Champion Creed
Chapter 409 - 409 161 The strongest duo in history!

409: 161: The strongest duo in history!

(Vote for us monthly!)_2 409: 161: The strongest duo in history!

(Vote for us monthly!)_2 This lineup is really too dreamlike, and not just because of Jordan and Ewing.

Can you imagine?

Even Larry Johnson, once a draft number one pick, once an All-Star player, once a guy who wreaked havoc in highlight reels, a genius who made the second team in his sophomore year, has come to New York to be a role player.

What a luxury that is.

Undeniably, Larry Johnson experienced a back injury in his junior year, which seriously affected the peak of his professional career.

But that back injury wasn’t so severe that it totally ruined Larry Johnson.

Last season in Charlotte, Grandma could still rack up 20.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game.

If he wanted to, he could have gone to a weaker team to continue padding his stats.

Such a formidable guy, yet in the Knicks, he was just a role player.

And what’s more, he had no complaints about it.

This was insane.

It also indeed worked.

The Knicks’ record was the proof.

In contrast, with the Magic, due to the recent blasting and departure of O’Neal, everyone was unsure if the Magic would fall apart internally, let alone topple a formidable foe.

The camera gave Roger and Shaq a close-up, both appeared very calm, even perhaps too calm, as if they had no desire to win.

Bob Costas also rebutted Magic again, “Seriously, Magic, I don’t think they stand a chance.”

The game began, and O’Neal secured the first possession for the Magic.

Roger crossed half-court without the ball, and it was Larry Johnson who was responsible for defending him.

Even though he had bulked up to 98 kilograms, the fierce physicality that Larry Johnson brought still made Roger fairly uncomfortable.

Larry Johnson might be one of those figures whose nickname greatly contrasts with the person himself; hearing the nickname Grandma, you might think of a frail, leisurely white player in the interior.

But in reality, Larry Johnson was a muscular man with strong athletic ability.

However, Roger had the upper hand in terms of agility.

He used off-ball screens and cuts to shake off Larry Johnson, then received the ball on the right side beyond the three-point line.

The instant Roger got the ball, Michael Jordan immediately rotated over, ready to join Grandma in a double-team on Roger.

Roger stared firmly at the basket, jumped, and raised the ball over his head.

But at the peak of his ascent, he calmly passed, sending the ball to Dominique Wilkins.

Wilkins, completely unguarded, fired from beyond the three-point line.

The ball swished through the net, and the Magic scored the opening points.

Roger didn’t insist on a solo play; he knew his perimeter teammates would get plenty of opportunities.

The Knicks’ perimeter defense was not as fearsome as the Bulls’.

Larry Johnson and Charles Oakley’s defense was tough and fierce, but they lacked the mobility of Pippen and Rodman.

Consequently, once the double-team happened, the player left open would have a relatively ample space to shoot.

Wilkins’ recent jump shot had faced little interference, by the time Charles Oakley rushed out, the highlight reel had already released the ball.

Roger wanted to use this opportunity to let the role players perform first.

He couldn’t just launch into a solo assault right at the start, as that would exhaust him before half a quarter had passed.

Compared to the Bulls, the Knicks had a stronger interior defense, but their perimeter defensive pressure wasn’t as exceptional.

However, in the ’90s, the Knicks’ allocation of defensive focus was more appropriate.

In that era, they didn’t believe that perimeter shooting could kill a game, and the Knicks’ perimeter players were very proficient at entangling their opponents with physicality and little tricks.

As the game progressed, your shooting touch would gradually fade amid the fierce contest.

At that point, when you couldn’t score from the outside, your only choice was to assault the interior.

But soon you would come to a despairing realization that the Knicks’ interior was like a fortress cast from steel and concrete, mere mortals charging in would only shatter themselves into a pulp.

Therefore, Knicks fans weren’t bothered by Wilkins scoring first.

Getting scored on a few times at the start didn’t matter; when the Magic’s touch faded, that would be when their slow death commenced.

On the Knicks’ offensive end, Jordan and Ewing executed a pick-and-roll.

The Gorilla’s screen was high-quality, Harper couldn’t immediately catch up to defend Jordan.

Thus, O’Neal had no choice but to step up to Jordan.

The Shark helped Harper for a moment, then quickly returned to Ewing who was rolling to the basket.

You can’t allow Ewing an easy cut to the basket, he would smash your rim.

So what happened?

The Shark helped Harper for the first time, vying for time to get back in position.

But since Harper wasn’t fast enough, he still couldn’t instantly catch up with Jordan to interfere.

As a result, Michael Jordan took advantage of the gap where Shark had to pull back and Harper hadn’t fully defended, effortlessly scoring a mid-range basket.

2 to 3, the cheers from New York fans gradually grew louder.

The words O’Neal had spoken before the media had damaged the team, but they were indeed true.

The Magic now lacked athletic ability in every position.

“Slam” magazine once described it: the Magic had top-level engines and transmissions, but the chassis was battered, unable to withstand such performance.

This was a very apt description.

Under David Stern’s complex rules, in the NBA, it was very difficult to build a truly perfect team.

With Roger and O’Neal, two supernormal talents, taking up more than 40 million in salary space, it was destined that the role players would be old-timers.

The idea of replenishing with strong and young newcomers in the free agent market was completely impossible due to the rules.