Champion Creed
Chapter 803 - 803 270 He Is Everywhere Seeking Monthly Tickets!_2

803: 270: He Is Everywhere (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)_2 803: 270: He Is Everywhere (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)_2 Grant Hill was pinned down, but Kobe had already shaken off Pippen and cut inside.

He used a beautiful bounce pass to send the ball through the gap between Roger and Bowen, and Kobe caught the basketball and jumped directly for the basket.

In the air, Kobe confronted Big Ben, stabilized his center of gravity, and confidently tossed the ball.

Despite the confrontation, Kobe was quite confident about this shot, with a high probability of making it.

However, once again, Roger appeared in time and swatted the rising basketball away.

In this round, Roger effectively managed to help defend against both Grant Hill and Kobe simultaneously.

Pippen picked up the ball, and he used all his strength to dribble quickly forward, but even so, Kobe easily caught up and tangled with him.

If it were three years ago, it definitely would have been a beautiful coast-to-coast slam dunk.

Even someone as formidable as Patrick Ewing standing under the basket would have been directly dunked over by a fast-breaking Pippen, helplessly watching as Pippen leaped over him.

But now, Pippen no longer had that kind of speed.

This season, he truly felt what it meant to be at the sunset of his career.

But at least it wasn’t complete darkness yet.

After advancing to a spot two steps away from the three-point line, Kobe had fully blocked Pippen.

However, Pippen didn’t let the offense stall; he eyed Bowen advancing from the middle, but in reality, he used a no-look pass to lead Marion cutting in from the right side to charge into the paint for an easy slam dunk!

The point difference returned to 10 points, and the Hawks’ strategy of pressure defense plus counterattack succeeded.

Shaq crossed his legs and half-lay on the chair, indifferent to the Hawks’ scoring: “Ha, these guys are just struggling in vain.

As long as Paul Pierce doesn’t hit me in the face tonight, we can’t lose.”

The Zen Master ignored Shaq and instead stood up and shouted: “Pay attention to help defense!”

But the Lakers made another mistake.

This time, Kobe drove past Pippen with the ball, but just as he started, he was guarded by Marion.

Without Shaq, the Lakers’ inside threat was almost negligible, allowing Marion to cover Pippen’s back.

Facing the encirclement, Kobe made a different choice than Grant Hill; he jumped directly for a shot.

But as he gathered the ball, the experienced Pippen intervened timely, stripping the ball!

Kobe also reacted quickly, picking up the ball again and hastily passing it to Grant Hill.

This was a wrong decision; in such a hurried pass, it’s impossible to bypass Roger successfully and deliver to Hill.

“Roger completes the steal; he’s everywhere!”

Amidst Bill Walton’s shout and the cheer of Atlanta fans, Roger counterattacked with a slam dunk.

The point difference returned to single digits, down to just 8 points.

The Zen Master frowned but soon relaxed again.

How long can Bowen and Pippen maintain this pressure?

How long can Roger keep up this pressure?

Their defense’s collapse was only a matter of time.

However, throughout the subsequent game, the Hawks’ aggressive defense repeatedly suppressed Kobe and Hill.

The two weren’t completely ineffective, but the Lakers’ advantage was shrinking.

Four minutes later, Shaq couldn’t stand it anymore: “Enough!

It’s my time now, Phil!

Kobe is useless, he can’t even finish it!”

Lakers took a timeout, subbing Kobe out, leaving Grant Hill and Shaq on the court, with the Lakers leading by only 7 points.

Shaq intended to dominate the game, but a minute after O’Neal came on, he hadn’t even touched the ball!

Big Ben’s front rim maneuvering was already a usual occurrence for O’Neal, but today, in addition to Big Ben between Shaq and Grant Hill, there’s Roger!

Grant Hill tried to disrupt the Hawks’ setup with a drive, looking for an opportunity to feed Shaq.

But with Bowen guiding at the top level and Roger adding reinforcement, Hill couldn’t break through.

Solve the problem with his mid-range shot?

If it were Kobe, he could have used this move to beat Bowen.

But Grant Hill’s mid-range shot level was clearly not at Kobe’s level.

Yes, Hill made great strides in his mid-range shot since last season, but it doesn’t mean reaching Kobe, Roger, and Jordan’s level.

