381: 153: There is no denying that he is a great player (looking for monthly votes!) 381: 153: There is no denying that he is a great player (looking for monthly votes!) Shaq, like a fierce beast, roared skyward as if he could swallow a 14-inch pizza in one gulp.
Roger patted Shaq’s backside, calm as the world’s greatest Beast Tamer.
Sharp breakthroughs, elegant passes, hammer-like finishes, the connection between Roger and Shaq remained unstoppable.
This historic duo could still easily dismantle any team’s defense.
“Roger and Shaq are absolutely the most terrifying inside-outside combo in history, bar none!
With no disrespect to Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, but their offensive power in the ’71-’72 season was nothing compared to Shaq and Roger!” Steve Jones brought out historical greats to illustrate the greatness of Roger and Shaq.
In fact, he didn’t need to say much, as the dominance of this duo was already terrifying last season.
Even with Shaq playing only 50 games, the team still achieved 68 wins, and out of four playoff rounds, three were sweeps—only Michael Jordan could contend with the Big Aristotle and Big Plato.
It was their dominance that gave other teams the drive to bolster their rosters crazily in the summer of ’96.
The talent of the Rockets’ big three was already frightening, but the start of the game was enough to show that their talent still fell short against the Magic.
However, what really surprised people at the start of the game wasn’t the talent already shown off by Shaq and Roger.
What surprised everyone was that the team, which had been chaotic during the off-season and had played a messy preseason, did not fall apart.
According to Shaq and the movie’s highlights, they both had a “talk” with Roger before the season.
Now everyone is curious about what kind of talk Roger had with Wilkins and Shaq.
Why did Wilkins, who was scolded and collared on the practice court by Roger, suddenly become a team player who cared so much about defense?
He’d never cared about defense in his lifetime!
Why had Shaquille O’Neal become so focused, a complete turnaround from the preseason?
Bob Costas also talked about it: “This could belong to basketball history’s ‘Guayaquil Talks’.
We can make all sorts of guesses; we may never know what they talked about.
But the end result is visible, the players of the Orlando Magic are now only focused on crushing the opponents in front of them.”
Even the NBA entertainment department staff following the Magic were eager to know the answer, because the talk between the three didn’t take place in the locker room or on the practice court.
If the Magic truly succeed in clinching a three-peat, that talk will be the key to everything.
From a documentary perspective, it’s a suspenseful narrative moment.
The game continued, and of course, the Houston Rockets weren’t intimidated by the talent of Roger and Shaq; courage to overcome the odds was what this team never lacked.
This time, the Rockets didn’t look for Barkley, but instead sent the ball down low to the most reliable Olajuwon.
Dream, trying to push inside against O’Neal, found no advantage in strength, and pushing Shaq, a land tank, was a totally different concept from pushing Gary’s 18-year-old bride.
Compared to the ’95 finals, Shaq had put on even more weight, making it very difficult for Dream to display dominance in the low post.
So Dream chose a turnaround jumper, but unfortunately, because it was too far from the basket and the move depended too much on a soft touch, the basketball ultimately clinked off the front of the rim.
Dream’s first shot also missed.
Whether it was Flying Pig or Dream, both showed signs of aging in their first play of the new season.
Flying Pig’s explosiveness wasn’t as invincible; his first step and speed both had declined significantly.
While Dream’s physical decline wasn’t as obvious, a comparison with O’Neal revealed a huge gap.
Their ability to power through defense was no longer as formidable as before.
On the Magic’s side, if you look at the average age, they’re not young either, but the two core players are young enough.
This means that in terms of powering through, the Magic will always be more efficient than the Rockets.
And such an advantage would last the entire game.
With six minutes left in the first quarter, the Rockets, riding on two three-pointers from Mario Elie and Matt Maloney, narrowed the gap to just 2 points.
If they stopped one more shot, the Rockets would have the chance to tie or take the lead.
At that moment, Roger, with the ball against Drexler, simply used a strong drive to push back his opponent followed by a quick stop and jump shot, easily sinking the ball.
Roger, now weighing 98 kilograms, not only wouldn’t lose in physical confrontations but had an advantage against many guards.
After three seasons, in his fourth professional season, Roger finally reached his ideal weight.
Now, the increase in weight gave him a tangible advantage in the game.
98 kilograms was enough.
He didn’t want to exceed 100 kilograms, which might affect his smooth movements and agility.
Drexler could no longer guard Roger at all; already nearly blown out by Roger in 1995, he was even more helpless now.
Roger’s hard-fought isolation play pushed the Magic’s lead to 4 points, breaking the Rockets’ comeback momentum.
Eight minutes into the second quarter, a similar situation unfolded.
A miraculous trailing three-pointer by Barkley and a spot-up long shot by Drexler helped the Rockets close the gap to 3 points.
Although they had acquired Flying Pig, the Rockets still followed a One Star and Four Shooters strategy, remaining the team most fond of shooting threes in the league.
Even Barkley took an average of 4.5 three-point attempts per game during the Rockets’ preseason, the highest in his career.