338: 139: You know, Roger is the best player on the Magic Team (asking for monthly passes!)_4 338: 139: You know, Roger is the best player on the Magic Team (asking for monthly passes!)_4 The Bulls without Roger had missed the Finals for the second year in a row, proving that without Roger, the Chicago Bulls were nothing.
The era of Asian dominance in the NBA had officially begun.
We conducted a poll asking “If there was an MVP trophy for the Eastern Conference Finals, who do you think most deserves the award?” A whopping 99% of fans chose Roger, with only 1% voting for Shaq.
— “Orlando Sentinel”.
The whole world was focused on Chicago, the host city for the decisive Game 7, and Roger was undoubtedly the hottest figure in Chicago.
You have to know that it’s May 1996.
The Olympic torch is being passed through the city of Chicago for the Atlanta Games, and Princess Diana has just visited.
Yet, Roger’s popularity far surpassed these two events.
Such was his immense influence; from the moment he defeated Jordan for the second time, his influence had reached a completely different level than before.
Almost all media were praising Roger, and all columnists across the media admitted Roger’s greatness.
No writer or commentator would come out at this time to showcase their unique ideas, because any criticism towards Roger at this time would be extremely foolish.
However, while the media unanimously praised Roger, they almost never spoke well of O’Neal.
Even his poor performance became a foil to Roger’s greatness.
If it wasn’t for Shaq being so bad, Roger wouldn’t have appeared so impressive in yesterday’s Game 7.
O’Neal was quite annoyed about this; as someone with a child-like personality, he was almost at odds with all media.
Especially the Sentinel, he absolutely loathed that newspaper for always conducting those silly phone polls!
And this kind of public opinion also gave George Karl, coach of the Magic Team’s Finals opponent, Seattle SuperSonics, a whiff of opportunity.
To his mind, that might be something exploitable.
That afternoon, the Seattle SuperSonics’ players were about to fly over 4,000 kilometers to Orlando, the City of a Thousand Lakes, to directly prepare for the Finals in Orlando.
Before departure, reporters interviewed the team’s head coach, George Karl.
“George, how would you evaluate the just-concluded Eastern Conference Finals?”
But we will find a way to deal with him.
I know the outside world doesn’t think much of us, they even say whoever comes out of the East will be the champions.
But it doesn’t matter, you can say whatever, the outcome of the games is never decided by the media and public opinion.”
“You said Roger played a great series, what about Shaq?”
“Shaq is a tough guy, he’s doing what he does best every night, destroying the opponent’s paint and grabbing all the rebounds.
But you know, Roger is the best player on the Magic Team.
He’s done everything that a great player should do.
He’s been efficient on both ends of the floor throughout the playoffs; he’s undoubtedly the best for the Magic.
I think Shaq wouldn’t have any objection to that, right?”
George Karl’s scheming was so cunning, Jason Kidd could hear it all the way in Dallas.
Such a divisive strategy was too sinister, and if he ever became a coach, he would definitely disdain to use such tactics.
And so, George Karl flew with his best defensive player to Orlando, to the Magic World.
To him, the Orlando Magic were just like Disney World, a bubble with a fancy shell that would pop at the slightest touch.
Beating them would be too easy!
Definitely easier than he had imagined!