216: 103: Opportunities only come once or twice (Two-in-one, asking for monthly tickets!)_3 216: 103: Opportunities only come once or twice (Two-in-one, asking for monthly tickets!)_3 “Houston Rockets will win, Orlando Magic can’t possibly win the championship.”
Jordan smiled happily, this was the answer he wanted, “I told you this kid was clever, didn’t I?
Jordan did not want Roger to win, not at all.
Of course, he knew that even if Roger lost, it wouldn’t change the fact that he had utterly failed this season.
But he just didn’t want Roger to win.
He admitted that Roger had beaten him, but that didn’t mean he was going to send his blessings to his opponent.
Go Hakeem, take him down!
Jordan was full of confidence and respect for Olajuwon, and after retiring, Jordan himself had said at an event, “Aside from myself, the person I would most want to be is Olajuwon.
He’s unbelievable, dominantly powerful, one of a kind.”
On one side was the player he acknowledged, and on the other his arch-enemy, it was blatantly obvious who Jordan wanted to win.
He believed the Dream could continue to dominate the do-or-die games!
The game was about to begin, and the starting lineups had not changed.
The TV broadcast’s large screen below displayed Roger’s back-to-back 40+ scoring stats for the games.
Everyone knew, he was the key player in this game.
But as the game began today, the Magic Team suddenly changed tactics, first playing the Shaq card.
The opening three possessions for the Magic, all the ball was given to O’Neal.
Brian Hill did this for a simple reason, he wanted to catch the Rockets off-guard.
Most importantly, he hoped that Olajuwon would be pressured into foul troubles due to O’Neal’s strong attacks.
In the past few games, because Shaq had not been aggressive enough on offense, Olajuwon’s playing time was seldom limited due to fouls.
If they could get Olajuwon into foul trouble, directly reducing his playing time, then the team could double their chances of winning the game tonight.
However, it proved to be a completely foolish move, as in the three possessions, O’Neal managed to score only 2 points, made one turnover, and missed both free throws.
Throughout the finals, Shaq’s shooting percentage was actually not bad; the real reason for his low offensive efficiency was because he made too many turnovers.
The usual triple teaming on O’Neal involved Olajuwon with an average of 2 steals, Horry with 3 steals, and Mario Elie with 2 steals a game.
All of them were quick, fierce, and precise at stealing the ball.
With these three around O’Neal, he often had the ball stripped as soon as he lifted it or had his pass intercepted in the blink of an eye.
Moreover, O’Neal’s fatal flaw in free throwing still remained.
Whenever the defense was clearly failing, Rockets players would decisively commit fouls sending Shaq to the free-throw line.
This person did not necessarily have to be Olajuwon; it could be Horry or Elie.
Therefore, Olajuwon wouldn’t get into foul trouble because of this defensive strategy.
In fact, Tomjanovich had already started to develop a hack-a-Shaq strategy.
Whenever the Magic Team was doing too well, he would instruct a player to foul O’Neal intentionally.
Even if this meant Shaq taking two free throws, it could at least disrupt the Magic Team’s rhythm.
Thus, out of Shaq’s first three possessions, only one was successful, and the Rockets took the opportunity to start with an 8-2 run.
Marv Albert even commented, “At this point, there’s absolutely no need for Coach Brian Hill to emphasize his presence.
I know what he wants to do; he’s trying to change the flow of the game.
But right now, every fan in Orlando is probably thinking: ‘God, make that coach shut up and give the ball to Roger!'”
Roger’s performance remained unshaken; to make it harder for the Rockets to double-team him, he had even increased his off-ball plays today.
Even when he was double-teamed, Roger passed the ball very quickly.
Having gone through so many tough battles in the playoffs this year, Roger had improved significantly.
With Spoelstra’s help, Roger, although he watched game footage every day to improve his passing awareness and vision.
But some things just couldn’t be learnt by watching, though watching did provoke some reaction, you still had to actually go through being repeatedly double-teamed to improve.
Entering the playoffs, which call for more targeted strategies, and facing more double-teams, Roger’s passing speed had obviously become much faster.
He hadn’t quite transformed into a master playmaker, but at least when facing double-teams, the ball didn’t stagnate with him.
In the second quarter, Roger and even Shaq completed a very beautiful alley-oop.
At that moment, when Roger received the ball on the middle right, Robert Horry immediately stepped out to cover for Drexler.
Facing the rushing Horry, Roger knew Shaq had gotten an opportunity.
As strong as Horry’s help defense might be, he couldn’t double-team two players at the same time.
But then, Horry was blocking the passing lane, Roger couldn’t just pass the ball through his body.
If it had been before, Roger would definitely have stopped to find someone.
Even if it didn’t lead to a turnover, it would have missed the opportunity.
But this time, Roger lobbed the ball directly over Horry’s head.
The basketball flew straight to the basket, O’Neal and Dream both jumped, but Shaq got the ball first, and despite Olajuwon’s presence, he managed a two-handed slam dunk, completing an outstanding alley-oop!
This play was even more spectacular than the century alley-oop against the Knicks, the Rockets now couldn’t stop the Magic Team’s offense even with their double-teaming on Roger.
The Magic Team’s offense remained as excellent as ever, but the score was still very tense.