Champion Creed
Chapter 580 - 580 208 The God Slayers are here!

580: 208: The God Slayers are here!

(Asking for monthly votes!)_3 580: 208: The God Slayers are here!

(Asking for monthly votes!)_3 Stevie Smith averaged 17.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game, his scoring was down from last season, but it hadn’t affected his reputation, which was improving.

Roger, in his first season with the Hawks, also put up dazzling individual stats, averaging 33.6 points, 7.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game.

All five basic statistics were career highs!

These three men took the unconventional, small-sized Atlanta Hawks to the top position in the Eastern Conference.

In the East, the Hawks had a sense of dominance.

Unlike the West, where the Jazz, Lakers, and SuperSonics all had over 60 wins, and the twin towers of the Spurs won 56 games.

The main reason the Spurs didn’t reach 60 wins was that their key player Sean Elliott had been out since January 1998 due to kidney disease.

Otherwise, the West would have had four teams with 60 wins this season!

The battle in the West was bound to be fierce, while the East was much gentler in comparison with only three teams having more than 55 wins in the regular season – the Hawks, Pacers, and Heat.

Roger didn’t have time to be happy about his regular season stats; he understood that the playoffs were where he could truly create greatness.

The day before the playoffs began, Roger and Stevie Smith went to visit Andy.

He was even thinner than before, practically skin and bones.

“He is suffering from severe pain every day,” Andy’s parents told Roger and Stevie Smith.

What was supporting him to endure?

The desire to see the Hawks win a championship.

The entire city was anticipating the Hawks’ performance in the playoffs.

Although the Hawks’ opponents in the first and second rounds of the playoffs were not strong, the championship was not a sure thing.

In the past regular season, the Indiana Pacers had beaten the Hawks twice.

In their last encounter at the end of March, Reggie Miller scored 34 points.

In the fourth quarter of that game, Miller alone scored 15 points, and even with Roger’s numerous attempts to disrupt him, he still confidently hit threes.

The fact was, Reggie Miller and the Pacers would never easily bow to Roger.

Because of the Pacers, the situation for the Hawks in the East was not so clear-cut.

Several media outlets believed that the Pacers could cause a lot of trouble for the Hawks in the playoffs.

Amid all his greatness, Roger had only one obstacle, Reggie Miller.

Who would have thought that the person he admired the most, whom he mentioned during his team tryout in 1993, now stood completely on the opposite side.

Before the playoffs started, Reggie Miller made a bold statement: “I hereby declare, we are going to shock the whole league!”

Thus, the playoff journeys of both sides began.

The Hawks’ first-round match was against the Detroit Pistons, once again.

Grant Hill and Chris Webber were facing Roger in the playoffs for who knows how many times.

Initially, Detroit fans thought the Hill-Webber duo could make an impact in the East.

However, several seasons later, the Pistons had yet to make a breakthrough in the playoffs, and almost every time they lost, they seemed powerless.

This year, the Pistons’ management was watching.

If the Pistons were unable to perform in the playoffs again, they planned to trade Chris Webber elsewhere for a soft rebuild.

Yet, under such pressure, the Detroit Pistons still failed to show any signs of a breakthrough.

In Game 1 of the series, Alan Henderson had the game of his life.

He held Webber to just 6 out of 18 shooting, to a mere 14 points.

Meanwhile, Alan Henderson himself put up a handsome stat line of 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists.

As an All-Star, Chris Webber was completely outplayed by Alan Henderson, who had little to no reputation before the season.

Chris Webber, a perennial fixture in the NBA playoffs.

The playoffs are the stage for players to showcase themselves, and Chris Webber was just that stage.

After the game ended, Chris Webber defended himself at the press conference, “You know, we always need a game to find our rhythm.”

Then in the second game, Webber only scored 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting.

What’s not there can’t be found no matter how hard you search.

The performance in Game 2 of the series completely disappointed the Detroit fans in Webber.

By Game 3 at the Palace of Auburn Hills arena, Detroit fans were even chanting, “Trade Chris Webber.”

Even the good-natured Grant Hill passed the ball to Webber less often in Game 3.

But that didn’t help; in order to finish the series firmly, Roger started off in scoring mode, with 37 points and 12 assists throughout the game, and the Detroit Pistons again came up empty-handed in the playoffs.

The number one, second, and third picks from ’93 seemed worthless in front of fourth pick Roger.

After the first round of the series, Chris Webber wept bitterly at the press conference, “Grant and I haven’t fully realized our potential!”

The humorous level of this statement was no less than “Grant and I scored 69 points together.”

Roger didn’t even feel like giving a victory speech at the press conference after defeating such an opponent.

He set his sights directly on Reggie Miller, “I officially announce, no one can shake this league.”

But the second-round opponent, the Charlotte Hornets, didn’t take that lying down.

In Round 2, Game 1, the Hawks took the win as usual, but in Game 2, the Hawks shot poorly against the excellent defense of the Hornets.

Pippen was 4 for 16, Stevie Smith was 4 for 12, Alan Henderson was 1 for 8.

Although Roger maintained his form with 36 points for the game, he couldn’t stop an unimaginable 76-76 score with 30 seconds left before the game ended.

At the final moment, former Bulls Dynasty member B.

J.

Armstrong drove for a layup, scoring and killing the game.

Afterward, an excited Armstrong yelled at the Hawks’ bench, “You bunch of soft-ass bitches don’t understand playoff basketball!”

Then the Hornets calmly exited.

In the next three games, the Hawks didn’t let the Hornets get the point difference down to single digits.

Roger had games with 37, 35, and 42 points, respectively, and the Hornets fully experienced what’s called the iron fist of a superstar.

After Game 5, a reporter asked Roger at the press conference, “How do you evaluate B.

J.

Armstrong’s performance in this round of the series?”

“What do you expect me to say?

Some insults about him?

No, he’s a respectable adversary.

He’s under 190 cm tall, but he plays like a fighter.

And he can put up decent personal stats—his 24+5+5 today were quite impressive.”

“Roger, I think you’re mistaken, B.

J.

Armstrong only had 5 points and 1 assist today.” the reporter reminded.

“Yeah, 24 minutes on the court, 5 shots for 5 points, isn’t that impressive enough for a piece of trash like B.J.?”

The reporters laughed, indeed, this was the correct way for Roger to speak.

Thus, the Hawks reached the conference finals for the first time since 1970.

In his first year with the team, Roger achieved what Dominique Wilkins could not during his entire peak.

Although they didn’t sweep into the conference finals with the unstoppable force like the Magic, the Hawks’ first two rounds can still be called utterly dominant.

The next day, Reggie Miller led his team to a 4-1 series victory over the New York Knicks, much to everyone’s expectation to meet Roger in the Eastern Conference Finals.

This was the first time in nearly four years the Eastern Conference Finals did not feature Michael Jordan.

Miller became Jordan’s replacement.

At the end of the series, Reggie Miller revealed his evil smile, “We may not be great, but we’re the specialists at stopping greatness!

A personal dynasty?

A savior?

Ha, talk to us after you’ve played a game!”

This toughest man of the ’90s wanted to be the key node changing history.

The next day, “Slam” magazine featured the Pacers team on the cover, with a very eye-catching title:

Here come the God Slayers!