Champion Creed
Chapter 983: 320: The Answer You Dare Not Face (Vote for the Monthly Ticket!)_5

Chapter 983: 320: The Answer You Dare Not Face (Vote for the Monthly Ticket!)_5

After Shaq landed, he deliberately shoved Stoudemire, then shouted: “The worst defender in history, a softie!”

Roger stepped between them, pushed Shaq aside with one hand, and shielded Stoudemire behind him: “What kind of skill is it to punch a rookie? If you’ve got guts, come at me.”

O’Neal still didn’t respond to Roger; he simply pointed at Stoudemire, repeatedly mouthing the word “soft.”

Amar’e Stoudemire, this high school rookie who had been active all season, was crushed at this moment by Shaq.

Throughout the whole game, he didn’t contribute anything to victory.

He couldn’t defend against Shaq, and because Shaq was defending deep in the basket, his drives were useless.

Mid-range? His touch was as awful as dog crap; today Stoudemire’s free throw percentage was even just 60%.

On both ends, his presence was as thin as air on a plateau.

Stoudemire hung his head, seemingly reverting back to last year when he was a high schooler with no confidence in front of Roger.

Roger knew this needed time to digest, but he didn’t have time for it now. The game wasn’t over yet, Roger could only pick up the basketball and continue attacking!

At this point, there was hardly any time left, only 43 seconds remaining.

Roger’s offense determined whether the Dallas Mavericks still had a chance to turn things around. Raja Bell started with a rough approach this time, constantly testing the referees’ whistle boundaries step by step. After confirming the referees were lenient, Raja Bell delivered his most brutal defense of the day.

Roger tried hard to use his body and arms to separate Raja Bell, a slight miss-step and this guy would snatch the ball from his hand.

Yet, accustomed to Artest’s defense, this level of intensity wasn’t enough to make Roger panic.

Roger was controlling the time; even if he didn’t score, he wanted to use up the entire 24 seconds.

Shaq was ready, if Roger dared to penetrate the paint, he’d immediately intercept.

With the final 10 seconds of offensive time, Roger at the right 45° three-point line made continuous crossovers, Raja Bell didn’t dare to steal; if he misjudged it, Roger would just breeze past him.

Roger dribbled and suddenly accelerated toward Raja Bell’s left.

But Raja Bell judged Roger’s breakthrough direction correctly, and at the same time, Shaq moved to the side of Roger’s breakthrough, ready to protect the rim at any time.

But just as Raja Bell stuck to Roger, Roger instead used him as a pivot, spun around, and broke through from the right!

Shaq furrowed his brows; this move was the same as what he used in the first quarter to dribble past Stoudemire.

What was Roger trying to prove with this? Could anything he could do be done freely by Roger too?

No, you can’t do it!

O’Neal immediately wanted to rush to the other side to protect the rim, but Amar’e Stoudemire grabbed his jersey, preventing him from moving quickly.

Shaq shoved Stoudemire away with one hand, taking a big step to the other side of the basket.

But by the time he arrived, Roger had already jumped to the highest point, holding the basketball as if he were swinging a massive hammer toward Shaq’s head.

O’Neal was extremely proud, so he wouldn’t allow anyone to dunk over him.

Most players would give up resistance when they couldn’t stop a dunk, but O’Neal reached out to directly push Roger in mid-air.

Time slowed at this moment; Roger with the raised basketball and Shaq reaching to push appeared to approach each other at an extremely slow speed.

Everyone held their breath; when these two collided, no matter the result, the aftermath would be enough to blow up the entire stadium.

Barkley stood up in advance, mouth agape.

Old Nelson took his hands out of his pockets, clutching his head.

Dunk over Shaq?

No, it’s impossible.

“Boom!”

A loud noise restored the flow of time on the court.

But Roger’s immense momentum allowed him to crash through Shaq’s outstretched arms, ultimately finishing a one-handed slam over O’Neal!

As Roger slammed the ball in, the referee’s whistle blew, ruling O’Neal’s push against Roger as an obvious foul.

Roger completed a demolishing dunk over Shaq’s head, scoring 2+1, directly defeating this super center!

Charles Barkley squeezed his fat butt in excitement.

“A dunk of the century! This is definitively a dunk of the century! God, Roger just single-handedly killed Shaq on Shaq’s head! He scored his 50th point of the game, he’s unstoppable! Only 22 seconds left in the game, and Roger’s free throw won’t miss. I know this is only the first game of the series, but look at tonight, Shaquille O’Neal can never beat Roger in a best of seven series!”

Roger straddled Shaq, looking down at him: “What’s the matter, why don’t you come and teach me? The number one softie who only finds presence in front of rookies.”

Shaq unhappily pushed Roger away, but didn’t take any further action, merely stood up muttering curses to himself.

Roger stepped to the free throw line, amid chants of MVP from the crowd, made the free throw, raising his personal score to 51 points, helping the Warriors lead by 7 points in the final 22 seconds.

The game is decided!

Shaquille O’Neal was cautious the entire game, but he still couldn’t deal with Roger.

After that, in one possession, the Mavericks scored a quick 2 points and then quickly fouled Stoudemire.

Stoudemire made one of two free throws, but time was no longer on the Mavericks’ side.

109 to 103, Roger 51 points to Shaq’s 43 points.

In this offensive showdown, Roger had the last laugh.

After the game, Shaq was distraught, completely devoid of the arrogance he had when facing Stoudemire.

He even questioned his soul at this moment: “Can I really ever beat him again in my lifetime?”

He had no answer.

Or rather, he feared facing the answer.

(One update today with 8,200 words, have something to do in the afternoon, slightly reduced by 1,800 for half a break, will resume the full 10,000 words tomorrow)