Champion Creed
Chapter 734 - 734 251 The Arrogant God and the Opponent Begging for Mercy on Their Knees Seeking Monthly Tickets!_2

734: 251: The Arrogant God and the Opponent Begging for Mercy on Their Knees (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)_2 734: 251: The Arrogant God and the Opponent Begging for Mercy on Their Knees (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)_2 Considering his numerous illegitimate children, he’ll probably have to become a male model to support his family in the future.

It’s all about earning money through hard work and handling the ball, no shame in that!

So when Riley traded for Sprewell, everyone in the media thought Riley was a gambling man.

SportsCenter’s assessment was, “I believe Pat Riley must have thought long and hard about this trade.

Gambling is something you study carefully, observing and summarizing over time.

Once you’ve figured out the pattern, you’re not far from jumping off a building.

Miami should ban Pat Riley from entering any high-rise buildings.”

Nobody was optimistic about the Heat’s trade for Sprewell; while the Heat’s lineup wasn’t championship material, they were at least a strong team in the East.

But if Riley were choked to death, then the Heat would be completely finished.

As it turned out, everyone saw the Miami Heat make a comeback during the lockout-shortened season and even eliminated the defending champion Hawks.

And Sprewell was one of the most outstanding players among them.

In just half a year, Sprewell had turned his life around.

He went from being a player cast aside by the world to gracing the cover of “Slam” magazine, acquiring countless endorsements, and opening a national chain of car modification shops.

Anyone experiencing all this would get a big head, thinking they could overcome any difficulty and defeat any opponent.

So he talked trash to Roger unabashedly and disrespectfully, thinking he had the right to do so.

But tonight would be Sprewell’s rude awakening!

The game continued, with Jamal Mashburn backing down Pippen and changing the score to 4-12.

But everyone knew that the Heat’s foundation was defense.

Unable to curb Roger and with the Heat’s firepower, it was hard to catch up.

Pat Riley couldn’t take it anymore and decided to test the Hawks’ role players’ shooting: “Double team!”

This round, as soon as Roger crossed the half-court line, he was double-teamed, a scene that reminded Hawks fans of last year.

But Roger instinctually found Pierce, who hit a three-pointer with nobody guarding him.

15-4, the Hawks were showing a tendency to pull away in the first quarter.

Now, double-teaming Roger excessively was tantamount to suicide.

Paul Pierce’s ability to respond was enough to kill the game.

He was definitely the biggest snub of this year’s All-Star, averaging 18.4 points per game this season.

Considering Roger took most of the shots, this number didn’t reflect Pierce’s true level.

Unlike Stevie Smith, Pierce had the ability to take over a game for a stretch.

Stevie Smith, frankly, was just a high-level off-ball scorer, but Pierce’s ball-handling skills were exceptional.

Also, Stevie Smith never had the combative gene that Pierce possessed.

He was no longer the rookie from last season who couldn’t handle the playoff intensity and went 1 for 9 in a key game.

Just discussing the duo of Paul Pierce and Roger was not yet at the level of the historic best duo during Magic’s era, but leaving Paul Pierce open would only hasten defeat.

After scoring, Pierce shook his head at Allan Houston: “You should sort out your own mess first before rushing to kiss Latrell’s ass!”

“Shut up, you can kiss Roger’s ass, and I can’t kiss Latrell’s?” Allan Houston tried to fight magic with magic.

But he failed in front of Pierce, a master of trash talk.

“My God, comparing Latrell to Roger?

It’s like I’m licking the honey off a Victoria’s Secret supermodel, and you can only lick an old lady’s stinking embrace, and you still feel proud?”

Roger: …

This was the first trash talk that even Roger couldn’t bear to listen to.

Pierce was something else.

“Shut up, Paul, less talk, more action.”

“Oh, okay.”

Pierce kept quiet for the time being, but both Allan Houston and Sprewell had already suffered tons of damage.

On the next offense, Mourning powered inside, drew a foul, and got two free throw opportunities, which he both hit.

The Heat further closed the gap in the score, but as mentioned before, the Heat’s bedrock is defense, and they couldn’t let the game devolve into an attacking showdown.

The Heat’s several attempts at early double-teaming all failed.

Even if they didn’t leave Pierce open, both Pippen and Marion could quickly cut to the basket; double-teaming Roger while ignoring them was equally dangerous.

In the end, the Heat could only resort to their original strategy—man-to-man defense above the free-throw line.

Thus, the torture of Spree resumed!

Roger dribbled between his legs, accelerated past his opponent, and hit a pull-up jumper.

He penetrated the paint and scored a layup under Mourning’s defensive reinforcement.

He sank another three-pointer, which was later downgraded to a 2-pointer because his toe touched the line, but Roger believed the long night was coming because the torch wasn’t in Sprewell’s hands.

The more Kobe watched, the more excited he got; he really thought O’Neal and the Zen Master should watch the recording of this game a hundred times, until they understood its essence.

Sprewell, on the other hand, grew more tormented as the game went on.

If you were playing a basketball game and came across someone who could make you lose face every round, you’d probably only want to concede or rage quit.

Who would want to fully experience being dominated by someone else?

But Sprewell couldn’t surrender or exit the game.

He could only take the hits, round after round, as punishment for daring to challenge the gods as a mere mortal!

In the last two minutes of the first quarter, when Sprewell was subbed out, Roger was also taken off the court, having scored 18 points.

Sprewell walked off dejected, while Roger raised his fist high, reveling in the cheers of the fans.