Champion Creed
Chapter 639 - 639 225 Unruly Child Asking for Monthly Votes!_2

639: 225: Unruly Child (Asking for Monthly Votes!)_2 639: 225: Unruly Child (Asking for Monthly Votes!)_2 Allan Houston’s offense was nothing special, just the old no-ball running position and catch-and-shoot.

The problem lay in Paul Pierce’s defensive enthusiasm compared to the first game—it wasn’t even close.

Right, he casually took another day off.

And his frequent gambling on passes for steals actually gave Allan Houston many easy shooting opportunities.

Once a steal was missed, Pierce was completely out of position.

In the second half, Pippen took over guarding Allan Houston, and Roger personally guarded Sprewell.

But the hole dug in the first half was too big, so the Hawks lost to the Heat by 5 points.

Pat Riley finally won against Roger once, but he proceeded with caution, “You know, you can never say you’ve beaten Roger too early.

It’s just a regular season game, far from a time for celebrations.

Far from it.”

Who would have thought that the coach who initially scorned Roger at the press conference saying, “I don’t understand how Roger could surpass John Starks to become an All-Star starter,” would now be full of respect for Roger.

Roger didn’t mince his words at the press conference and criticized Pierce, “As a rookie, Paul performed great.

But his defense is still at college level, not enough for NBA players.

He should do better.”

It was the first time Roger publicly criticized Pierce’s defense.

But Pierce was dismissive, “Yes, Roger, I’ll be mindful, Roger.”

To be honest, Roger felt he had encountered the most fucking difficult teammate of his career!

Even someone like Shaq, who you criticize for bad defense, would either try hard for a few games or argue with you.

But what about Pierce?

He would always do whatever he wanted!

Telling him anything was like preaching to deaf ears!

On one hand, he was meek in front of Roger.

On the other, he was wildly arrogant to the media.

“Roger and I together are the combination of the world’s best and second best,” he claimed.

“Who else is eligible for Rookie of the Year but me, with a shooting accuracy not even met by the Kandi Man?”

“We are going to win the championship; I can’t think of anyone in the league who could be our match.”

Paul Pierce was simply the beacon on the Freedom Lighthouse—free and unrestrained.

He said whatever he wanted, did whatever he wanted.

It was Roger’s first realization that handling a rookie could be so challenging.

The shortened season paced quickly.

February 5 was the opening game, and by the end of March the regular season was nearly over.

The Hawks’ performance was quite good, steadily in the top three of the East.

But in March, Pippen had to undergo a partial discectomy to alleviate nerve impacts in his lower back.

The team doctor had presented two options: conservative treatment, which meant Pippen’s back might occasionally act up, or surgery, which had a good chance of totally fixing the issue but would sideline him for the 98-99 season.

Pippen preferred conservative treatment, having chosen it historically as well, as he didn’t want to miss an entire season.

As a result, Pippen’s performance drastically declined after the ’99 season, with decreasing attendance rates.

So Roger urged Pippen to have the surgery, pondering that building a dynasty in Atlanta was a long-term endeavor, and Pippen couldn’t afford to be troubled by frequent issues.

Thus, in March, the Hawks lost Pippen.

Bruce Bowen replaced Pippen as the starter, and he was good, but still could not match Pippen’s defensive impact.

Bowen excelled at baiting without losing position, but his ability to disrupt possession was weak, aggressive less (regarding normal defense), and most crucially, his contribution in help defense was insufficient.

In this aspect, his gap with Pippen was vast.

At this time, Pierce needed to step up more on defense.

But whether he defended seriously still depended on his mood.

The Hawks’ strength was somewhat affected, yet they still managed to maintain a top three rank in the East.

By the end of March, the Hawks’ record came to 22 wins and 9 losses.

And the first game of April, the Hawks were finally going to meet the Los Angeles Lakers!

Because it was a shortened season, this year the Hawks and Lakers would only meet this one time.

In fact, the Lakers would only meet East teams six times throughout this entire season.

That’s why the value of the shortened season has always been highly debatable.

For Roger and Shaq, this unique encounter was undoubtedly very important.

They both had reasons they couldn’t lose to each other.

However, this season, the Lakers were truly formidable.

Shaq still maintained his level, Kobe continued to improve.

Most crucially, at the beginning of March, the Lakers had traded Eddie Jones + Elden Campbell for the Hornets’ star guard Glenn Rice.

Throughout this season, Glenn Rice had claimed he was plagued by injuries, with an elbow injury that hadn’t healed, and had continuously expressed his unwillingness to continue playing in Charlotte.

With no choice left, the Hornets had to trade him to the Lakers.

Then a medical miracle happened—after arriving in Los Angeles, Glenn Rice, who had been plagued by injuries and unable to play in the first half of the season, miraculously recovered.

In his own words, “I felt the call of basketball!”

Glenn Rice’s role was actually similar to Eddie Jones’, serving as a three-point shooter beside Kobe and Shaq.

But since he had been the star of the Hornets, his offensive stability was superior, and he was more capable in tough games.

Kobe liked Glenn Rice, because with him, Kobe wasn’t the smallest-handed person on the team anymore.

It proved that there is no correlation between size and shooting accuracy.