Champion Creed-Chapter 947 - 310: Admit it, you are living in my era! (Requesting monthly votes!)_2

If Michael Bibby can score 22.7 points per game through pick-and-roll, then why don’t Roger and Pierce try it?

Shaq’s defense in Game 1 was very active, and he maintained that activity in Game 2, running out of the paint for every pick and roll, trying to prevent the Hawks’ pick-and-roll offense from being effective.

But Shaq’s aggressive defense caused an unexpected problem, which was getting into foul trouble.

When O’Neal has to face Roger or Pierce’s charges directly, he inevitably fouls them.

With 2 minutes and 03 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Roger broke through using a screen again, facing O’Neal once more.

Shaq raised both arms and walked out of the paint, Roger stopped quickly and lifted the ball above his head. O’Neal didn’t dare gamble on Roger’s shooting touch, so he jumped to block.

But just after making the decision, he cursed inwardly; Roger indeed only pretended to shoot!

O’Neal knew he might be tricked, but you have to guard against Roger’s shots, which is the dilemma of facing top offensive players. No matter how you choose, in the end, you’re dead.

Roger pulled back the basketball, then jumped into the air as he collided with Shaq, releasing the ball after contact.

The basketball went into the net, the referee blew the whistle, Roger got a 2+1 chance, while Shaquille O’Neal received his sixth foul of the game!

Landing, Roger bent over with a smile, glanced at O’Neal’s expression: "Old buddy, you’re slow."

O’Neal also glanced at Roger, he wanted to curse, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Because compared to Kobe, it’s really hard to call Roger a bitch!

Grant Hill watched O’Neal walk down the court, fists tightly clenched. Tonight, he saw a harsh truth — even if Shaq defends seriously, he can’t show enough defensive impact when facing targeted pick-and-roll. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Many veteran fans surely remember how Roger and Shaq jointly defended Michael Jordan back in Orlando, but now, in 2002, Roger is still Roger, but Shaq is no longer the same Shaq.

In the Orlando days, Shaq was so agile, he didn’t seem clumsy even when defending out of the three-second zone. But now? The uncontrolled weight gain has given Shaq terrifying paint dominance, but he’s lost the threat of help defense.

Every time he lunges out to defend the opponent’s mid-range shots, he looks like a ridiculous uncoordinated clown.

Today, Shaq’s outside defense was aggressive enough, but Roger and Pierce’s shooting accuracy wasn’t suppressed much. More often, Robert Horry had to come out to provide help defense for it to be effective. Even so, Shaq was still forced to six fouls.

Marv Albert also noticed this issue.

"Do you know, back in the days if there was a player forced into the angle between Roger and Shaq, he couldn’t hope to score with a jump shot, even if he was Michael Jordan. Back then, alone their defense wasn’t top-notch, but when teaming up they could still trouble top players. Now, Roger is one of the best perimeter stoppers in the league, often dealing with defensive problems without inside help, but Shaq?"

Grant Hill swallowed, Shaq’s defensive problems were truly unsolvable.

And this flaw would continue throughout the series.

It’s quite frustrating, knowing how others will deal with you, yet you can do nothing about it.

After O’Neal was forced to leave, the match was essentially decided.

Last season’s finals Roger already proved one thing — big3 can’t beat me without any one of them.

In the subsequent games, without Shaq’s inside presence, Kobe’s offensive prowess significantly diminished.

Though not incapable of scoring, his firepower couldn’t be compared to Roger’s.

Roger scored 41 points throughout the game with fast attacks and plenty of picks and rolls, leading the team to a 107-99 victory, tying the series score at 1-1.

Roger scored 41 points in the game, and after the game when shaking hands with Grant Hill, he softly said: "Your counterattacks weren’t intense at all, they even made me feel a bit bored."

This sentence made Grant Hill’s spine feel a chill, while the match result terrified the Lakers fans.

All Los Angeles people still remember last season’s finals, Roger’s scores in six games were 35, 42, 47, 45, 50, and 36. Roger scored over 30 in the first match and couldn’t solve the problem, then immediately unleashed over 40 points in the second match, continuing for four games.

Will this be a repeat of last season’s finals?

However, the total score is still tied at 1-1, so Lakers fans can still look forward to the three home games at Staples.

Yet, the post-game locker room interview revealed a worse issue than Roger’s awakening — the cooperation between Shaq and Kobe that barely lasted two games was completely broken by one defeat.

Losing the game already makes everyone resentful, and Kobe and Shaq easily vent such resentment on each other.

During the interview, these two were making sarcastic remarks to each other.

Kobe’s locker is right next to Shaq’s, but when facing reporters’ questions he still deliberately shouted: "What’s wrong with our defense? You should ask someone else, because I also don’t understand why he keeps being fooled by those completely obvious fake moves, those unnecessary fouls at least gave the Hawks 6 extra points! If he wasn’t so stupid, we would probably be celebrating a victory!"