Champion Creed

When Roger stood up, everyone fell silent as if receiving an order, and stood up with him.

There's an unwritten rule in the Warriors team, which is that changing clothes cannot be slower than Roger. Because when Roger stands up, everyone must ensure they are ready to charge and fight with him at any time.

Roger looked around at his teammates and waved his hand, signaling everyone to form a circle.

"Guys, the trial begins!"

Both players stepped onto the court, and before the television, Warriors die-hard John Cage watched intently.

Although he couldn't go to watch the game live, he doesn't regret the decision he made during G1.

He believed Roger saw his support, making everything become worth more than its value.

Even at home, he was intensely focused on this Game 7, and had already turned on the television an hour early, feeling restless.

Throughout Oakland, who wouldn't pay attention to this Game 7?

Well, his wife wasn't interested.

"John, it's rare today that the kids are all resting, can't you go to bed early? I bought a very sexy nightgown." His wife looked at her husband at the bedroom door with anticipation.

"Linda, the key to being sexy isn't the nightgown."

"What?"

"Nothing, I'm watching the game, you go to bed early."

"Damn John, damn! How did I marry you? You're willing to embarrass yourself in front of a nationwide live camera but won't undress for your wife! Go, go spend your life with that damn basketball!"

"Bang!"

The wife angrily closed the bedroom door, making John Cage feel some remorse. Usually, busy with taking care of the kids and running his shop, he often overlooked his wife's feelings. Having little free time, he ended up neglecting her.

Thinking about this, John couldn't help but slap himself.

He's really something, actually thinking about such silly things on such an important Game 7 night!

On TV, the game soon began, Steve Nash held the ball past half-court.

But on the first offensive play, Steve Nash felt that the Warriors' defense seemed off.

When Spoelstra said Roger would be like a combination of the Timberwolves' three-headed monster, Nash suspected this rookie coach might have Roger directly guarding Kobe from the first minute of the game.

This also seems like an extreme choice a rookie coach would make.

But on the first defensive play, Roger neither matched up with Kobe nor Nash.

Instead, he defended the least threatening offensive player in the Lakers' starting lineup, George Lynch.

Phil Jackson frowned at this matchup; was the rookie planning to let Roger conserve energy on defense and then go all out on offense?

No, that's not the Warriors' way, nor is it Spoelstra's style.

While Spoelstra is a rookie coach, he already has a distinctive coaching style that emphasizes defense.

Given that he learned from Pat Riley and collaborated with Hubie Brown, the defensive veteran, the formation of his coaching style is unsurprising.

Therefore, Spoelstra would never allow Roger to slack off defensively.

For coaches like Pat Riley, Hubie Brown, and Spoelstra, a superstar must also give their all on defense, with no privileges.

Thus, Roger's purpose in defending George Lynch could only have one possibility!

"This... lunatic!" Phil Jackson cursed quietly, unable to believe he made such a remark about a rookie coach.

The offense began with the Lakers running their most common triangle set. Nash passed the ball to Karl Malone at the low post pivot, then quickly moved the ball, with Kobe coming off a screen to receive it, getting a one-on-one isolation opportunity.

Faced with Tayshaun Prince, Kobe, who had a clear confrontation advantage, decisively chose to make a strong drive.

Just as Kobe was planning his next move, the Lakers' number 8 saw the annoying number 14 appear in front of him, coordinating with Prince to form a double-team!

From the moment Nash passed the ball, Roger relentlessly abandoned George Lynch to help double-team Kobe.

George Lynch was like an orphan, completely ignored.

Seeing this, Kobe passed the ball back to Nash.

But Roger quickly moved, immediately sticking close to Nash, continuing the help defense.

Beside Kobe and Nash, the two most threatening offensive points for the Lakers, there were always two defenders at any time!

Just like Phil Jackson thought, Roger's matchup with the least offensive threat, George Lynch, was because Roger's matchup wasn't with any individual, but with the entire Lakers team!

He wanted to be like Kevin Garnett and fill every gap with his immense defensive impact!

Of course, considering Roger's physique, his help defense couldn't be better than Kevin Garnett's.

But with Roger's defensive experience and skill level, it was already a huge threat to the Lakers.

The reason for letting Roger focus on help defense is also simple, if he individually defended Kobe or Nash, he could only impact either of them.

Considering both Kobe and Nash have the ability to kill games, Roger defending them as a help defender can simultaneously impact both their offenses!

Of course, this also has drawbacks, allowing a superstar to run freely on defense, tiring him even more than directly individually defending Kobe, not to mention Roger also needs to handle offense.