451: 171: Asking for 10 more points isn’t too much, right?
(Requesting monthly tickets!)_4 451: 171: Asking for 10 more points isn’t too much, right?
(Requesting monthly tickets!)_4 The first quarter of the ga, Roger and Wilkins nearly broke Jamal Mashburn.
One locked him down with passion and confrontation on defense, while the other humiliated him with scoring and trash talk on offense.
There was a mont when Jamal Mashburn felt that he was not playing on the court but going through hell!
The Hawks and the lions tead up to tear apart their prey!
By the end of the first quarter, Roger had scored 14 points, while Mashburn had only one point.
The Magic led by 9 points going into the second quarter.
During the second quarter, Pat Riley, the relentless tactician, increased the playing ti of his key players, allowing his team to catch up during the Magic’s transition phase.
When Roger returned to the court, they also used a double team on him.
But Dominique Wilkins’s mid-range jump shots punished the Heat’s defense like a scalpel cutting through flesh.
The Heat’s efforts to catch up suddenly stalled, and with Wilkins’s performance, Roger regained space to shoot, scoring 11 points in the quarter.
With 25 points at halfti, Roger’s performance was impeccable.
In the third quarter, Hardaway finally exploded, hitting three 3-pointers in a row and reducing the deficit to just 1 point.
But Roger did the opposite and frequently used drives to create damage, pouring down a rain of points.
This was effective; Roger made all 8 free throws in the quarter, ending up with 13 points in the period.
With 38 points in three quarters, Pat Riley swallowed hard, as this was exactly what he feared the most!
He worried that his entire team’s firepower combined might still fall short of Roger alone!
But what was more desperate, the Heat, with their relentless effort, were still trailing by 8 points only.
This ant that Roger’s scoring would still rise.
As long as it wasn’t garbage ti, Roger was always full of energy.
In the fourth quarter, sothing Pat Riley hadn’t expected happened.
The Heat’s cornerstone, Alonzo Mourning, started to lose his edge.
To contain Mourning, Brian Hill made a crazy adjustnt, which was to let the Magic’s big n tangle with Mourning before he even crossed half-court, wearing him down and preventing him from easily entering his scoring zone.
This move was primarily because the Heat’s periter breakthrough ability was weak.
Hardaway was no longer the sprite of penetration, Allan Houston had ball-handling skills, but he was far from sufficient against Roger.
Jamal Mashburn?
He had already collapsed in the third quarter.
In this era that allowed physical play, Roger, Harper, and Wilkins alone could defend the Heat’s periter breakthroughs, with no need for inside help to protect the basket.
Consequently, Mourning played extrely uncomfortably.
He had to expend a lot of energy before even starting his offense; he didn’t have the size and physique like Shaq to forcefully establish position.
By the ti he reluctantly received the ball in the low post, his touch had already been depleted.
What about the periter?
The combination of Roger, Harper, and Wilkins directly drove the Heat’s periter players insane.
They intelligently cut off angles and knocked away long passes, then locked you down one-on-one.
These three periter players, who had never been selected for an all-defensive team, ford a barrier that left Riley in despair.
Towards the end, every Heat periter player who got the ball was at a loss, thinking only of hastily shooting.
The Magic’s defense was already enough for the Heat to handle, and then, paired with Roger’s relentless offense.
The result was, the Magic thrashed the Heat 97 to 77.
Actually, the score gap wasn’t big until the first three quarters, but after Brian Hill changed the defensive strategy in the fourth quarter, the Heat were completely extinguished.
Roger had 51 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block for the ga.
Yes, he really scored 50 points.
Yet again, his score exceeded half of the entire team’s.
But Roger, who put up these explosive stats, looked indifferent.
Facing an MVP candidate with 40 points, plus the fact that the Heat were state rivals, wasn’t an extra 10 points reasonable?
At the end of the ga, Bill Walton had already verbally awarded Roger the MVP trophy:
“If anyone thinks Roger doesn’t deserve the MVP, just show them these gas.
Whether the criteria for MVP is the impact on his team or individual statistics, Roger absolutely qualifies.
In fact, no one else this season is more deserving!”
After the ga, Hannah, as always, interviewed Roger, asking him how he rated Jamal Mashburn’s performance today.
Roger looked up, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 turnovers.
Not bad, at least it went smoothly.
“That’s an awkward question, Hannah.
I thought with our years of relationship, you wouldn’t put in a difficult position in a post-ga interview.
I don’t know how to rate him, but if I am the truth, then he is the distortion.”
“Is that nickna you gave to Jamal?”
“You could say so.
I usually na players based on their performance; that’s my naming style.”
“One last question, how far do you think your team is from being in championship form this season?”
“Considering the Heat were only 20 points away from punishing us, we’re not yet at our best, but we’re close.” Roger said sincerely, shrugging at the cara.
He definitely wasn’t boasting.
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