A simple sentence made everyone feel the tension, whether it was Kobe mocking Roger for wasting time on a 40-win team, or Roger asking how many rings the Lakers have won, it was all adding fuel to the finals fire.
No one knows how intense this fire will burn.
But it is certain that other teams will be reduced to ashes by this blaze.
After Game 3, the media was not particularly shocked by Roger's 56 points in a single quarter.
Since 1997, when he first scored 50 points in a playoff game against Jordan's Knicks, Roger occasionally puts up extravagant numbers in the playoffs.
What truly surprised the media was another matter: Vince Carter would use the team owner's private plane to fly back to North Carolina for his graduation ceremony before Game 4 of the series and return to Toronto just five hours before the game to immediately join the match.
