Champion Creed
Chapter 716 - 716 246 You will always be my favorite second-in-command Seeking monthly votes!_4

716: 246: You will always be my favorite second-in-command (Seeking monthly votes!)_4 716: 246: You will always be my favorite second-in-command (Seeking monthly votes!)_4 Riley instantly understood Roger’s intention: he would take on the incredibly active KG himself, and as for Duncan, just make sure he doesn’t shoot comfortably.

After all, of two evils choose the lesser, and tonight Garnett was clearly more bloodthirsty than Duncan, and Roger would personally step up to deal with the trouble.

Now Roger only needed one shooter, one consistent shooter, and that would be enough.

“Grant, take a break for a while,” Riley said, his gaze sweeping the bench.

Ray Allen removed his warm-up jacket ready to enter the game, figuring that if Grant Hill was taking a breather, he would likely be the one to go on.

But Riley called out another name: “Allan, get ready to play.”

Riley chose his own teammate Allan Houston, a guy less famous and with lower stats than Ray Allen.

Ray Allen was a little surprised, he looked at Riley, then at Roger: “Wait, I…”

Roger rudely cut him off: “Sorry Ray, I think you might not like playing with someone as selfish as me.

Why don’t you wipe off some sweat?

Later, when we’re celebrating our victory, you can appear nice and clean on camera.”

With that, the timeout ended, and Roger took to the court with the deciding lineup consisting of AI, Carter, Allan Houston, and Mourning.

Ray Allen was shocked, in just one evening, Roger had become the de facto owner of the team, automatically setting up a hierarchy within the locker room.

Roger naturally assumed the highest position, with capable and cooperative players like AI and Carter becoming Roger’s envoys for the night, while the less capable Antonio Davis was at the bottom rung.

To Ray Allen, someone Roger disliked?

Lower than a dog!

The game restarted, and when Bob Costas saw the Eastern Conference All-Stars pull Grant Hill and put on Allan Houston instead, he thought that Roger’s previous efforts might be wasted.

He thought Riley would send out both Mourning and Antonio Davis simultaneously, but instead, he put in Allan Houston.

What?

Are all your Eastern coaches lovesick fools?

“Ah?

The Eastern Conference All-Stars’ lineup has become even smaller, and now KG, TD, and Shaq will be even more unstoppable!”

The Western Conference All-Stars’ offense started, Kidd took Phil Jackson’s setup, and looked for the inside right on the first offense.

Carter was trying to front Duncan as much as possible, with Mourning entangled with Shaq.

At the moment, Garnett was the best passing option.

Kidd passed the ball to Garnett, who was coming out, but as Garnett was about to catch the ball, Roger caught up and hit KG hard, then took advantage of the situation to surpass him in position, intercepting the pass!

Roger’s aggressive pressure made Garnett’s catches no longer as easy as they had been!

“It’s Roger again, whether on the offensive end or the defensive end, he can make an impact!”

After the steal, Roger quickly countered, crossing the midcourt line, and with a long bounce pass, the basketball flew past Kidd’s feet right to AI’s hands.

The latter effortlessly completed a one-handed slam, and the Eastern Conference All-Stars took the lead!

“The goddess of victory is smiling at the Eastern Conference All-Stars, look at Roger, look at everything he has done in the fourth quarter, this is what an MVP should do!”

“Hey, Shaq might not be happy if you say that.”

The two commentators drew the fans’ attention back to the war between Shaq and Roger.

Indeed, Shaq had performed better in the first three quarters, and everyone thought he would be the AMVP.

But in the fourth quarter, Roger had surged ahead, so what would Shaq do?

Shaq was fouled as well.

He finally managed to catch the ball this round, only to be fouled.

O’Neal, in disbelief, looked at Mourning who had intentionally fouled him early: “Asshole, this is just an All-Star Game for God’s sake!

Fans didn’t pay to see me shoot free throws, nor to watch you commit fouls!”

Mourning looked disdainful: “So what?

I want to win, I love watching you shoot free throws.”

What followed was a series of highly colorful greetings from Shaq.

An infuriated O’Neal missed both free throws, squandering yet another opportunity to act as the big brother of his team.

In the following half-court offense, Garnett, as always, actively helped defend against Roger, but after getting double-teamed, Roger immediately passed the ball to Allan Houston.

This Mister Shooting, whose accuracy surprisingly increased with distance—44% near the basket, 48% from mid-range, and 43% from three-point range—steadily nailed the open three-pointer.

The Eastern Conference All-Stars’ perimeter response capacity made double-teaming Roger a very risky option.

The East extended their lead to four points, and Roger pointed at Shaq: “No gains, it was you who gave me the inspiration!”

“Fuck off, do you think you can stop me with a few fouls!?”

Indeed, he could not be stopped, soon after, Shaq caught the ball inside and steamrolled over Mourning with a one-handed chop slam.

But the West had become the pursuers, still trailing by two points, and they were still outdone in terms of momentum by the East.

And there, in the next round, Roger delivered another assist, widening the gap once more.

This time, AI was the beneficiary, Kobe joined the defense against Roger this time, but Roger led AI inside with a pass.

AI drove to the basket and was fouled by Duncan, yet the ball still banked in.

With 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists, Roger’s stats kept inflating.

After AI scored, Roger rushed in to pull him up: “Well done, second-best scorer!”

In that moment, AI wanted to smash Roger’s head with a bowling ball, shatter it to pieces!

But he had to admit, after Roger took over the game, everything started to get better.

Chaotic offense became orderly, efficiency became effective, the ship was swiftly sailing towards the finish line of victory.

In AI’s view, the most incredible thing was that it seemed that you could just throw Roger onto any team, and he could make everything better.