A minute later, Shaq finally received the ball.

But the ball wasn’t even warm before Big Ben fouled preemptively.

The classic two free throws, one made situation followed.

The Lakers still scored, potentially reducing the clock and losing fewer points, which was exactly what a team catching up needs.

In the two minutes of Shaq with Grant Hill, the Hawks reduced the point difference to 4 points.

Finally, a rested Kobe replaced Grant Hill, joining Shaq for the classic OK combination on court.

Roger directly marked Kobe, causing Kobe to channel his long-missed wolf-like intensity.

Yet every time Kobe broke through, Pippen would be there with timely help defense.

Finally, during his third attempt on offense, Kobe didn’t pursue isolation play, driving and drawing the defense before passing to Shaq, who was holding deep position.

Shaq caught the pass and jumped directly for a basket attack, too late for a foul.

Yet as O’Neal lifted the basketball, a massive force pinned the ball to the backboard!

Roger once again relied on rapid help defense to simultaneously disrupt the OK duo’s attack!

Shaq was furious, he could hardly believe being stuffed by Roger despite being a dominant force under the basket!

Roger immediately made a long pass to find Pippen, who was running upfront.

After completing the pass, Roger pointed both hands to Phil Jackson on the sideline, then made a hand sign for timeout: “Call it, Phil, hurry up and anxiously call a timeout, after all you guys are about to go down!”

Pippen used his last ounce of strength to finish this fast-break dunk, bringing the Hawks’ deficit to just 1 point.

Shortly afterward, the Lakers indeed took a timeout, making Philips Arena feel like a seismic event!

With stellar defense and counterattacking, the Hawks closed the 12-point deficit to 1 point with 4 minutes and 14 seconds left until the end of the game.

Roger was embraced by all his teammates on the court, during these few minutes he scored 8 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, remaining omnipresent.

The whole game had already accumulated staggering stats of 43 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, and 3 blocks.

Bill Walton revealed a frightening truth: “Naturally, when the big three aren’t together on the court, the Lakers simply have no solution against Roger!

Whether it’s Kobe with Grant, or Shaq with Kobe, or Grant with Shaq, regardless of the Lakers’ rotation, they aren’t a match for Roger!

Only when the big three are on the court together can the Lakers control the game!

That’s Roger’s prowess, two men can’t contain him!”

Phil Jackson agreed with Bill Walton’s statement, two superstars can’t handle Roger.

Fortunately, the big three would be playing together next.

Now, surely, they could completely crush him?

Lenny Wilkens substituted the “defense group” for the “offense group” during this timeout.

Watching Roger, who had been defending at full power for 8 minutes, he uneasily asked.

“Still good?”

“Lenny, are you suggesting that at the point of driving the knife into the Lakers, I’d run out of strength?

Rest assured, I’ll surely plunge the knife deep into their chests!”

Timeout ended, Roger immediately stood up.

He seemed not a bit fatigued, even somewhat impatient.

Upon returning to the court, Roger picked up the basketball on the ground, holding it single-handedly as he fearlessly walked towards the Lakers’ big three.

Watching Roger, holding the ball one-handed as he walked towards them, the Lakers big three felt like seeing a lone warrior holding a sword walking towards them.

O’Neal clenched his fist, there were clearly three of them, yet…

what’s with this damn pressure?

The “Sports Illustrated” photographer captured the moment.

In the photo, Roger held the ball single-handedly as he walked alone toward the Lakers’ big three with a resolute expression, seemingly ready for martyrdom, while the faces of the Lakers’ big three were full of panic and fatigue.

This would be the cover of the next issue of “Sports Illustrated”, and one of the most famous images of Roger’s career.

As Roger stood in front of the Lakers’ big three, he handed the ball to referee Tony Brothers: “Kick-off Tony, ring the death knell for the Lakers.”

“Shut up, Roger, this time we have three people!” O’Neal retorted furiously.

“That’s exactly what I want, two at a time is too boring.

Solving all of you at once, here and now.”

From the bench, Michael Reed was awed by Roger’s fearless demeanor.

At that moment, he couldn’t help but wave a towel, cheering for the god.

Now, Reed believed in gods, not just one.

The god who controls everything on the basketball court was in front of him.