Champion Creed
Chapter 399 - 399 158 Detonating the Bomb Seeking Monthly Votes!

399: 158: Detonating the Bomb (Seeking Monthly Votes!) 399: 158: Detonating the Bomb (Seeking Monthly Votes!) On November 27th, facing his former team, the Atlanta Hawks, Dominique Wilkins scored a season-high 27 points.

Stevie Smith endured Roger’s trash talk for a full 40 minutes; he had a sackful of complaints he wanted to voice.

But after the game, no one talked about them.

“Roger, do you believe in Shaq?

Do you think Shaq will leave?”

“Next question.”

Roger refused to answer all questions related to these issues.

However, he privately told O’Neal that his not taking a public stance didn’t mean he didn’t support him; he just didn’t want to make things worse.

He still adhered to the tacit agreement that “if you have something to say, say it directly.”

Every day, there were various sorts of rumors.

Every day, the Magic players had to face one annoying question after another.

In such an environment, Magic’s start to the season still made history.

On December 8th, after demolishing the Kings, the Magic achieved a 16-game winning streak.

They broke the Houston Rockets’ 15-game winning streak record at the start of the 93-94 season.

That season’s Rockets eventually won the NBA Championship.

However, because the New York Knicks also broke that record, the Magic weren’t the sole focus.

This made the championship race even more enigmatic: if both the Knicks and Magic had the strength to compete for the championship, which team was stronger?

The promotion of the Christmas Day games continued, and the topic of the Magic and Knicks never ceased.

At the moment, the hottest topic among fans was which team would lose first.

But to everyone’s surprise, this topic would soon come to an end.

Because the Magic started losing after their 16-game winning streak.

On December 10th, the Magic were defeated by the Utah Jazz, a team that hadn’t been much in the spotlight but had quietly amassed a 15-2 record.

After acquiring Mutombo, the Jazz’s defensive capability was incredibly strong.

If it were not for the Knicks and Magic, Salt Lake City would have gained much more attention.

In this game, Shaq could only watch from the bench after fouling out early.

When he left the court, the team was down by 3 points.

Roger tried to lead the team alone but couldn’t turn the game around in the last half, and ultimately the team lost 89 to 93.

After the game, almost everyone criticized O’Neal’s irrational behavior, saying he had wasted too many unnecessary fouls on Karl Malone and that this cost them the game.

On the 13th, the Magic suffered a second consecutive loss, this time to the Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers’ two inside players, Dale Davis and Antonio Davis, secured many offensive rebounds, creating numerous second-chance opportunities for their team.

Combined with the hot shooting of the backcourt duo Reggie Miller and Travis Best, the Magic’s previous 16-game win streak ended with a 99 to 95 loss.

This time, media said that O’Neal’s protection of the rebounds was not impressive enough.

They tried to link the recent two losses to the rumors about O’Neal and the Lakers: “His heart isn’t in Orlando anymore!”

“This isn’t Shaq’s responsibility alone,” Roger told reporters again and again during the press conference.

He was still protecting O’Neal’s self-esteem.

The two consecutive losses didn’t actually have a significant impact on the Magic’s record — no one would say a 16-2 start to the season was anything less than remarkable.

Moreover, the Knicks also lost to the Miami Heat in their 18th game.

The Magic had just one more loss than the Knicks.

Yet, there were still those who wanted to make a big deal out of the two consecutive defeats.

The night they lost to the Pacers, O’Neal received a call from his agent Leonard Armato in his hotel: “Are you interested in doing an exclusive interview?”

“Not interested.”

“It’s an invitation from Jim Gray.

Are you sure you don’t want to consider it?”

“Who?”

—————–

ESPN host Jim Gray was doing his final preparations in the makeup room, taking this upcoming interview very seriously.

Because this could very likely be the NBA’s most explosive interview of the season.

Average hosts wait for news and hot topics, but Jim Gray, the Emmy Award-winning journalist, likes to find and create hot topics.

As one of America’s most influential reporters and hosts, Jim Gray’s accomplishments are too numerous to count.

He’s been involved in interviews for almost all major sports events in the world, including the NFL Super Bowl, MLB World Series, NBA Finals, NCAA March Madness Final Four, Olympic Games, Masters Golf Tournament, NCAA Football Orange and Cotton Bowls, and professional boxing, among others.

He has conducted at least one exclusive interview with many sports celebrities, a list that includes, but is not limited to, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and Mike Tyson.

If you think his influence is limited to sports, you would be hugely mistaken.

Outside of sports, Gray has conducted interviews with several U.S.

presidents, including Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush Sr.

International celebrities?

Are Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev significant enough?

He was the first to report in 1993 that Michael Jordan might retire.

In fact, in the infamous “The Decision” broadcast in 2010, he wasn’t just the host who asked LeBron James “LeBron, what’s your decision?” He was also one of the planners and main promoters of the entire show.

It was he who first came up with the idea of “The Decision” and proposed it to Maverick Carter, the CEO of LeBron’s business team:

“Why can’t we buy an hour of TV broadcast time, you control the content and retain the decision-making power, I conduct the interview, and then you convince LeBron to announce his transfer decision on the show?”