838: 280: Forgot to tell you all, 3 people are still not enough (asking for monthly tickets!)_2 838: 280: Forgot to tell you all, 3 people are still not enough (asking for monthly tickets!)_2 Roger immediately ran forward, keeping pace with the fast-retreating Carter.
Seizing the close moment, Roger naturally wouldn’t stay silent: “Vince, didn’t you want to dunk on my head?
Why are you suddenly obsessed with gambling on threes today?”
“That’s not gambling, plus I’d rather win the game than just dunk on you.”
“You might want to think about something more practical, like getting a good night’s sleep tonight.”
“Roger, Michael never talks trash when he’s behind.” Carter said on purpose, reminding Roger he was still trailing by 17 points.
But such a taunt was too weak for Roger: “So damn Michael.
Jordan has never beaten me, not even once!”
Carter was left speechless; you could use Michael Jordan to silence 99% of the people in this league.
Jordan has never beaten Roger in the playoffs, and Roger’s achievement is highly convincing.
The Raptors retreated quickly on defense, striving to push the Hawks’ offense into congested areas, denying any easy scoring opportunities.
However, their plan fell apart on the first defensive play; Roger started the third quarter with a pick-and-roll with Big Ben, driving straight to the hoop.
Roger’s touch today was average, not bad, but not exceptional either.
Therefore, driving to the basket was Roger’s best option at the moment.
Chris Childs was about to bypass the screen, but Big Ben discreetly moved a step, fully engaging Chris Childs.
Oakley shook his head, Big Ben had mastered the fundamentals beautifully!
But the problem with driving to the basket was facing the solid front of the Raptors’ twin big men.
Antonio Davis and Charles Oakley weren’t the tallest, but they were incredibly tough.
The Raptors followed the Hawks’ path, stockpiling agile and tough players, and this strategy was effective.
Nowadays, only Shaq and Duncan are considered to have true low-post destructive power, and both teams are in the West.
So in the East, it’s trendy to assemble more mobile, smaller big men.
Since Antonio Davis possesses exceptional mobility, if Roger drove and kicked out, he could quickly cover Marion.
Now, Marion could only hit threes when open; any disturbance would significantly lower his shot accuracy.
Roger could very well pass the ball to Marion, as theoretically, Marion has a chance.
Even if they lost, it would just be that Roger gave his all, and Marion fell short.
But this self-deceptive approach was meaningless, so after driving into the paint, Roger attacked the rim directly.
Antonio Davis and Charles Oakley immediately leaped to block.
Roger crashed straight into Antonio Davis, whose muscular physique rivaled that of David Robinson; he was solid as a steel plate.
The next second, Roger collided with Oakley.
Even though Roger had improved his physical confrontation ability years ago, faced with such obstruction, he still inclined his body in the air, unable to gain shooting space under the raised arms of Antonio Davis.
Roger’s body started to tilt downward, and just as his toes were about to touch the ground, finding the angle, Roger lobbed the ball towards the basket.
Antonio Davis turned to protect the rebound, but the ball went in precisely off the board.
The defensive barrier formed by Antonio Davis and Charles Oakley was forcibly broken by Roger!
The fallen Roger immediately got up, deliberately muttering loudly: “Two guys aren’t enough!”
The deficit was 15 points, but the Raptors still held the advantage.
The Raptors’ offense followed, Carter wanted to drive inside, but Pierce forced him to stop at the edge of the three-second zone.
Pierce wasn’t the type who had to score; when his team needed it, he was more than willing to cut down his shots and play all-out defense.
Unable to find an opportunity, Carter passed the ball to the mid-range Antonio Davis, whose mid-range shot was a powerful and efficient weapon.
But Roger sneaked from behind Antonio Davis and stole the ball!
After grabbing the ball, Roger quickly spun and pushed forward, with Carter and Chris Childs in hot pursuit.
Facing another 1V2 situation, Roger remained calm.
He first initiated contact, pushing off Chris Childs, then jumped and executed a massive air-change, dodging Carter’s aerial block, and softly lifted the ball into the basket!
The deficit narrowed to 13 points, and Roger shouted in Carter’s face: “Two guys aren’t enough!”
Carter gritted his teeth, sensing the game’s “momentum” gradually being stolen by Roger.
Bob Costas looked at the score while commentating: “Before this, no one had ever beaten an opponent that broke a half-time three-point record.
But don’t forget, Roger specializes in doing the impossible!”
Beside him, Bill Walton joked: “Vince is also about to do something no one has ever done; he’ll become the first to hit 9 threes in a half and still lose the game.”
For the rest of the game, Carter faced troubles on the offensive end.
Not only did he lose his touch from three-point range, but his mid-range shots frequently clanked.
In the third quarter, he only made 3 out of 8 shots, with threes landing 1 out of 4, scoring just 7 points with a 37% completion rate.
Although he had already scored 46 points in the game, his third-quarter performance was far from good.
It was Charles Oakley and Antonio Davis who sustained the Raptors’ lead; they were extremely active defensively and unexpectedly used mid-range jumpers to shoulder the Raptors’ offense.