Champion Creed

Larry Brown found out the next day in his office, while watching the news, that Roger was fined by the league for cursing at him.

When this high-ranking, authoritative coach checked the specifics of Roger's insults, his face turned red like an indescribable part of an animal.

The Dream Team office was instantly filled with Larry Brown's angry shouts.

"Does that damn bastard not have the word 'respect' in his head at all!?"

It's not hard to imagine how angry Larry Brown was at that moment. As we all know, he is a strict coach who can't tolerate even a speck of sand in his eyes and always holds everything in a condescending manner.

He was used to players obeying his every command. He believed that players should conform to a coach's will, and considered this compliance as a given, part of a player's duties.

Therefore, he also felt it was natural to comment on players, believing he was fully qualified to judge Roger and his team, a privilege belonging to renowned coaches.

In his view, a player not respecting him was akin to slaves rebelling against a plantation owner or Bronny blaming James, an unacceptable act against the natural order.

This mindset is closely tied to his coaching experiences. As a professional player, Larry Brown was mediocre, but as a coach, his experiences rival those of basketball hero novels.

At 33, he received the ABA Coach of the Year award four times within six years, and at 36, still considered a young coach, he had already taken home three of these trophies.

During the '79-'80 season, Larry Brown decided to enter college basketball. In his first year at UCLA, he led the team into the March Madness tournament final. In the subsequent five years coaching at the University of Kansas, he finally achieved his wish, winning the NCAA tournament champion.

In seven NCAA seasons, he accumulated 177 wins and 61 losses, one championship, three Sweet Sixteens, and three Final Fours. His achievements were consistently remarkable each year.

Returning to the NBA, he led the Spurs, who had just acquired the Admiral, onto the right track, brought the struggling Clippers into the playoffs, and turned the Indiana Pacers into a formidable Eastern team.

In 2002, he successfully entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Larry Brown is one of the few coaches in the history of American basketball to have succeeded in the ABA, NCAA, and NBA.

His honors and experiences, along with his college basketball background, have ingrained the right of "coach supremacy" in him.

Even when coaching the rebellious Allen Iverson, he would bench AI for challenging him, even if it meant losing the game. He would still do it.

He wanted players to know that his authority was above theirs!

So in Larry Brown's view, Roger's behavior was even more outrageous than AI, the rebellious kid.

AI might subtly express dissatisfaction with Larry Brown in front of the media, but would never directly hurl insults, calling him an old geezer, useless, and other obscenities.

Larry Brown knew Roger was unruly, but didn't expect him to be so brazenly disrespectful.

Furthermore, Larry Brown, at this time, was seen as the "Savior of American Basketball," maintaining a dignified presence wherever he went, gaining respect from everyone.

Roger's remarks shattered this self-aggrandizing high image like a falling vase, revealing a truth he didn't want to accept—that he was not as revered as he believed.

In the office, Roy Williams, the head coach of North Carolina and assistant coach of the Dream Team, shrugged: "You know what? Roger never played college basketball, a blessing for all NCAA coaches."

In the Dream Team's coaching group office, Roger insulting Larry Brown was big news that everyone would talk about all day.

However, the NBA community wasn't surprised by Roger's comments, because Roger had always been like that since he punched Pippen in his first week entering the league, never changing, always staying true to himself.

The whole world knows he never swallows insult quietly, never lets things slide.

If you provoke him, he will definitely respond.

Not only towards players, but coaches as well.

If you remember Roger's famous "Battle of Hypocrisy" in the '95-'96 season where he crushed Pat Riley's Heat with a single-game score of 54 points and slapped him hard enough never to dare speak nonsense in front of Roger again, you would realize Roger has been merciful enough with Larry Brown.

Larry Brown is not used to it, because this is the first time he has been so directly attacked by Roger. Or rather, this is the first time he has properly become Roger's opponent.

This evening, there happened to be a weekly interview with the Dream Team's coaching group; Larry Brown replied to questions about Roger at the press conference.

"I have nothing to say, those who disrespect others will eventually lose their dignity. Maybe in the Finals, maybe in the Olympics, perhaps both."

The implication was clear that Larry Brown hoped Roger would fail in both the Finals and Olympics!

This summer, only one of them can be hailed as a legend!

At this point, Reebok's promotional machine was frantically hyping the decisive Game 3 of the Finals. But even with all this, the issue between Roger and Larry Brown continued to receive high-level attention.