Champion Creed
Chapter 487 - 487 182 He can now guzzle the blood of his enemies!

487: 182: He can now guzzle the blood of his enemies!

(Requesting monthly tickets!) 487: 182: He can now guzzle the blood of his enemies!

(Requesting monthly tickets!) The final result of Game 4 was a huge blow to the Utah Jazz.

They had done their best, and in the oxygen-thin Delta Center, they had forced the defending champion to less than 80 points in a single game.

This was also the first time this season that the Magic Team had failed to score 80 points in a game.

You can recall how many nights, just Roger and Shaq together could easily score sixty or seventy points.

But the iron-clad Jazz had pushed this terrifying team’s offense to such an extent.

And yet, they still lost.

They lost due to Karl Malone’s weakness at the crucial moment.

They lost due to Roger’s bold, chasing three-pointer.

Or you could explain it this way—the Jazz lost on the toughness of their star player.

That’s right, toughness, not accuracy.

Was Karl Malone’s free throw accuracy really bad?

If you look at the great big men of his era, whether it be the four great centers, Mourning and Mutombo, or even Barkley and Kemp, none of their career free throw percentages were above Karl Malone’s.

Karl Malone’s free throw accuracy wasn’t the issue; it was Roger’s trash talk that messed with his head during those last two free throws, resulting in the outcome of “giving you the opportunity, but you don’t take advantage of it.”

As it turns out, for a man, toughness is far more important than accuracy.

Marv Albert tried to analyze Karl Malone’s inexplicably missed two free throws at the end:

“We all know, Roger yelled at Karl a few times while he was taking his free throws.

We don’t know what Roger said, but it’s not hard to guess.

The best way to trash talk is either to be cruelly callous, shamelessly thick-skinned, or extremely smart.

You have an ideal image of yourself, and when that image is shattered by trash talk, you start to question who you are, what your identity is, and this triggers a strong emotional response of anger and shame.”

Roger’s trash talk definitely shattered Karl’s ‘tough guy’ image, which greatly troubled him.”

In a post-game interview, Roger didn’t mince his words, saying, “Karl Malone is the league’s number one fake tough guy.”

Karl Malone’s tough-guy image was trampled by Roger, and this really hurt Karl Malone’s self-esteem.

But that’s not the worst of it—the most fatal blow was the 3-1 overall score.

Any adult who dares to face reality knows that the championship has already been decided.

After Game 4, Magic players returned to the locker room and embraced each other.

At this time, another case of “Dynasty Feast” was brought in by staff and placed in the corner.

Now, the locker room already had four cases of Dynasty Feast, representing the four opponents that the Magic Team had defeated on their playoff journey.

It seemed like each time they brought in not just wine, but the souls of their opponents.

However, in the past, the wine would only be brought into the locker room after the series was over.

This time, the series wasn’t over yet, but the wine had already been brought in ahead of time.

Saru laughed and said, “The final battle hasn’t started yet, Roger, are you in such a hurry?”

“It may not have started, but it’s already over, brother.” Roger looked at the four cases of wine he had collected, and finally, he could put a wonderful full stop to this last chapter.

The series Game 5 would be the end of everything.

Before the start of Game 5, all the lottery teams were busy trying out the rookies they favored.

Tracy McGrady became the hot favorite that every team scrambled to invite for a tryout.

Because of the outstanding performance at Roger’s training camp last year, T-Mac had already made a name for himself early on.

Moreover, the high school players selected before him also developed very well.

Just in his fourth year of his professional career, Roger had already become a presidential mountain-level player.

Kevin Garnett had already proven that he is worth a billion-dollar contract.

Kobe Bryant is the new darling of Los Angeles.

Therefore, people’s expectations for T-Mac were also very high.

He was commonly believed to be the amalgamation of Garnett and Kobe.

He had a body and athleticism resembling Garnett’s, as well as Kobe’s skills and scoring ability.

T-Mac’s stock might not shake Duncan, but he was considered the next most promising rookie of the ’97 draft year, after Duncan.

Today, T-Mac was trying out in Chicago.

Jerry Krause watched T-Mac’s beautiful shooting form, as if watching a graceful young woman dancing, and liked it more and more as he watched.

This kid from Florida was simply a Pippen with offense!

Although the Bulls, because of making the playoffs, didn’t have any lottery picks, Jerry Krause was hoping to acquire a draft pick through a trade.

The trade chip?

Naturally, who else could it be but Pippen, who was both beautiful and cheap?

However, the trade wasn’t going too smoothly.

Just to spite Krause, Pippen had announced early on that he wouldn’t have ankle surgery in the off-season, but instead boldly told the reporters:

“Injuries caused at work, of course, should be healed on work time.

Whenever the preseason training camp starts, that’s when I’ll have the surgery.”

That is to say, any team that got Pippen would have to endure him missing half a season.

And nobody knew what condition Pippen would be in after the surgery.

This caused many teams eager to get Pippen to back off.

Sometimes you really can’t tell whether Scottie Pippen or JaVale McGee is the smarter player in basketball.

A player in a contract year, yet he still dares to miss half a season for surgery.

No wonder he’s the man who became his own unit of measurement.