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 game, 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 moment when Jamal Mashburn felt that he was not playing on the court but going through hell!
The Hawks and the lions teamed 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 time 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 halftime, 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 meant that Roger’s scoring would still rise.
As long as it wasn’t garbage time, Roger was always full of energy.
In the fourth quarter, something 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 adjustment, which was to let the Magic’s big men 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 perimeter 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.
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 perimeter breakthroughs, with no need for inside help to protect the basket.
Consequently, Mourning played extremely 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 time he reluctantly received the ball in the low post, his touch had already been depleted.
What about the perimeter?
The combination of Roger, Harper, and Wilkins directly drove the Heat’s perimeter players insane.
They intelligently cut off angles and knocked away long passes, then locked you down one-on-one.
These three perimeter players, who had never been selected for an all-defensive team, formed a barrier that left Riley in despair.
Towards the end, every Heat perimeter 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 game.
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 game, Bill Walton had already verbally awarded Roger the MVP trophy:
“If anyone thinks Roger doesn’t deserve the MVP, just show them these games.
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 game, 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 me in a difficult position in a post-game interview.
I don’t know how to rate him, but if I am the truth, then he is the distortion.”
“Is that nickname you gave to Jamal?”
I usually name 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 camera.
He definitely wasn’t boasting.