842: 281: This is a script other teams cannot resist (asking for monthly votes!)_3 842: 281: This is a script other teams cannot resist (asking for monthly votes!)_3 He has to keep racing down this victory path.
4 to 0, the Hawks swept the Toronto Raptors without incident, smoothly advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Roger is anxious, eager to get to the Finals.
However, the Eastern Conference Finals can’t start right away because the Hawks’ opponent has not been determined yet.
After four games, the series between the 76ers and the Bucks was tied at 2-2.
While Roger and Carter were trading 50-point performances, AI and Ray Allen were also lighting up the series.
This was a predetermined tone, as AI and Ray Allen’s personal animosity started back in college.
Initially, during their freshman year, Iverson and Ray Allen were both selected for the United States team to participate in the World University Games.
The games themselves were uneventful, as they easily won the world championship.
After winning the championship and returning to the hotel, AI quickly fell asleep, while an exhilarated Ray Allen, in collaboration with teammates, played a prank by smearing shampoo and peanut butter all over Iverson.
Clearly, Ray Allen did not understand this kid from the streets of Hampton.
When Iverson woke up, he didn’t think it was a joke.
He felt bullied because of his small stature, so he grabbed a fire extinguisher to chase after Ray Allen.
Naturally, no bloodshed occurred; both parties were quickly separated with their teammates’ efforts.
However, AI laid down a harsh word: “I’m gonna deal with you on the college court!”
AI knew that his Georgetown University and Ray Allen’s University of Connecticut were both in the Big East Conference.
Hence, a series of competitions between the two started, with wins and losses against each other during the regular season.
At that time, there was even a saying: “Whoever wins between Ray and AI will be the 1996 draft pick!”
Their rivalry peaked in the 1996 Big East Conference Finals, where Ray Allen ultimately won with a floater, clinching the title for the University of Connecticut.
But after the 1996 summer draft ended, Ray Allen cried; not only was he not the first pick, but he wasn’t even in the top three.
Yet the defeated Allen Iverson became the highly anticipated first draft pick.
Just like that, an unwilling Ray Allen entered the NBA.
Each encounter with AI was a serious affair for him, and AI never missed any opportunity to humiliate Ray Allen.
Their animosity continued in the professional arena.
This year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals was like their “endgame” battle, resolving their entire feud from college to now.
Neither would back down, with Ray Allen’s performance being on par with Iverson’s.
However, “Big Dog” Robinson didn’t get his first free throw until Game 5 of the series.
Before Game 7, the league upgraded a foul by the Bucks’ starting power forward, Scott Williams, from Game 6 to a flagrant foul through video review, suspending him.
This absurd action caused the Bucks to lose Game 7 due to the absence of a key player, prompting a rare outburst from Ray Allen at the press conference.
“The league just wants to escort the 76ers into the Eastern Conference Finals, which is why they upgraded that foul after the fact!
Sure, he accidentally hit AI’s chin while defending, but my point is, if Scott was really guilty, you could’ve pointed it out right then, not suspend him after everything was over!
It’s a Reebok-controlled league!”
One wonders how happy Reebok, already sold off multiple times in the original timeline, would be hearing this.
Ray Allen knew his statement would definitely stir controversy, ready to handle it and even face fines.
But he never expected the first to rebuke him would be his own coach, George Karl: “Enough Ray, stop making excuses, alright?
We lost because you’re not as tough as AI!”
And Ray Allen responded with a line that would eventually lead to his departure from Milwaukee: “Ha, see that?
Good thing we didn’t reach the Eastern Conference Finals, otherwise the team’s issues would be covered up!”
The press conference turned into a quarrel scene between Ray Allen and George Karl.
However, no one cared about their matter anymore.
Next, the conference finals would unfold among the Hawks, 76ers, Lakers, and Spurs.
The moment the matchups were revealed, the script was already very clear.
No one could disrupt or rewrite the inevitable script between the Hawks and the Lakers.
Since Grant Hill joined the Lakers, such a script was destined.
And what happens next will mostly follow the script expected by the fans.
The Hawks encountered fierce resistance from the 76ers.
In Game 1 of the series, AI scored 30 points in the first half.
At halftime, Lenny Wilkens, shaking his head helplessly, said: “Times have changed, folks, times have really changed.
The new era of the four great shooting guards has grown up, creating a lot of trouble for us, you’ve got to admit that.
Roger has faced three of them, and if he wins, he’ll meet the fourth.
Maybe it’s all God’s plan.”
Just like the original timeline, this timeline also has the concept of the four great shooting guards.
But with Roger, the God of the second position, being lofty, the title of four great shooting guards came with a prefix—New Era.
The New Era’s four great shooting guards, Roger has already faced the third one in succession.
This is seen as a war of the New Era shooting guards challenging Roger, the God of shooting guard.
They truly are a big problem.
T-Mac, Carter, and AI, the teams led by them may not be as strong as the Hawks, but the four great shooting guards themselves bring a lot of variables and suspense to the game.