Roger's aggressive scoring from the start sounded the alarm for all New York fans.
In fact, Roger had already warned them.
During the third encounter in the regular season, when Roger's game-winning shot failed, New Yorkers should have been on alert.
Unlike Pippen, that waste when in the main offensive role losing by 20 points, having Roger take charge brought the Knicks to the brink.
It's just that last shot by Roger didn't go in.
So, New Yorkers have always been a bit too optimistic.
Ever since the Zen Master promoted Roger to the offensive core, the Knicks haven't been able to dominate the Bulls.
Roger's dagger was, in fact, only a hair's breadth away from them.
And as expected, the game became extremely tense.
In the first quarter, Roger's exquisite off-ball offense left Derek Harper struggling to cope.
Scottie Pippen made Starks struggle hard to score, and with some shoving and relentless trash talk, Starks finished the quarter 0 for 3.