Chapter 443 442: New York Curse (asking for monthly ticket!)

Charles Barkley did not kiss Kenny Smith’s Dick, nor did he kiss the pig named Dick.

He managed to escape.

But the video of him kneeling down to Roger in the studio still went viral on the Internet.

This seems to be some kind of fate. In the history of NBA, any player who is related to GOAT seems to have a famous player kneeling for them.

When Michael Jordan retired to play baseball, Magic Johnson knelt down on TV and begged him to come back.

Now Charles Barkley was also impressed by Roger’s performance.

Of course, there is another GOAT who is even more heavyweight. He kneels down to others in turn. He is simply the GOAT among GOATs.

Sir Feizhu couldn’t help but cover his head and laugh when he saw himself kneeling down to Roger on the show.

“Now you know why I will never renew my contract with TNT, right? Damn it, no one even told me that the camera had been cut back to the studio. This is TNT, we never know what will be broadcast on TV.”

Kenny Smith smiled and pulled out a poster. He photoshopped Barkley kneeling and Roger with his arms around his chest together, and then photoshopped a crown on Roger’s head. “If I were you, I would immediately contact Reebok and grant them the image rights to release this poster. You will definitely make a lot of money, Charles.”

“Hey Kenny, I’m not that kind of person. Do you think I would sell my dignity for a little money?” Feizhu knocked on the table seriously, seeming very angry, but after about three seconds, he couldn’t hold back and laughed again, “But if Roger is willing to give me 15% of the poster sales, I can even go to the studio and take a real one with him. Well, maybe I’ll bring Michael Jordan along, so we can make money together.”

The whole studio was filled with laughter. This is the style of TNT basketball programs. In a sea of ​​homogenized sports programs, the programs of Kenny Smith, Barkley and Ernie Johnson are as amazing as Ben Simmons’ three-pointers.

Finally, Kenny Smith wiped the tears from his eyes and said, “Charles, I believe many people are curious about one question. When you knelt down and said ‘God bless me’, did you mean God or Roger?”

Facing this question, Charles Barkley stopped smiling and this time he was really serious: “Is there a difference? On the basketball court, Roger represents God. If you don’t believe it, then continue to pay attention to this season. Roger this season will prove it.”

After this incident, Charles Barkley became a loyal fan of Barkley.

But Roger himself was quite disappointed, because he really wanted to see Buckley kiss a pig.

After the Warriors defeated the Mavericks, the January schedule is coming to an end.

In addition to Roger’s 60 points, the Warriors also received another good news: Brandon Roy can return as scheduled and continue to participate in the game after Chelsea Ryan’s evaluation.

At this point, the Warriors’ record is 40 wins and 5 losses. With only 37 games left on the schedule, the team has a high chance of winning 70 games this season.

After all, Roy’s return will definitely improve the team’s winning rate. According to the Warriors’ performance so far this season, it will be difficult for them to lose more than 37 games in the last 7 games.

In the remaining two games in January, the Warriors also won smoothly with Brandon Roy.

However, in the first game of February, the Warriors’ record became 2 wins and 42 losses, and they lost to the Knicks in New York.

The Knicks won this game in a unique way. They killed the defending champions with three-pointers from Rashard Lewis and Yao Ming.

That’s right, Yao Ming.

In traditional concepts, for a center of Yao Ming’s height to shoot from beyond the three-point line is like making an appointment with a beautiful woman for dinner and ending up just having a meal with her, which is a waste of talent.

As a center, you should use your height advantage to work in the low post and shoot from the place with the highest hit rate.

But the current Knicks head coach is Mike D’Antoni, who once led the small ball prototype as an assistant coach in the Hawks and Lakers, and he has never cared about tradition.

You could say that this is part of the impact Roger brought to the world.

In 2005, the Knicks were swept by the Warriors in the finals because their style of play was too old-fashioned. That year, the Warriors set the record for the most three-point shots in the history of the NBA Finals. The Knicks’ over-emphasis on defense made them look like a team that was not from the same era as the Warriors. It was like a retro sports car being ruthlessly crushed by a modern high-performance car.

