that Dream played Admiral like a fool.
This was Olajuwon for the season, although Admiral was the MVP, although the Spurs’ record was unmatched, although the current total score was just 2 to 2.
But nearly everyone felt that if Dream could get his hands on the championship ticket, he would definitely teach O’Neal a harsh lesson.
He didn’t see it that way.
He thought the championship was already in the bag.
Shaq was already too excited.
After the Eastern Conference Finals, taking advantage of the two-day vacation the team had, he immediately took a trip to Atlantic City, where he indulged in revelry.
Bars, dancing, gambling, listening to music, seeking all kinds of women.
The headlines of the “Orlando Sentinel” even featured a photo of him with Donald, the owner of Atlantic City’s biggest casino.
No one had ever started their vacation with such pomp right after winning the Eastern Conference Finals.
On the day before the holiday ended, Roger made a call to Shaq: “Shaq, you know there’s practice tomorrow, right?”
“Don’t worry Roger, I’ll be there tomorrow!”
The next day, O’Neal was absent from practice.
Brian Hill was furious, not just because Shaq was absent but also because most of the team was in terrible shape.
Getting past Jordan seemed to have made everyone relax a bit too much.
All the players were thinking, “We’ve beaten Michael Jordan, who can’t we beat?”
Brian Hill berated everyone, made them run laps, and personally called Shaq: “If you’re not back by the afternoon, don’t bother showing up for the Finals!”
That afternoon, when practice was almost over, Shaq showed up at the AdventHealth Training Center.
He was wearing a colorful shirt, flip-flops, a smile on his face, and greeted everyone in the gym.
Brian Hill yelled, “You can’t just skip practice without a reason, Shaq!”
O’Neal responded with a playful grin, “Boss, I’m not absent, just late.”
In the end, Brian Hill fined Shaq internally, but this seemed to have no effect on Shaq’s good mood.
In the locker room, Shaq kept vividly telling everyone about his joyful days.
Telling them how he conquered a 168-centimeter-tall sexy dealer.
He was like the child returning to school after a holiday break, endlessly describing the wonderful vacation to his classmates.
The problem was, the vacation hadn’t even started.
The Magic Team still had the most important hurdle to clear.
After talking about his trip to Atlantic City, O’Neal excitedly invited Roger, McKey, and Harper to his home recording studio in a few days to produce a rap song celebrating the championship.
“If this song can be finished before we win the championship, and we play it on the scene when we win.
Oh God, we will be the coolest rap group in basketball!” O’Neal’s eyes sparkled.
Harper and McKey also agreed with grinning faces.
The entire locker room was enveloped in a cheerful atmosphere, as if defeating Olajuwon’s Rockets and Admiral’s Spurs was a foregone conclusion, just a formality before going to the Finals.
It was normal for the Magic Team to feel this way, after all, they had just beaten Jordan, and even swept him 4 to 0.
Michael Jordan was the most famous and successful basketball player of the age; no one had been able to take him out in a playoff series since the ’90s.
And the Magic Team had done it.
This unavoidably made the players quite pleased with themselves.
Additionally, the opponents in the Finals didn’t look very strong.
The Spurs we can skip over, although they were first in the West, the Magic had beaten them twice in the regular season.
The Houston Rockets were even less noteworthy.
As the defending champions, they only ranked sixth in the Western Conference for the regular season.
They went through a series of injuries, Olajuwon even took some time off due to anemia caused by fasting during Ramadan.
Even though they acquired Drexler mid-season, because they needed time to gel, Clyde the Glide’s arrival didn’t significantly boost the Rockets’ record.
Sixth in the West, part of the lower half of the playoff bracket.
And in NBA history, no team from the lower half had ever been the champion, there had been no precedent of a sixth-ranked team winning the championship.
Moreover, the Rockets struggled in the playoffs.
Generally, it was believed they were lucky to get this far.
They almost got eliminated in the first round.
First, there were internal issues within the Rockets.
Right at the start of the playoffs, last season’s championship shooting guard Vernon Maxwell claimed he had a hamstring injury.
The Rockets had no choice but to let him heal in peace, not letting him play in the playoffs.
During his recovery, Maxwell complained everywhere that his absence from the court was because the team had brought in Drexler.
He had always been irked by Drexler taking over his starting spot.
This time, he wanted to make a big fuss on purpose.
If I’m not starting, then I’m not playing!
The Rockets responded decisively and promptly announced they would cut Maxwell after the season ended, right in the midst of the playoffs.
This was unprecedented, you hear about early contract extensions, but not about early layoffs.
The reason the Rockets did this was to minimize the damage this incident would do to the locker room.
Nevertheless, they lost a key rotation player and were significantly weakened, struggling through the first round.