Champion Creed
Chapter 727 - 727 249 A pack of wolves is the real wolf asking for monthly votes!_2

727: 249: A pack of wolves is the real wolf (asking for monthly votes!)_2 727: 249: A pack of wolves is the real wolf (asking for monthly votes!)_2 When the Hawks easily passed the Bucks while the Lakers lost in the first round, it meant there was a gap in their dominance.

And this was something Shaq couldn’t accept.

He had always comforted himself, “I’m only three wins behind Roger, that’s not much of a gap, my dominance is the same as his.”

But now, that excuse was ruthlessly punctured.

Roger averaged a 32-point win over the first round opponent, while Shaq lost in the first round, clearly showing a different level of playoff performance.

An angry Shaq swore at the press conference, “Chris is just lucky, he wouldn’t be the top pick otherwise.

Clearly, luck was on his side today.

But in Game 4, Sacramento fans can say goodbye to their hero.

I will handle the next game, I’m not going to Game 5!”

With Shaq’s firm tone, the Lakers cleanly lost Game 4, entering a Game 5 situation.

A confident Chris Webber played a historic game in the fourth battle of the series, with 23 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, and 7 blocks.

Just one steal short, he could have created a 5×5 record in the playoffs.

At the moment the game ended, regardless of the final result of the series, Shaquille O’Neal had already become a clown.

The live commentator teased, “Someone tried to imitate Roger but failed.”

Over the past few seasons, Roger’s most memorable quote in the playoffs was “I’m not playing in a Game 7 this year.”

In ’97 and ’98, Roger said this two years in a row, and each time he fulfilled his promise.

But Shaq came up with “I’m not playing in a Game 5,” only to have the Kings trounce him in Game 4.

With the first seed in the West being forced into a Game 5 by the eighth seed, O’Neal had completely lost.

Of course, it wasn’t Shaq’s fault that Webber got such terrifying stats.

He wasn’t directly guarding Webber; he was dealing with that crafty Yugoslav center who flops at every touch.

But that’s no excuse, he might not have been guarding Webber, but he could have won the game.

Unfortunately, he didn’t manage that.

As a center who seemed to have significant dominance, O’Neal’s undershorts were almost stripped bare in the first round.

This further highlighted the Hawks’ claim as the “most unbeatable team.”

Although the Lakers finally managed to clinch the series against the Kings in Game 5, Shaq’s reputation had already taken a hit.

Facing various criticisms, O’Neal started complaining about this and that.

“The refs simply don’t call fouls for me!”

“We wasted too many three-point opportunities!”

“Don’t talk about Roger’s sweeping of opponents, the opponents he faces aren’t on the same level as mine!”

The last remark made the reporters laugh.

Roger had consecutively swept the Pistons, which included Webber and Hill, in the playoffs for many years.

And Shaq, encountering Webber alone for the first time in the playoffs, almost lost the series.

What?

Does Webber level up automatically when facing you?

In any case, the Lakers’ performance in the playoffs was disappointing.

Considering Tim Duncan was out for the season with a meniscus tear, and considering the age of Utah’s dynamic duo, the Lakers were seen as the favorite to win the championship aside from the Hawks.

Yet they struggled even in the first round.

What else could Roger say?

This is why he’s my favorite second-hand man.

Like Pippen, a true second-hand man doesn’t even need to be on your team.

The fact that the Hawks swept the Bucks wasn’t anything special, but seeing the similarly ambitious Lakers pushed to a Game 5 suddenly made the Hawks look strong.

In the second round, both the Hawks and the Lakers met opponents with greater talent.

Roger indeed faced AI, while Shaq’s opponent was another Reebok representative, KG.

All the Reebok executives couldn’t stop smiling; this was going to be a year of increased visibility for their spokespeople.

Iverson put up a strong fight, despite everyone knowing he had little chance of winning, but he showed his fighting spirit nonetheless.

In Series Game 1, Iverson played a full 48 minutes.

Facing the league’s most terrifying perimeter defense, and facing the most formidable help defender, Ben Wallace, Philadelphia’s number 3 ran, crashed, fell, scored, and roared.

Just like he said at the All-Star party, he didn’t care if he could win or not; he just wanted to compete against Roger, the strongest player of the era, and give it his all.

Whether he died on the court or walked out, he didn’t care.

Iverson had never been intimidated by powerful opponents because he had seen things far tougher than a game.

He had seen bullets pass by, dropping friends into pools of blood, seen so-called American justice throw him in jail without evidence, just because some white people baselessly claimed he smashed a white girl’s head with a bench.

After all that, he still emerged as the top pick in one of the NBA’s most talented drafts in history.

So what else was there to fear?

His left upper arm bore the tattoo “Only the strong survive,” and his left forearm read, “Fear no one.”

His tattoos were like armor, allowing him to rise from deadly blows and keep moving forward.

Roger also enjoyed competing against AI; he loved the feeling of battling with warriors as it pumped him up.

Therefore, there was hardly any chance Roger would let up.

As a result, AI, despite putting in a lot of effort, still lost the first game by 13 points.

More brutally, in the next three games, not a single one saw the 76ers bring the point difference down to single digits.

Iverson fought hard in every game, exhausting himself to the point of vomiting.

He battled through four games, averaging 45.7 minutes and 28.7 points per game.