660: 230: You will repent for everything you did today (asking for monthly tickets!)_3 660: 230: You will repent for everything you did today (asking for monthly tickets!)_3 Spoelstra was very uneasy.
Although Spree hadn’t caused any trouble on the team last season and wasn’t as willful as Dennis Rodman,
he was definitely no pushover.
That guy had always been arrogant, and this ti, facing Roger, who knew what he would say.
“Roger, ignore Latrell, just watch the ga,” Spoelstra reminded.
“Yeah, I don’t care about him,”
The ga started quickly, with Roger and Garnett sitting in the front row, while Spree and a few friends he brought along took the third row.
Neither side bothered with fake greetings since they truly weren’t close.
Once the ga started, Shawn Marion quickly showed off his outstanding defensive skills.
Up against Tim Jas from the University of Miami, a late first-round rookie, Marion ca up and gave him a solid thump right off the bat.
Though Marion was only 201 cm tall, his short neck ant his height was actually quite sufficient.
Besides, Marion’s wingspan was a frightening 223 cm, a full 22 cm more than his height.
With such a physique, he had a significant advantage in both vertical and horizontal defensive coverage.
Marion thwarted Tim Jas, but the basketball ended up in the hands of another player from the Heat’s sumr league team, the second-round pick Rodney Buford.
Rodney Buford, hailing from Creighton University, led his team back into the Madness of March after seven years last season and made it to the second round.
As a shooter, he had an impressively high three-point shooting percentage of 44% last season, averaging 18 points per ga.
The Heat’s position for him was also clear: an experienced senior shooter.
Rodney Buford didn’t disappoint, hitting his first three-point attempt from outside the line with steadiness.
At this point, Spree stood up and yelled, “Yay!
Hahaha, crush them, just like we did in the playoffs!”
Garnett turned back and glared at Spree, who fearlessly locked eyes with Garnett and said, “What!?”
“Damn idiot,” Garnett muttered displeased.
Roger paid no mind to Spree.
If that lunatic were normal, he wouldn’t have had repeated conflicts with teammates and constant off-court troubles.
Soon on offense, Marion used a backdoor cut to easily complete an alley-oop combo with his teammate.
Marion wasn’t a solo player, even in college his assisted scoring rate was high.
On offense, his biggest strength was the execution of off-ball tactics.
However, after Marion’s score, the Heat imdiately counterattacked.
Maybe buoyed by his successful previous shot, Rodney Buford boldly attempted another three-pointer this round!
Swish!
“A beautiful basket, could Rodney beco the Heat’s second-round surprise?” the live comntator cheered for Rodney Buford.
But there was soone even more excited than the live comntator.
“Hahahaha, they are no match, just like the Atlanta Hawks!
Even with Roger on their team, they are no match, let alone when that trash isn’t there!”
Spree deliberately stood up and shouted, and the cara’s focus quickly shifted to him.
“Shut up, sit down, and watch the ga, idiot!” Garnett stood up and shouted at Spree.
“Did your owner never teach you not to bark at people, dog?”
Everyone took notice of the commotion at courtside, and the attention there surpassed that given to the ga itself.
Roger grabbed Garnett, not wanting the Reebok-sponsored ga to be embarrassed.
But he couldn’t just act cowardly, so he turned his head towards Spree and said, “You better watch your mouth, or I won’t spare you next season.”
“Who are you trying to scare, loser?
Do you think I’m so kind of softy like Kobe Bryant?
You know Nate Hughes?
That guy built like Mike Tyson.
In 1993, he didn’t know how to show respect in training camp, so I easily took him down.
Of course, if you want to experience sothing different, I can satisfy you as well,”
Sprewell put his hand inside his clothes and made a gesture like he was holding a gun.
“Bragging about taking down a nobody?
You should be thinking about where to scrounge up your alimony tomorrow, you stray dog breeding all over the place.”
Roger’s words hit a nerve with Sprewell.
As soone who would never let a dog out-bite him and lose, Sprewell ca down from the stands, seemingly ready to start a fight.
Roger, calm and collected, reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of cigars, taking one out.
Just as Spree was about to approach Roger, several bodyguards imdiately intervened.
His friends tried to step in and help, but they too were stopped by the on-site security staff.
“Ha, Roger, what’s this?
Too scared to face ?”
Garnett lit a cigar and passed it to Roger, who put it in his mouth, took a puff, and then blew smoke in Sprewell’s face: “Ever seen a King dirty his hands to touch a stray dog?
Get this idiot thrown out.”
“Hey, you can’t do that, my friends and I bought tickets!”
“You might want to read the fine print on the tickets to see under what circumstances we have the right to kick fans out.
By the way, the tickets also state that smoking and lighting up cigars in the venue isn’t allowed, but…” Roger deliberately took another puff and blew smoke in Sprewell’s face again.
“But I can break those rules because this is my ga, my territory.
That’s the difference between a King and a stray dog, get it!?
Get lost, out of my sight.
I can assure you, next season you will regret everything you did today!”
With the cigar still in his mouth, Roger waved his hand, and the bodyguards and security personnel forcibly removed Spree and his friends from the arena.
The commotion had already caused quite a stir, so the players on the court had long stopped playing and were all watching the sidelines.
After dealing with Spree, Roger, cigar in mouth, turned and looked at Marion: “Shawn.”
“Roger?”
“The victory cigars are lit early, don’t let waste them.”
“Okay…
okay, Gaoler.”
For so reason, a great sense of oppression suddenly told Marion: you better agree to all the Gaoler’s demands.
The ga resud, and Roger and Garnett sat back down.
KG was still frowning: “Hey, could that guy be waiting outside the arena to cause trouble?
I can call my bodyguards over too.”
“No need, Latrell is crazy, but he’s no fool.
What’s he going to do?
Give up a multimillion-dollar salary to shoot and then go to jail?
He won’t.
He can only seek revenge next season.”
“Then you better not let them win next season.”
“Win?” Roger’s expression turned fierce, like a gang boss ready to kill.
“After losing the ga this year, I tried to keep myself calm.
You really think I don’t care?
To hell with that, I’m not just planning to win.
The Miami Heat just had a nice dream, but now, they are going to plumt into the dark depths of reality.”
Afterward, Marion, with a stat line of 22 points, 15 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks, led the team to victory.
Well, he is the man who had many fans saying, “If Marion and Jas swapped teams in the finals that year, Wade would likely have won the championship.”
During the post-ga interview, Marion told the reporters, “I don’t know if you all rember that popular saying from a few years back, ‘Don’t make The Truth angry.’ If I lost, Roger would be very unhappy, and that’s why I played so hard today.
I have to keep my focus at 120% in the ga, no matter what.”
“What do you think will happen next season when you face the Miami Heat in a regular ga again?”
“Oh, I think…
it might be as brutal as a war in the ancient Roman gladiatorial arenas, maybe even more brutal.”
That evening, all the major sports dia outlets extensively reported the conflict between Roger and Sprewell during the Sumr League.
“SportsCenter’s” Keith Olbermann recounted the entire process of the incident before summarizing:
“Roger’s personal feud with Miami, his battle for the throne with Tim Duncan, his ongoing war with Shaq, and his quest to reestablish a dynasty.
I think Roger is surely going to be very busy next season.
But believe , in a complete, normal season, with the Atlanta Hawks’ roster healthy, I can describe Roger with a classic line from Jack Nicholson in the movie ‘A Few Good n’: You Can’t Handle The Truth!
(You cannot handle The Truth!)
If the ’90s belonged to Roger and MJ, then the new millennium will be Roger’s era alone.
We watch and wait.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)