The three-point wave began to appear earlier under Roger’s influence, and more and more teams began to pay attention to the three-pointer as a weapon.

Last season was Lenny Wilkens’ last season as coach, and the Knicks didn’t even beat the Cleveland Cavaliers. Admittedly, Yao Ming’s injury played a big part in the reason, but when a team wants to change, the head coach is often the first to be targeted.

So James Dolan fired Lenny Wilkens and brought in Mike D’Antoni, a well-known offensive guru with advanced ideas. At the same time, he also hired Tom Thibodeau as a defensive coach to make up for D’Antoni’s biggest shortcoming.

Then, a reborn New York Knicks was born.

Mike D’Antoni has never been interested in low-post offense. Even when he has a center like Yao Ming, he doesn’t like his team to play low-post frequently. It really slows down the tempo, and it’s difficult to connect the ball in low-post offense at critical moments.

He likes to use ball-handling guards, and Wade is a perfect ball-handling guard. He likes to shoot three-pointers, and Yao Ming has a historically soft touch at the center position. Therefore, he reduced the proportion of Yao Ming playing low, and let Yao Ming lose weight so that he can run more flexibly, and then very imaginatively let this 226 cm big man shoot from outside the three-point line.

Of course, Mike D’Antoni has not turned Yao Ming into a pure anti-aircraft artillery. He just adjusted the proportion of Yao Ming’s low-post offense and three-point shooting to make it more balanced.

This season, Yao Ming averaged 3.5 three-point shots per game, hitting 1.3 of them, with a hit rate of 36%. His three-point shooting level is roughly equivalent to that of Marc Gasol when the Toronto Raptors won the championship. They don’t kill with three-pointers, but they can shoot and play a certain tactical role.

Facts have proved that Mike D’Antoni’s choice was effective. Yao Ming’s unconventional development of long-range shooting did not have any negative impact on the team. Instead, it made the team’s tactics more flexible.

When Yao Ming can’t get the ball in the low post, he can try to look for opportunities outside the three-point line, instead of wasting energy fighting with the opponent in the interior and taking up space as in the past.

This season, in the critical moments of the Knicks, Mike D’Antoni often lets Yao Ming go to the outside. If the opponent’s center does not defend, Yao Ming’s three-pointer may make you bleed. If the opponent’s center follows, it is equivalent to letting Dwyane Wade do a trap on your defense.

On the night of February 2, the Warriors chose to let Yao Ming guard Wade in the fourth quarter because the last time the two sides met, Yao Ming shot 1 of 4 from beyond the three-point line.

As a result, this time, Yao Ming made three consecutive shots from beyond the three-point line in the fourth quarter, and Rashard Lewis shot a shot in the last 41 seconds, which led to the invincible Warriors falling in New York.

At the end of the game, Mike Breen said that the game of basketball has completely changed: “A 226-centimeter big man killed the game with 4 three-pointers in a single game. Yes, you heard it right, this is what Yao did tonight. It’s a pity that Spike Lee couldn’t witness it all.”

The live broadcast camera followed Mike Breen’s commentary and focused on the fixed position that used to belong to Spike Lee. It was now occupied by Russian supermodel Irina Shayk wearing a dome dress. To be honest, this is a more beautiful scenery than Spike Lee.

But New York fans still miss the guy who always sat in the first row and exchanged insults with opposing stars. His appearance in Madison Square Garden at least proves that the Knicks are still competitive.

Since the disappointing finals in 2005, Spike Lee has not been to Madison Square Garden to watch a game.

He missed all of last season and has not appeared so far this season.

Reporters interviewed him, and his answer was simple: “Who would pay to watch a game that is not suspenseful? Roger will always win in New York. I don’t want to spend money to buy season tickets, and end up watching the Knicks beat Roger one or two games a season at Madison Square Garden. I won’t go to the game until Roger retires, and I still think so.”

