Champion Creed-Chapter 921 - 304: Ending? Drowned in one’s own blood! (Requesting monthly votes!)

In his first comeback game, Roger set a new career high for single-game scoring.

Scoring 64 points in a single game, even the most fervent Hawks fans couldn’t have imagined such an explosive comeback against the Mavericks.

The most painful aspect of the game for Dallas people was that Nowitzki scored 35, and a hot-handed Nash had 29 points and 12 assists.

But when the two best stars on your team have given their best performance and you still can’t win, the feeling of despair becomes particularly intense.

The better Nowitzki and Nash performed, the more desperate the Mavericks fans became.

And for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the only emotion stronger than despair was anger.

After the game, Mark Cuban was so angry that he smashed his giant plasma TV when he got home.

This young team owner has always been unable to control his temper. In just two years in the NBA, he has accumulated over a million US Dollars in fines for various controversial statements and outspoken outbursts.

People think it’s only a matter of time before he becomes the first team owner to punch a referee.

Even Dirk Nowitzki, who generally gets along well with him, couldn’t take it and once advised him in front of the media.

"He must learn how to control himself, just like the players. We can’t just lose our temper on or off the court; I think he has to learn that too. He needs to improve in that area, rather than spending the entire game yelling at the referees or the NBA officials. It doesn’t help the game, and sometimes it makes us quite embarrassed."

Of course, Cuban wasn’t angry with Nowitzki; he respected the German very, very much.

But apart from Nowitzki, he couldn’t control his temper around anyone else.

Like tonight.

His pregnant wife was startled by Cuban’s action of smashing the TV. Covering her belly, she shrank back in the living room, not daring to speak.

Cuban immediately realized his mistake and hugged his wife: "Oh my god, I’m sorry, honey, sorry, I just... damn it, that bastard!"

"What happened?"

Cuban’s wife, Tiffany, is not a basketball fan. Even though her husband spent nearly 300 million US Dollars to buy a basketball team, she still had no interest in basketball.

So she didn’t watch tonight’s game and naturally didn’t know how Roger, in front of Cuban, beat his favorite German, scoring a bloody 64 points and openly humiliating him.

"Nothing, nothing. I just feel... too many people are using plasma TVs now; what kind of class are we if we have the same TV as everyone else? I want to change the TV."

Of course, Tiffany knew he was talking nonsense: "Mark, you can’t always be this angry. As soon as you get involved in basketball, you seem like a different person."

"Of course, of course. It won’t happen next time, I promise."

Mark Cuban calmed down, and only after accompanying his pregnant wife to sleep did he return to his study to continue being angry.

As a basketball fan, Cuban naturally knew what kind of glory Roger created in the ’90s. When everyone thought Michael Jordan would ascend the throne, this 18-year-old boy from China kicked him down and took the crown himself.

But a true sports fan enjoys the feeling of competition; that’s why Reggie Miller, with no championships his entire career, still earns fans’ respect because he spent his whole career competing against the best.

Similarly, as a sports fan, Mark Cuban wished his team could compete with the best and take down Roger and win the O’Brien Trophy—his biggest goal.

He indeed succeeded halfway, as, since he became the Mavericks’ owner, the team’s exposure exceeded that of the past 20 years combined, and the Mavericks have become an undeniable force in the West.

But tonight, Roger’s massacre made him feel like all his efforts were in vain.

Roger was powerful as if he were a fully armed soldier, while Cuban was a savage wielding a spear.

Despite his painstaking efforts to build a roster, sparing no expense to bring in any player and investing immense passion in his team, his team seemed like ants before Roger.

Cuban was deeply shocked, his life gliding effortlessly upwards, who would have thought that the kid who once bartended in a bar could now become one of the most famous businessmen in Beacon of Freedom?

Yet in front of Roger, he felt small and failed for the first time, and his once-easy life came to an abrupt halt on the basketball court.

He couldn’t swallow this disgrace; he desperately wanted to defeat that bastard Roger. However, the despairing fact was, unless the Mavericks reached the finals, the two teams wouldn’t meet again this season.

It was like a nail driven into the heart, constantly causing pain without any remedy.

Mark Cuban drank a glass of whiskey, trying to calm down.

This was not a problem that could be solved in the short term; being anxious was useless.

Cuban’s view was somewhat similar to Steve Jones’s; he also believed that it was time for the League to reshuffle.

Considering Roger’s current relationship with that bunch of idiots in Atlanta, his departure seemed likely.

And the strained relationship between Kobe and Shaq reminded the world that the breakup of the OK duo was also a probable event.

The two teams that had dominated the league in the past few years were both likely to disappear come next summer.

Where would Roger go? Could he find a team more competitive than the Hawks?

Which one of Shaq or Kobe would leave Los Angeles? Could they dominate the West on their own?