Champion Creed
Chapter 257 - 257 114 Believe me one more time!

257: 114: Believe me one more time!

(Requesting monthly votes!)_3 257: 114: Believe me one more time!

(Requesting monthly votes!)_3 In order to avoid being double-teamed, Roger planned to use off-ball movement to look for opportunities after the start of the game.

Opportunities did indeed present themselves, but Roger’s mid-range shot clanged off the rim.

The Cavaliers secured the rebound and the 180-centimeter tall Terrell Brandon took the ball over half-court.

After a pick-and-roll with Danny Ferry, he used his speed advantage to easily break past Harper.

A player who survives many years in the NBA with a height of less than 190 centimeters, rest assured, his speed is definitely fast.

His ultra-fast penetration speed made it hard for Harper to chase, forcing Horace Grant to cover for him defensively.

Seeing this, Brandon hurriedly passed the ball to Danny Ferry who had popped out after the pick-and-roll.

As a player modeled after Bird, his shooting had to be at least adequate—capable of hitting 40% from the three-point line for a big man in that era.

But just as Danny Ferry released his shot, it was successfully blocked by Roger who had rotated into position in time!

The Orlando Arena was met with another surge of cheers; Roger’s current ability to help and rotate on defense was really strong!

Roger immediately jumped a second time to catch the ball he himself had blocked, ready for the counterattack.

However, when he looked up, he discovered that the Cavaliers, except for Danny Ferry who had just taken the shot, had already all retreated past half-court!

This was the Cavaliers’ style; they hardly ever fought for offensive rebounds, treating each offensive play as a one-shot deal.

Once a teammate took a shot, everyone immediately fell back on defense, slowing down the pace as much as possible to deny the opponent the chance to counterattack and to reduce the number of possessions.

They succeeded, as the Cavaliers’ disciplined and rapid transition defense left Roger with no opportunity to push a counterattack.

If it had been Jason Kidd, perhaps he might have found one or two passing lanes, but Roger wasn’t him.

Helpless, the Magic were forced to grit it out with the Cavaliers.

Cutting out, catching the ball, and facing an actively switching Bobby Phills, Roger once again took a shot.

“Thud.”

“Roger is still looking for his touch, but first we have to admit, the Cavaliers’ defense is doing very well, better than many people imagine.

Just now, Chris Mills was blocked off by an off-ball screen, and Bobby Phills immediately switched over, then stuck to Roger like glue.

But theoretically, Roger should be used to this level of defensive intensity; he has made shots under even tougher defense.

We can only say that Roger is still trying to find his touch, he’ll start making his shots soon.”

Then, three minutes passed, and the score on the court was an excruciatingly low 3 to 1.

During that period, Roger only managed 3 points off a tough drive and 2+1, and as for the Cavaliers, they haven’t managed a single field goal since the start, only breaking the scoring drought with one of Terrell Brandon’s two free throws.

Since neither team played a fast break, nearly every possession was a half-court offense and defense, which drastically increased the difficulty of scoring.

With Roger not being able to find his touch, he attempted to drive with the ball, but the Cavaliers’ double-teaming was executed very well, making it difficult for the Magic to score.

On the Cavaliers’ side, due to the limited individual abilities of their players, and the fact that the Magic’s defense was decent to begin with, it was also hard for the Cavaliers to score.

However, the characteristic of the Cavaliers is that they can go a long time without scoring, but at the same time, they’re able to keep their opponent’s scoring down.

What was supposed to be a grand comeback game, had been turned a bit tepid by the Cavaliers.

The Orlando fans cursed the Cavaliers’ style; this boring, foolish, and unentertaining basketball should be completely eradicated from the planet!

Roger also realized why the Cavaliers were doing alright in the season, facing this kind of team, even if you were leading, it just didn’t feel satisfying, and as time went on, it likely aggravated one’s impatience, leading to self-sabotage.

The entire first quarter progressed in this dreary atmosphere to its end.

15 to 17, the Magic only led by 2 points at the end of the first quarter, and the scoring was very low.

Roger scored only 7 points, which isn’t bad for a single quarter, but it was less than what people expected.

In the second quarter, the situation began to change.

On the Cavaliers side, the runner-up guard “Thunder Dan” Majerle became the man to change the tide, hitting consecutive three-pointers and mid-range shots towards the end of the second quarter, helping the Cavaliers to overtake the Magic by 7 points.

By halftime, the atmosphere in the arena was tinged with a sense of danger.

Roger couldn’t possibly make a comeback and still not beat the Cavaliers, right?

The team surely couldn’t actually suffer four straight losses?

Roger didn’t want to disappoint the fans, nor himself.

But his shooting percentage for the day wasn’t good enough; he hadn’t managed to find his rhythm in the second quarter.

Also, because he rested quite a bit in the second quarter, Roger scored only 6 points in that period, totaling 13 by halftime.

Now, if Roger wanted to score efficiently, he had to rely on penetration, he had to break inside—that was the soft spot of the Cavaliers’ defense, as they didn’t have any players taller than 210 centimeters in their main rotation.

But the Cavaliers would use rapid double-teaming and team cooperation to stop Roger from penetrating into the paint.

Unless, the team could help create space for Roger.

The Cavaliers’ defense depended on teamwork, but their one-on-one defense wasn’t strong.

Man to man, Roger was confident he could explode against anyone on the Cavaliers.

But the problem was, the responsiveness of Harper, McKey, and Grant was not enough to make the Cavaliers peel off the double-teams on Roger.

As soon as Roger held the ball to drive, at least three people would come to stop him.

In the locker room, Brian Hill was also bothered.

Against a team like the Cavaliers, which doesn’t rely on offense to win games, having great defense of your own was of no use.

Suddenly, the defensive-minded role players he had were rendered useless.