But tonight’s victory made New Yorkers no longer pessimistic. They disliked Mike D’Antoni, a madman, at the beginning of the season, but now they like and trust him more and more. They believe that Mike D’Antoni can definitely get Spike Lee back to the Garden.

After the game, Kevin Garnett showed his full white teeth and opened his arms to Roger: “Sorry Roger, if this is really your last season, I’m afraid it won’t be perfect.”

“Shut up Kevin, you didn’t make those three-pointers, what right do you have to say that?”

At this time, Yao Ming came over with a smirk and said, “Sorry, Roger, if this is really your last season, it won’t be perfect. Hey, I am qualified to say that, right?”

“Oh, a center like you who doesn’t do his job properly is only fit to wave the towel on the bench in the national team.”

Roger was not too annoyed, at least he was still in the mood to joke with Yao Ming.

It is impossible to completely shut out your opponents every time in the regular season. Compared with the regular season, Roger cares more about the matchup with the Knicks in the finals.

With LBJ, Chauncey Billups and Dwight Howard heading west, the only competitive team in the East this year is the Knicks, who have almost secured a spot in the finals.

The pattern of the West being strong and the East being weak reached its peak this season.

Unless Wade, Garnett and Yao Ming are all injured, the Knicks’ dominance in the Eastern Conference will be difficult to shake.

If they can continue to dominate the Knicks in the finals, their victory will become insignificant.

Not only Roger thinks so, many New York fans think so too.

The day after the Knicks won the game, Spike Lee posted a video on YouTube.

He talked about the Knicks’ victory last night and praised the performance of Yao Ming and other Knicks players.

But he still believes that New York sports nightmare is not over yet.

“Ever since Roger entered the NBA, New York has been in decline in the sports world. The only team that can still win the championship is the New York Yankees, but the New York Yankees also began to decline in the 21st century. The New York Rangers and New York Islanders of the Major League Hockey are also in their own dark periods. The Knicks? That’s an even sadder history.

As a New Yorker, I regret this outcome. In fact, I don’t think any professional sports franchise in New York would have won a championship if Roger hadn’t retired. Clevelanders go through life not knowing what curse is plaguing them, but for New York, Roger is our curse.”

Spike Lee was pessimistic, even after the Knicks had just won that big game.

His words caused great controversy, and New York Giants fans expressed their dissatisfaction: “Don’t compare us with the trashy Knicks!”

Three days later, the 2008 Super Bowl will be played between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.

If Roger doesn’t retire, no professional sports team in New York will be able to win the championship? Nonsense!
The New York Giants will win the championship!

No one can be a curse to New York!

Roger may be the GOAT of basketball, but he can’t possibly extend his influence to football, right?
Interestingly, Tom Brady, the star player of the New England Patriots, happens to be Roger’s close friend, which makes this Super Bowl game closely related to Roger.

After the game with the Knicks, Roger flew to Phoenix, the venue of the 42nd Super Bowl, to support his good brother. This is a habit they have maintained for many years, and they will go to each other’s championship nights to cheer each other on.

Roger didn’t know much about football, but he remembered that the champions of the 2008 Super Bowl were the New York Giants.

This was a result no less than the 73-win Warriors’ comeback, because before the Super Bowl, Tom Brady’s team had not lost a single game, and he personally became the MVP of that season. They showed unparalleled dominance.

As a result, in the Super Bowl, they lost the championship to the New York Giants in the last minute of the game. When Roger met Tom Brady on the eve of the game, he finally understood why this century’s big upset happened.

“Roger, I’ve chosen several nightclubs in Phoenix to celebrate our victory. Which one do you think is better?” As he spoke, he took out his cell phone and showed Roger photos of the nightclubs.

“You haven’t won the championship yet, Tom.”

“Of course, of course, but the facts have proved that no one can beat us this season, right?” Tom Brady replied with a smile while chatting with a nightclub marketer on his mobile phone.

