On January 4th against the Nets, O'Neal scored 25 points, but the most eye-catching performance was from Roger with 33 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist from 11 out of 16 shots.
On January 6th facing the Timberwolves, O'Neal fouled out due to his clashes with Christian Laettner, scoring only 18 points with 7 rebounds.
But Roger, with 34 points from 13 out of 24 shots, continued to lead the team to victory.
On January 8th against the Pistons, facing the hugely popular upstart Grant Hill, Roger scored 37 points from 13 out of 19 shots, with a remarkable 68% shooting accuracy!
Grant Hill still managed to rack up an all-around statistic of 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, but paled in comparison to Roger's terrifying efficiency of 37 points.
As NBC commentators put it, "An assist leading to 2 points is still just 2 points, so if Roger can efficiently score 2 points directly, why should we discuss his assists?"