Chapter 1119: Chapter 356: Even Facing LeBron at 15 Would Be Fine
"No one understands Roger’s greatness better than I do, and I have no doubt about his comeback. In fact, I’m very excited about it. It felt great to win the championship last year, but defeating Roger would be an unparalleled wonderful experience!"
Back in the player tunnel, Artest caught up with Big Ben: "You puffed-up dude, can you give me a bit of respect? I’m at least a candidate for this year’s MVP! Can’t I just say something? Why do you have to steal the spotlight?"
"I hate to remind you, but you only got a third-place vote, is that even called an MVP candidate?"
"Why not!? I’m only 121 votes behind Roger, is that a lot?!" Artest glared angrily.
"But there were only 121 first-place votes in total! Whatever, just win an FMVP if you can, I’m not interested in those things, I’ll just give my all to do defense. Ron, if you can beat Roger and win an FMVP, I’ll personally fund a grand party with the room full of peaches for you, I’ll let you speak first, let you hold the trophy first! If you have the guts, you rogue, just let us win, let us get the championship!"
"I definitely will! You damn bastard, watch me win that FMVP!"
The two of them were quarreling loudly in the player tunnel, a big news story on any other team. But in the Pistons, people were used to it, hardly anyone cared about their argument.
Because that’s just how Big Ben and Artest interact, they practically never speak nicely to each other, yet they’ve never had a locker room conflict.
They both know they are the most reliable partners for each other. They also know they will both give everything for victory.
Eventually, the Detroit Pistons still met the Golden State Warriors.
For Roger, aiming to restore the dynasty, this was an extremely bad opponent.
Sometimes Roger feels he’s really not lucky.
In the 90s, he had to be enemies with Michael Jordan, even forcing out a monstrous combination like Ewing + Jordan.
In the early 21st century, he battled with the OK combination, even forcing out an OK + Grant Hill combo. If it weren’t for Grant Hill’s season-ending ankle injury this season, the Lakers would be even tougher to deal with.
Now, he has to face the most terrifying defensive team in NBA history.
These are the opponents Roger faced throughout his career, simply terrifying.
Sometimes Roger would also complain about the unfairness of heaven, why couldn’t he encounter opponents like 07 LeBron, 11 LeBron? Even 15 LeBron would do?
Why is it that his career is set on hell mode?
As it turns out, the Detroit Pistons are indeed a horrible opponent.
They put Roger in unprecedented difficulties in the Finals.
In the first game of the series, the Pistons took the lead with an 89 to 86 victory.
In this game, Roger scored 31 points with a 42% shooting percentage, but the entire Warriors team had no one else worth watching offensively besides Roger.
The previous round’s 25-point-per-game Stoudemire only scored 14 points in the Finals’ first game, with a 33% shooting rate, just 5 of 15 shots made.
Ben Wallace’s half-court covering defense always disrupted Stoudemire’s mid-range, and his strong physique and explosive athleticism also limited Stoudemire’s attacks at the basket.
Even if he could break through to the basket, there was still a Yelling Maestro waiting for him.
Allan Houston also completely lost his touch, whoever followed Richard Hamilton would get worn out in endless running and lose their rhythm.
In fact, Roger was also restricted, a 42% shooting percentage is not good for the traditionally efficient Roger.
The Pistons used an extreme iron-curtain defense to squeeze Roger’s offensive space, Artest’s pressure, and ever-tight help defense, forced Roger into taking difficult shots.
Forcing the Warriors to only score 86 points was enough to show how terrifying this Pistons team was.
Compared to 2002, this already championship-winning Pistons team was more cohesive, tougher. Compared to 2002, Ron Artest had made great progress in both defense and offense. Compared to 2002, this Pistons team also had an FMVP Chauncey Billups.
They were stronger than in 2002, and not just by a little bit.
And on Roger’s side? In 2002, the Hawks could use Olajuwon as the axis, play V offense, have extreme fast breaks, with Paul Pierce as the second ball handler. You have to know that the Hawks then were one of the strongest offensive teams in NBA history, one of the best at providing offensive space for star players.
But the Warriors clearly didn’t have those resources, Camby and Mutombo were both defensive-type centers, the V pick-and-roll couldn’t be executed.
Stoudemire had finishing ability, but no passing ability, couldn’t be a pivot like Olajuwon in 2002.
Allan Houston could only play off-ball, his firepower couldn’t compare to Paul Pierce.
This led to increased difficulty for Roger to win against the Pistons in 2004.
Because of Roger’s presence, the Warriors didn’t turn the game into pure ugly defense like last season’s Spurs did.
But against the Pistons, the Warriors still found offense a strenuous task.
The fact is, if not for Roger, this year’s DPOY would have been Ron Artest.
Meaning, the Pistons had a DPOY-level defender on both the perimeter and the inside.
1-0, the Pistons took one home game from the Warriors.
In the second game, while maintaining their defense, the Pistons also played very well offensively.
Richard Hamilton scored 24 points, Chauncey Billups 20 points. The most absurd thing was Big Ben, relying on 6 offensive rebounds, also scored 15 points.
On the Warriors’ side, Allan Houston’s shooting percentage was pressed down to a ridiculous 29%, Stoudemire was more efficient today, with a shooting rate of 44%, but just 14 points of output couldn’t provide much help to Roger.
Roger scored 33 points with a 43% shooting rate, the Warriors lost the second game 88 to 94!
At the end of the game, the fans in Oakland held their heads in disbelief.
The Warriors lost both home games and were headed to Detroit for three consecutive games with a 0-2 deficit.
Anyone, even a fool, knew how unfavorable this situation was.
Mike Breen did not expect the game to turn out like this: "Will the blue-collar miracle continue to unfold?"
Last season, the San Antonio Spurs were also considered favorites to win the championship, after all, they had stepped up over Roger.
But in the Finals, to everyone’s surprise, the Pistons laughed last.
This year, it seems to be the same script.
By his side, Jeff Van Gundy looked at the Pistons truly dominating the league with defense and sighed.
"There’s no legendary story in NBA history more incredible than this blue-collar legend, perhaps only father and son playing together."
In the stands, the Dream Team coach Larry Brown, who was specially there to scout Roger, shrugged at assistant coach Roy Williams, the famed North Carolina coach.
"See, I told you, Roger wasn’t unbeatable. The upcoming Olympics and Finals won’t be too different.
After all, this is our sport, Roy, we dominate the basketball world."