“So what? If you can’t win the Super Bowl, your MVP and all the previous victories are meaningless. The Super Bowl is the only criterion for judging the quality of your season, just like the O’Brien Cup determines whether an NBA team is successful. Hey, remember the 72-win Bulls?”

Tom Brady looked up, confused: “72 wins against the Bulls? Isn’t that 72 wins against the Eagles? Oh wait, I remember, Michael Jordan did win 72 games. Which year was it?”

“It was 1996. That year he not only won the first 72 wins in NBA history, but also won the MVP with an almost overwhelming advantage. In my era, no one has ever achieved better results than him. What’s the result? When mentioning 72 wins, most people’s reaction is the same as yours, they only think of the Hawks, not the 96 Bulls. The reason? The year Michael Jordan won 72 wins, I was the champion. You see, 72 wins and MVP without a championship are meaningless.

The championship is everything. No matter what cup championships or other random championships the NBA launches in the future, no matter how the media promotes the value of such championships, they cannot explain whether a team is successful, because the championship is everything! “

Tom Brady already knew what Roger wanted to say to him. He put down his phone and his expression became focused: “You’re right, man. I’m a little… Hey, Spike Lee is right. You are the curse of New York sports. If you hadn’t said this to me, the New York Giants might have really won the championship.”

The next day, at the University of Phoenix Stadium, Roger met many acquaintances at the banquet known as the “American Spring Festival Gala.”

This includes Kevin Garnett.

As a New York legend, he naturally came to support the New York Giants’ game.

The two sat together, in a happy mood, but also tit-for-tat.

After all, they just support different teams.

After the game started, the process was very tense. The New England Patriots did not play the crushing advantage of an undefeated team because the New York Giants were very tough.

“It’s like us,” Garnett said, looking at the court. “Maybe the Golden State Warriors can be as invincible as the Patriots this season, but if we meet in the finals, we will play with the same toughness as the Giants. Spike Lee, that coward, was scared silly. You are not the curse of New York. The New York curse will be broken by us and the Giants.”

“I’m not denying that you guys are as tough as the Giants, Kevin, but toughness and winning are two different things.”

“Just wait and see Roger, Wonderful Tom, Turnaround Boy, whatever his name is, your friend is done for tonight.”

The game was really intense and Roger was really nervous. His arrival did change a lot of things, but most of them were related to basketball.

He’s not sure he could change the end results of other sports.

The Patriots took the lead with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter through Tom Brady’s touchdown pass to Randy Moss. After scoring, Tom Brady pointed to Roger in the VIP stands. In fact, because the football field was so large, it was impossible for him to see where Roger was. But he knew Roger’s approximate location and he knew his friend was cheering for him.

This scene caused boos from the New York fans at the scene.

Roger, it’s Roger again!
Why is there fucking Roger everywhere about New York frustrations!

This lead allowed the Patriots to kill the game. The New York Giants still had hope of overtaking in the last minute, but the entire Patriots team was extremely focused and ultimately held on until the end of the game with the lead.

At that moment, Roger’s heart was shaken. He changed the final outcome of the 2008 Super Bowl. His influence has become more terrifying than he thought.

Kevin Garnett smashed the Coke cup in his hand and said, “Fuck, it was almost there. Fuck! Fuck!”

“It seems that the curse has not been broken, Kevin. Spike Lee is not a coward, he is a truly wise guy.” Roger smiled and patted Garnett’s shoulder.

“Come on Roger, Nix and I will do it ourselves!”

“Do you think I’ll have regrets in my last season? You can wait until I retire to win the championship. But with me here, that’s impossible, Kevin.”

“Hehe, you have to beat the Los Angeles Lakers first.” Kevin Garnett said, then suddenly realized something and stared at Roger in astonishment.

