133: 076: The Complete Collapse of Michael’s Myth (Thanks to the generous reward from the family’s head of household!)_3 133: 076: The Complete Collapse of Michael’s Myth (Thanks to the generous reward from the family’s head of household!)_3 At halftime, NBC sideline reporter Hannah interviewed Phil Jackson, “What does the team need to do in the second half to turn the game around?”
The Zen Master adjusted his glasses, “Stop Roger, stop Roger, stop Roger!”
The Zen Master spouted a load of nonsense; everyone knew that was the way to change the game, but the question was, who could stop Roger tonight?
In the locker room, O’Neal had completely forgotten about his foul trouble.
He excitedly lay on the ground, “Step over me, Roger, I really want to know what Jordan felt like back then.”
Roger’s performance in the first half was flawless, but his opponent was none other than Jordan.
Jordan hadn’t managed to throw his counterattack punch in the second quarter; instead, he was left bruised by Roger’s several sharp jabs.
So, he had to make a move in the second half.
In the second half, Jordan continued his excellent performance, even though he had rested for only one minute in the whole first half.
But Roger was equally impressive, and the score between the two teams was still tense.
Both Roger and Jordan’s scores were soaring madly.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Roger had pushed his personal score up to 40 points!
Earlier in the season, Jordan had already put on two 40+ point performances, something frequently mentioned by Nike-endorsed media, who believed Roger couldn’t match Jordan’s scoring explosion.
But today, such propaganda was self-defeating.
The tense situation lasted until the eighth minute of the fourth quarter, when, facing Jordan’s backdoor breakthrough against Harper, O’Neal chose to help defend and block.
But Jordan used a beautiful up-and-under move to avoid the defense and score the basket, drawing a foul from O’Neal in the process.
That was O’Neal’s sixth foul of the game!
That meant his game was over for today.
However, commentator Fratello didn’t believe the Magic would lose because of this, “Shaq scored 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked three shots tonight, but he was passive throughout under the Bulls’ offense strategy.
The bad news for Orlando Magic is that they’ve completely lost Shaq.
The good news is, they still have Roger!”
NBC’s commentators were right, O’Neal fouling out was something people anticipated.
However, with him fouling out, nobody assumed the Bulls would have an easy pass.
And that was the confidence Roger gave to people!
But nonetheless, it was still very beneficial for the Bulls.
Now, they just needed to focus on resolving one trouble.
There were four minutes left in the game, with the Magic leading by eight points.
These four minutes without O’Neal were the Bulls’ last hope.
Jordan scored both free throws, narrowing the gap to six points.
Jordan’s performance today was equally terrifying, also scoring over 40+.
This was his second consecutive game scoring 40+.
Currently, both he and Roger had 44 points.
His heavy punch was about to be thrown, assuming he could withstand Roger’s next strike
The Magic Team attacked, Roger continued to play pick-and-roll with Horace Grant.
Grant’s screen was very solid, making it hard even for Pippen to get around quickly.
But Roger’s attack wouldn’t be so easily successful; after shaking off Pippen, Roger still had to face Chris Webber who switched over for defense.
But frankly, this was just adding an easy step to Roger’s scoring process.
In front of Webber, Roger slowed down, pretended to turn to pass, but then suddenly spun halfway around and sped past the top draft pick.
Yes, it was just a simple change of pace, but it was enough to confuse a defensively weak Webber.
After getting past Webber, Roger went straight to the basket and scored with a one-handed slam.
46 points for him personally, Magic led again by eight points.
Jordan couldn’t stand it anymore; Webber’s defense today was a disaster.
He let O’Neal, who was deep in foul trouble and reduced playtime, still walk away with 16 points, and his switching to guard Roger was almost never successful.
In Jordan’s view, if Webber’s defense hadn’t been so poor, the success rate of Roger and Grant’s pick-and-roll wouldn’t have been so high.
Not being able to turn the scores around was already frustrating for Jordan, and Webber’s defense was undoubtedly the spark to the powder keg:
“Why can’t you even handle this simple defense?
You’re a complete waste!
Damn it, why did I even have any expectations of you?”
Jordan shouted at Webber in front of the live national camera, ruthlessly exposing the Nike-promoted lie that “Michael is a better teammate than Shaq.”
Webber silently took the scolding, but Roger suddenly interjected, “Sounds like you’ve managed to guard me, Chris at least didn’t let me step over him.”
Jordan ignored him and continued to glare fiercely at Webber.
Jordan hoped to toughen up Webber’s defense, to make him take the game more seriously.
But people are different; some become tougher under pressure, others just get more nervous.
A round later, Webber made a mistake.
As he pivoted, he saw Jordan cutting inside, but it seemed that Jordan gave him a look suggesting he might run back outside to the three-point line.
Webber wasn’t sure what Jordan really intended, he only knew if he missed this cut inside, he would be chewed out.
Under high pressure, Webber still passed it, but as he released the ball, Jordan pushed Harper away and ran back to the outside.
This caused the ball to go straight to Harper, leading to a critical turnover for the Bulls!