But Kobe didn't give up. He first assisted Horry for a contested three-pointer!
Then the Lakers swarmed He Xi Meng, denying him the ball. Bowen was forced to pass it to Ginobili, and Fisher immediately fouled, hoping Ginobili would miss his free throws!
However, the Lakers seemed to have forgotten one thing: while Ginobili might be unreliable in the regular season, he was more dependable than anyone else in crucial moments!
Ginobili made both free throws, not giving the Lakers what they wanted.
With 11 seconds left, Kobe took a contested three-pointer from outside the arc, but the ball rimmed out. O'Neal fiercely grabbed the offensive rebound and made a putback, but the game clock expired!
108:104!
The Spurs ultimately won by four points at home against the Lakers!
He Xi Meng exploded in the first game of the series, scoring a game-high 46 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals!
Let alone Fisher's 11 points, even Kobe, who scored 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists, was overshadowed by He Xi Meng's 46 points.
Duncan had an easy win today, scoring 22 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists, defeating the invincible OK combination.
Yao Ming and Da Zhi didn't have much impact today.
Yao Ming scored 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Da Zhi had 9 points and 5 rebounds.
At the post-game press conference, reporters asked Popovich what he thought of He Xi Meng's outburst. Popovich appeared troubled, saying, "This is just an accident! We all know Xi Meng is a point guard. He shouldn't be scoring so many points! Scoring is the shooting guard's responsibility... I'll have a good talk with him when we get back, tell him to mind his own business and focus on his playmaking! His assists weren't in double digits today! As the league's assists leader, that's a failing grade for him..."
The media present were immediately stunned! They asked the question hoping Popovich would praise He Xi Meng, giving them something to write about for the next day's headlines.
But what was this from Popovich?
Failing grade?
Was this the legendary criticism?
Had they misheard, or had Coach Popovich misspoken?
A reporter, disbelieving, repeated the question, emphasizing, "I'm asking about He Xi Meng! He scored 46 points today..."
"I am talking about He Xi Meng! Besides the 46 points, what else did he do? He didn't do anything else!"
"Uh..."
The reporters decisively gave up on Popovich and stopped arguing with him, turning to a dazed He Xi Meng. "Scoring 46 points against the defending champions, is that very satisfying?"
He Xi Meng tilted his head, thought for a moment, and answered sincerely, "I think the coach is right! As the starting point guard for the team, I indeed had significant shortcomings in organizing and facilitating today. In the next game, I will definitely learn from my mistakes and strive not to disappoint the coaching staff and my teammates..."
Popovich raised an eyebrow and silently gave He Xi Meng a thumbs-up!
The press conference ended, and Popovich and He Xi Meng exited together, leaving a group of reporters looking at each other blankly.
"Say, did you understand what this old man and young man were talking about?"
"Didn't understand! You?"
"I didn't understand either!"
"If you didn't understand, why didn't you ask?"
"You didn't ask either!"
"Uh... I just thought since you all seemed to understand, I'd ask you guys..."
"Yeah, we were all thinking the same thing..."
"We're doomed! What are we going to write for tomorrow's headlines?"
"Write that He Xi Meng solemnly apologized and will definitely fulfill his point guard duties in the next game?"
"Forget it! He scored 46 points today!"
"But the head coach said, besides scoring 46 points, what else did He Xi Meng do?"
"He scored 46 points, what else does he need to do?"
"Both of you shut up! Don't expect anything from this old man and young man! Make something up yourselves..."
The hardships and joys of the San Antonio media were something other cities' media couldn't comprehend, especially the Los Angeles media.
Shaquille O'Neal, the loudmouth, was quite defiant after the first game.
Despite the Spurs' full-court press, O'Neal scored 24 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. By all rights, these individual stats weren't too bad, at least comparable to Duncan on the other side, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds, only two more boards than O'Neal.
If the Lakers had won, O'Neal wouldn't have said much, but since they lost, he was unhappy.
"I want to tell everyone that no one can stop me, and no one can guard me in a one-on-one situation! If I wasn't facing a full-court press, I would have been able to dominate the Spurs' interior..."
The Los Angeles reporters didn't care whether O'Neal could dominate the Spurs' interior, but since he said it, these reporters, who were struggling for material after the loss, readily accepted O'Neal's classic statement and made it the focus of their reports.
Kobe was rather silent today. He was the Lakers' best performer, but seeing his old friend, former teammate, and rival score 46 points in front of him, even with Kobe scoring a team-high 30 points, those 30 points felt less significant. Especially since the Lakers ended up losing the game, that lack of significance doubled.
When faced with reporters' questions, Kobe coldly replied, "We didn't do well enough on defense! We let Xi Meng score too many points, and that's not normal..."
Game 2 continued in San Antonio.
Kobe lived up to his word and focused intensely on He Xi Meng in this game, almost preventing him from shooting.
He Xi Meng's scoring did indeed drop back to the 20+ range, with 21 points!
However, as He Xi Meng's scoring decreased, his assists significantly increased.
By the end of the game, He Xi Meng dished out a remarkable 14 assists!
And with He Xi Meng orchestrating the offense, as many as six Spurs players scored in double digits.
Besides He Xi Meng, Duncan had a team-high 23 points and 13 rebounds, Yao Ming had 17 points and 7 rebounds, Ginobili had 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists, Parker had 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, and Stephen Jackson had 10 points and 3 rebounds.
David Robinson's primary contribution in these games was defensively guarding O'Neal.
With his added weight, O'Neal's post-up game was nearly unstoppable, but his agility and mobility had declined. For the now slower-footed and less agile David Robinson, this wasn't much of a problem because his core strength had always been excellent.
Thanks to the outstanding performance of the three bench players, Yao Ming, Parker, and Stephen Jackson, the Spurs maintained fierce offensive pressure during the rotation periods, forcing Phil Jackson to extend O'Neal's and Kobe's playing time to counter the Spurs and prevent the score from widening during the rotation.
The consequence of this was that during the intense final quarter, when Duncan and He Xi Meng started to exert their influence, O'Neal and Kobe began to experience a drop in their shooting accuracy, ultimately losing this game again by a margin of six points, 106:100...