199: He still has to wait (for monthly passes!)

Stevie Smith was thoroughly yelled at by Roger.

He'd always been resentful and saw himself as a pitiful victim.

But Roger's words made him realize where the real problem lay.

While everyone else was pursuing victory, he alone was despising it.

This was something the others couldn't tolerate, and it was the real reason he lost the respect of his teammates.

Indeed, even Pippen, who wasn't on great personal terms with the team, still gave it his all on the court.

And what about himself?

He had been sleepwalking through two and a half games.

The defeats of the previous two games were very much related to him.

When you distance yourself from the team's goals, you naturally become an outsider.

Many women don't realize until they're grown up that the thing stabbing you from behind isn't necessarily a knife.

Now, Stevie Smith understood this truth too, that the one stabbing you in the back could also be yourself.