Champion Creed
Chapter 323 - 323 136 The Gentlest Yet Most Terrifying Sentence Requesting Monthly Tickets!_2

323: 136: The Gentlest Yet Most Terrifying Sentence (Requesting Monthly Tickets!)_2 323: 136: The Gentlest Yet Most Terrifying Sentence (Requesting Monthly Tickets!)_2 The reporters’ flashbulbs went mad, Roger and Jordan’s encounter truly personified “a smile that hides a knife.”

The match returned to Orlando, and Orlando’s fans didn’t lose faith just because their team was temporarily behind 0 to 2.

On the day of Game 3, the local atmosphere for the match in Orlando was extremely fervent.

Hours before the game started, all fans wearing ice-blue striped jerseys gathered on the streets, parading with “Repeat Champions” signs, cheering.

At the entrance to the Orlando Arena, the Magic Team even put on a paid event.

They had parked an old car plastered with the Bulls’ players’ faces outside the stadium, next to which were placed a large hammer and a small hammer.

Fans could pay to swing the hammers and smash the heads of the Bulls’ players to vent their frustration—the small hammer for $40 and the large one for $80.

There was a huge turnout for this event, and soon enough, that car was battered beyond recognition, a sorry sight.

Orlando fans’ confidence all came from their team; they firmly believed that the defending champions wouldn’t fall so easily.

Indeed, Game 3 did not disappoint the Orlando fans, although Shaq had his court time greatly limited due to several offensive fouls created by Rodman, and his free throw shooting was dismal, scoring only 1 out of 9 attempts, amassing just 17 points and 12 rebounds for the entire game.

But Roger scored 39 points, 15 of which came in the fourth quarter alone.

Plus, with Pippen’s offense restricted, the Magic clinched the game, 2 to 1.

At the press conference, Roger even brought a broom, which he broke in half in public: “We won’t be needing this now.”

Scoring a victory on home turf put Roger in a good mood, but O’Neal was very upset.

Because John Anderson on the “SportsCenter” show commented on Shaq as follows: “The beauty for Shaq is that now he doesn’t have to be the best player on the team to still win games; that’s the advantage of playing alongside Roger.”

It isn’t hard to imagine how stifled O’Neal felt inside; such an assessment left him feeling no joy in the victory at all.

These comments prodded Shaq; he admitted that in the previous Game 3, he had been too wound up.

Rodman’s trash talk and those aggressive fouls made Shaq always want to overpower that guy with the wildly colored hair.

And that bastard always seemed to fall over at just the right moment.

Shaq knew he had to play smarter.

In Game 4, O’Neal was magnificent.

He stopped trying to overpower his way to the basket, opting instead to hook shot or use close-range one-hand throw shots the moment he caught the ball.

With his height advantage, Rodman had no way to counter Shaq’s shots.

This forced the Bulls to switch back to Longley and other big, burly players for defending Shaq.

The adjustment had an effect, but the Bulls could no longer reduce Shaq’s playing time by drawing offensive fouls.

However, O’Neal’s tendency to make passing errors under intense pressure still hadn’t improved.

Last season, the Bulls relied on Webber’s coordination with the center.

This season, Webber had been replaced by Rodman, which made their double-teaming fiercer, causing Shaq to make more errors.

Although Shaq had his moments of brilliant passing, like today in the third quarter, he was on the right side of the basket, under pressure from Rodman and Longley.

With a no-look behind-the-back pass, he got the ball to Roger, who was cutting along the baseline from the left side.

God knows how he spotted Roger; it was as if he had eyes on the back of his head.

But such flashes of brilliance were difficult to sustain.

This meant that giving the ball to Shaq in critical moments was a very risky move.

Because a single mistake in a critical moment could spoil the entire situation.

So in the fourth quarter, Roger, just like in the last game, took on most of the offensive rounds.

The teams took turns leading, the game tension mounting by the minute.

In the last 1 minute and 44 seconds, trailing by three points, the Bulls fouled O’Neal, sending Shaq to the free-throw line.

The infamous Hack-a-Shaq strategy came online again.

This time, the foul was mainly to disrupt Roger’s offensive rhythm, as he had already scored 6 consecutive points.

And consecutive three baskets were incredibly difficult ones, making Rodman walk over exasperatedly, lifting Roger’s hands to see just what kind of hands could perform such magic.

The Bulls would now rather bet on O’Neal’s free throws than let Roger take any more shots.

O’Neal stood at the free-throw line, cursing, but to the great embarrassment of the Bulls, Shaq managed to make both shots!

This Hack-a-Shaq instead put the Bulls down by 5 points.

After scoring, O’Neal yelled at the Zen Master on the bench, “Keep sending points my way, idiot!”

The Zen Master was extremely annoyed, but what raised his blood pressure even more happened shortly thereafter.

A round later, Jordan, trapped, passed the ball to the cutting Pippen.

Pippen attempted a slam dunk but was knocked over by the incoming O’Neal.

Undoubtedly, O’Neal was called for a defensive foul, Pippen went to the free-throw line.

With the pace of the game fragmented, both sets of fans watched with intense nerves.

Pippen’s first throw, amid boos from Orlando fans, was too short, hitting the front rim.

Before the second throw, Pippen took a deep breath, bounced the ball five or six times, then finally released it.

The result was too strong, hitting the basket’s neck and bouncing out!

At the critical moment, the Bulls trying to use the Hack-a-Shaq tactic against the Magic backfired as O’Neal made both his shots.

Meanwhile, Pippen missed both of his, putting the Bulls at a tactical disadvantage!