Soon after, Tom Brady and his Patriots lifted the trophy at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

In his acceptance speech, he mentioned Roger: “If it weren’t for him, I think I would be regretting my defeat now. His conversation with me the night before the game was very important to me. I think he is not only the GOAT in basketball, he is the GOAT in North American professional sports. No, considering that he won the only basketball Olympic gold medal for the Chinese team, he can be called the GOAT of world sports! Thank you, my friend!”

All the New York fans in the stadium booed. They hated Roger so much that their hatred was even greater than that for Tom Brady who was holding the trophy at that time.

Because Tom Brady’s words proved one thing: New York’s defeat was related to Roger again!

A close-up shot was given to Roger in the VIP seating area. The curse of New York was looking at the New York fans who booed him with contempt.

Beside him, Kevin Garnett was shocked as if he had seen the arrival of the real God.

No one knew what happened, no one knew why Kevin Garnett had that expression.

Kevin Garnett’s eyes widened. Although everyone had considered this to be his last season since Woj’s message about Roger’s retirement, Garnett still found it hard to believe when he heard the news from Roger.

“Dude, really? This is your last season?”

“It’s true. I’ve been playing for 15 years, Kevin. When I came into the league, I was just a high school kid like you. But now, I’m about to enter middle age. I can’t play forever.”

“Fuck, I knew Woj wouldn’t make a mistake. If you lose in the finals this summer, will you retire too?”

“Yes, that would mean I failed, so I would quit as well. But you know, that can’t happen.”

“This is unlike you, Roger. You actually want to quit. Aren’t you going to compete all your life?”

“People will change. In fact, I think it is best for people to live a simple life. A thatched house, two acres of thin land, a puppy, a cup of hot tea, and a few billion in savings are enough.”

“I,” Garnett had been listening carefully, but he laughed at the last sentence, “you bastard.”

Garnett quickly adjusted his mood and glanced at the celebrating Patriots: “In June, I will not let the tragedy of the New York Giants happen in Madison Square Garden. I, Dwyane and Yao, we will personally take the crown from your head. But Roger, thank you anyway.”

“what?”

“Without you, the confused little boy might not have been able to adapt to NBA life so quickly. Without your guidance, I might not have made up my mind to go to New York. I am lucky to play in the same era as you.”

After saying that, Garnett hugged Roger.

Roger patted his shoulder: “Even if you say that, I won’t let you win.”

“Just wait and see. I will leave you with the most unforgettable ending.”

“Hey, you just said there’s no way I could beat the Lakers.”

Garnett’s answer was very unsatisfactory: “Come on, if LeBron can beat you, I will also announce my retirement.”

The next day, Tom Brady gave Roger his Super Bowl MVP.

It’s not an exchange, it’s a gift.

He considered Roger the MVP who didn’t play.

At the same time, the NBA officially announced the starting lineup for the 2008 All-Star Game, and Roger was included in the starting lineup as the top vote-getter.

Roger ranked first in the MVP rankings during the same period.

Roger is first in the scoring list.

The Warriors are far ahead in the standings.

He is so outstanding that he dominates all the charts and dominates the news and topics in the entire sports world.

Just one day before the All-Star Game, Roger also announced the secret that was no longer a secret.

At this point, there is no point in trying to cover up one’s mistakes.

He was in New Orleans at the All-Star Game media conference ready to tell the world that he was retiring.

He originally prepared a speech, which was written by Bill Simmons, and contained a lot of dry humor and figurative metaphors. It must be said that this was a very high-quality speech.

But looking at those complicated words, Roger folded the manuscript and put it in his suit pocket, then glanced at the reporters below.

“My NBA career will end after this season, and I will leave with an MVP, 70 wins and a 12th championship.”

Well, that’s much more comfortable.

This is Roger.

It is not difficult to imagine the reporters’ reactions, because Roger’s words are as important as what Tony Stark said in front of reporters in the movie “Iron Man”: “I am Iron Man.”

The entire sports world was shaken at that moment.

The theme of this season is officially led by Roger alone.

(End of this chapter)