Champion Creed
Chapter 456 - 456 173 Do people plan their own funerals in advance

456: 173: Do people plan their own funerals in advance?

(Vote for monthly tickets!)_2 456: 173: Do people plan their own funerals in advance?

(Vote for monthly tickets!)_2 Because he knew, in the competition related to historical status, being a scoring leader was the least useful.

Some had only won a scoring title but could still compete for the GOAT.

Roger was now just eager to end this exhausting season.

A three-peat was indeed too difficult, even Roger felt fatigued.

Not just physically, but mentally as well.

He had to soothe his teammates and outmaneuver the management while still carrying the team on the court.

This really wasn’t a job for a single person.

Moreover, even though he hadn’t deliberately thought about it, Roger still hoped to end the season soon to consider his and the Magic Team’s future.

It’s not that Roger would leave if Shaq did, but at least, the team needed a future plan.

Roger was not unwilling to accompany the team through a rebuild, provided it was a team with a plan.

If the Magic were just using him as a box-office guarantee without caring about the results, Roger did not want to waste his prime there.

The pace of the NBA was fast, only two days after the regular season ended, the playoffs battle had officially begun.

The first opponent for the Magic dynasty’s journey was an old acquaintance, the Chicago Bulls, encountering them for the third consecutive season.

The Bulls, with a “brilliant” record of 38 wins this season, barely squeezed into the playoffs.

Historically, a 42-win Knight team was already the eighth in the East, but in this history, since the Washington Bullets didn’t have Webber and the Atlanta Hawks didn’t have Mutombo, those two playoff spots became available.

The 42-win Knights were directly promoted to sixth, and the 39-win Pacers together with the 38-win Bulls conveniently filled the seventh and eighth spots.

Scottie Pippen, aiming to prove himself, truly went all out this season.

Don’t laugh at 38 wins, on the West side, the Clippers were in the playoffs with only 36 wins, and people will never know the answer to the question “if Elgin Baylor had the No.

1 pick, would he have chosen Tim Duncan?”

This season, for Duncan, everyone positioned highly jockeyed aggressively, all teams above 35 wins were contenders.

Even though the team squeezed into the playoffs, Reinsdorf and Jerry Krause now really wanted to kill Pippen.

The team had neither successfully tanked nor could it possibly achieve better results.

Essentially, the season was wasted.

They didn’t understand why Pippen did that.

Couldn’t he have just discussed the true meaning of life with Larsa?

Why take the games so seriously!

Originally, Bulls fans were hoping for either Tim Duncan or Tracy McGrady, Jerry Krause had even sent McGrady a Bulls jersey printed with his name and number early on, letting the fans fantasize limitlessly about this kid who “definitely had a higher ceiling than Scott.”

But now, Chicago fans became the earliest to look forward to the 1998 draft.

Unless a trade happened, there was no way for the Bulls to obtain a high draft pick this season.

For Pippen, he could not accept tanking.

His entire career had been lived in someone else’s shadow.

Starting under Michael Jordan’s shadow, and now under Roger’s.

He just wanted to use a season truly his own to tell the world that he could lead a team and achieve results!

Even if the results weren’t as good as Roger’s and Jordan’s, at least they wouldn’t be at the level of tanking.

If he couldn’t even make it to the playoffs on his own, how could Pippen shamelessly be among the top 50 stars?

So, he fought tooth and nail to bring his team to eighth in the East.

His ankle was always injured, but he refused surgery, playing injured every game, pushing the Bulls forward a little bit more each time.

For some, making the playoffs with 38 wins is a joke, but for Pippen, it was a fusion of blood and tears.

Pippen also had another purpose; he knew that the first in the East would be either the Knicks or the Magic.

So as long as he made the playoffs, he would definitely face either Roger or Jordan.

He wanted to face them personally in the playoffs!

Pippen knew very well he couldn’t win, with only one-and-a-half reliable teammates by his side.

One was Kukoc, and half was Nick Anderson.

But Pippen just wanted to fight for pride, he still harbored a sliver of lingering pride.

At least, he wanted to prove himself with a performance that didn’t lose to Roger and Jordan!

Pippen’s wish came true, having struggled arduously, he successfully stood before Roger.

Pippen’s achievement would make some fan groups ecstatic in the future, as the Bulls making the playoffs proved that Pippen indeed had substantial leadership abilities.

He proved that Michael Jordan indeed had an excellent sidekick.

But you can’t claim Pippen was the best small forward of the 90s, because Pippen wasn’t too strong.

Indeed, Pippen wasn’t too strong.

Round one, Game 1, Orlando Arena.

The director wisely directed the camera to Larsa by Pippen’s side at courtside, knowing that every time Roger and Pippen met, “whether Roger did it or not” was an enduring topic.

Scottie Pippen stared at Roger, his gaze intense.

For him, today might even be a good opportunity to take a win.

Especially since in the next game, Shaq would return, and the Bulls’s weak frontline had no way to stop Shaq.

Today was different; today, as long as he handled the defense against Roger well, winning was not an impossibility.

In a situation where there was a huge gap in raw strength between the two teams, even if Pippen stole a win, it would go down in history, elevating him to hero status.

Thus, from the start, Pippen was extremely serious on both offense and defense.