274: 120: The Light King and His Knights!
(Requesting monthly tickets!) 274: 120: The Light King and His Knights!
(Requesting monthly tickets!) Roger had done everything to Jordan, both what should and shouldn’t be done.
Shaking, stepping over, trash-talking, abuse, sweeping…
he had completely stripped Michael Jordan bare, lacking only a direct slam.
Today, he added this missing link, and thoroughly dominated Jordan.
Following last season, where Roger stepped over him, this undoubtedly was Jordan’s most humiliating moment.
Although Jordan had been dunked on before, being dunked on directly and knocked to the ground was a first.
Nike was powerless over this, as it was a nation-wide broadcast match, and this scene was replaying in front of millions, with no measures for remedy available.
They surely couldn’t send men in black to erase memories from house to house?
Countless fans were marveling at Roger’s improvement on defense, as though he had become this strong overnight.
But Steve Jones had already said that Roger’s defense had improved greatly this season.
It’s just that defense and offense are different; improvements in offense are easily noticeable.
Whether your shooting is more accurate, your scoring higher, your efficiency improved – these can all be directly reflected by simple data.
Moreover, improvements on the offensive end are generally more tangible.
When citing a player’s offensive progress, you can mention he developed a three-pointer in one season, off-ball play in another, or a dream dance move in yet another.
However, improvement on defense isn’t so easily noticed; for example, it’s difficult to pinpoint how Kevin Garnett became a master of defense step by step.
His defensive progress during any given year of his career isn’t very apparent.
Just looking at data, his rookie season already contributed an all-around defensive performance with 1.1 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, which seems not much different from the year he won DPOY.
Thus, intuitively feeling a player’s improvement on defense isn’t easy.
Roger’s defense was ; he seemed unchanged, yet he had begun to influence the game through defense.
Of course, another reason was that, in most previous games, Roger was still, like before, focusing nearly all his energy on offense.
Defense was only occasionally prioritized and not invested in heavily.
But in this game, Brian Hill emphasized defense strongly.
He had Roger actively help defend against Jordan right from the start.
This gave Roger the opportunity to showcase his strength.
Brian Hill was well aware that last season the team had swept the Bulls 8-0 in one season purely on offense.
O’Neal’s restraint in the paint and Roger’s explosiveness in the power forward position were the reasons the Bulls lost.
Their defense could never contain Roger and Shaq, so they couldn’t win a single game.
But this season, because O’Neal was temporarily absent and the Bulls’ defense had strengthened considerably, relying only on offense was definitely not going to win the game.
The team had to match the Bulls in defense to stand a chance!
The game continued, and Jordan had already realized why he was struggling so much today.
Ron Harper, that bastard, started wrestling with him aggressively during the off-ball phase!
This round, Harper defended Jordan fiercely, sticking close by his side.
His hand forever on Jordan’s waist, following him wherever he went.
Jordan, frustrated and annoyed, had experienced such defense before, but he had never seen anyone defend in the first quarter!
The Magic were digging their own graves.
After expending quite a bit of energy to finally shake off Harper, Jordan barely managed to receive the basketball and prepare to shoot, but Roger quickly double-teamed him the moment he attempted to shoot!
Jordan, facing the interference of two people, had no choice but to jump and pass the ball to Pippen.
Pippen made a long-distance two-point shot, and the ball went in.
But it didn’t matter, in Brian Hill’s view, this defense was successful.
Forcing Jordan to pass was Brian Hill’s goal.
He can’t kill the game with offense!
After scoring, Pippen proudly taunted Roger, “Only a fool would leave me open.”
“Shut up, Scott, I don’t talk to perverts who like to face punches.
By the way, where did you get your tooth fixed?
Not bad, I’ll get one for my Rottweiler too; it always recklessly challenges wild beasts.
Last week, it lost a tooth,” Roger replied with ease.
He even suspected whether Pippen had a bit of a masochistic streak.
He must enjoy being constantly whipped to feel comfortable, right?
The game continued, and Roger, as usual, cut out and received the ball to shoot.
Pippen’s interference was slightly delayed, but this slight delay let Roger score successfully.
The Bulls still only used regular defense in the first two quarters, so it was relatively easy for Roger to score.
4-2, the Magic continued to lead.
It was evident; the Magic really had momentum today.
The repeated absence of O’Neal didn’t dampen their resolve to win.
But Phil Jackson was unflustered; unless you can send the game into garbage time in just two quarters, it’s all in vain.
In the rest of the game, the Magic used extremely stringent defense against Jordan.
This indeed consumed a lot of energy, and Brian Hill’s solution was to use a rotation strategy.
Harper wrapped around him for a while before switching to McKey, after McKey it was Anthony Bowie’s turn, and when Bowie got tired, Donald Royal stepped in.
Of course, the intensity and capability of defense varied among the four players, and so did the effects.