But the problem was that the Trail Blazers seemed to have expected this!
As soon as Duncan caught the ball, Rasheed Wallace rushed up to defend, refusing to give Duncan a chance to go one-on-one against Dale Davis.
Duncan immediately passed the ball back to He Xi Meng, looking innocent and saying, "It's not that I don't want to play! It's that the opponent won't let me play..."
He Xi Meng, receiving the ball back from Duncan, cut in with the pass, drawing Rasheed Wallace's attention and preventing the "Roaring Heavenly Master" from getting back on defense. He then pulled up and, instead of forcing a shot, passed it low to David Robinson on the other side of the basket!
David Robinson was essentially open at this point. Even if Dale Davis turned to defend, it would be too late for David Robinson to easily make the basket.
This was a classic three-player pick-and-roll, an extension of the Spurs' twin towers' inside-passing tactics. With He Xi Meng in the middle connecting the plays, the cooperation between the twin towers became smoother and more unpredictable for the opponent.
On the Trail Blazers' second possession, Amar'e Stoudemire signaled for his teammates to spread out and then handed the ball to Rasheed Wallace for a one-on-one against David Robinson.
This was exactly what He Xi Meng had predicted before the game.
The Trail Blazers would surely not waste Rasheed Wallace's strength against this "weakness" of the Spurs, intending to use him as a breakthrough point in the game.
Rasheed Wallace's sidestepping pull-up jumper was quite difficult to contest. David Robinson, suffering from back pain, had a significant decrease in explosive power. He was unable to effectively contest Rasheed Wallace's pull-up jumper and could only try to jump up, but the interference was very limited.
"Rasheed is hard to defend..."
He Xi Meng had trained with Rasheed Wallace at Michael Jordan's estate last summer and knew that once he got into his rhythm, his shooting accuracy was very high!
As expected, Rasheed Wallace's jump shot was precise, and the Trail Blazers scored two more points.
On the Spurs' second possession, He Xi Meng still intended to find Duncan. The Trail Blazers continued to double-team, denying Duncan space to shoot.
It seemed that in the opening phase, the Trail Blazers' head coach, Maurice Cheeks, was sticking to a clear defensive strategy: first, suppress Duncan, the strongest point, and prevent the Spurs from attacking both inside and outside.
Duncan wholeheartedly approved of the Trail Blazers' tactical choice.
In the opening phase of the previous game, Duncan had played passively, resulting in him being heavily criticized by both Popovich and He Xi Meng.
In this game, Duncan didn't have to choose. The Trail Blazers' double-team tactics "forced" him into a passive role. The ball passed through Duncan, drawing the attention of the defense, and was once again given to He Xi Meng, who was coordinating from the perimeter.
He Xi Meng tried the same tactic again, intending to use a backdoor cut to mislead Amar'e Stoudemire's anticipation. However, Amar'e Stoudemire, with his speed, strength, and basketball IQ, was more than capable of being the Trail Blazers' starting point guard at 1.78 meters tall. Moreover, he had already fallen for the trick in the previous defensive possession, so this time, Amar'e Stoudemire reacted very quickly, giving He Xi Meng no opportunity to cut into the paint. He even reached out to anticipate where He Xi Meng would land the ball and directly stole it.
He Xi Meng immediately tried to recover the ball, but failed. Amar'e Stoudemire dribbled past He Xi Meng and immediately entered fast-break mode! His speed was so great that He Xi Meng could only chase after him, eating dust!
The nickname "Little Flying Mouse" was well-deserved!
Amar'e Stoudemire, having left He Xi Meng far behind, thought he had a clear layup opportunity.
But he didn't anticipate that although He Xi Meng was initially outmaneuvered by the "Little Flying Mouse," he didn't give up the chase. While he was pursuing with his head down, He Xi Meng used his brain, choosing a blind spot behind Amar'e Stoudemire. As long as Amar'e Stoudemire didn't stop, he couldn't look back from this angle while moving at high speed... This was an experience He Xi Meng had gained from his own fast breaks.
Therefore, just as Amar'e Stoudemire was confidently thinking he had secured two points, He Xi Meng suddenly burst from behind him and, with lightning speed, swatted his sure layup off the backboard!
"Wow!" The Spurs fans in the arena immediately exclaimed, as He Xi Meng rarely contributed such chase-down, rim-rattling blocks.
"I thought only David and Tim were capable of such defensive blocks, but I didn't expect Simon could do it too?"
"Yeah! I didn't expect it! It looks like Simon has pretty good explosive power!"
"That block was really dominant!"
"Does this mean Simon has been holding back on defense all along?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's like his scoring – until you push him, you never know how much potential he has..."
From the stands, the Spurs fans suddenly realized: He Xi Meng's defensive ability was much stronger than they had imagined...
Behind He Xi Meng, Duncan, who was rapidly retreating, had a thoughtful look in his eyes after seeing He Xi Meng's dominant block.
Hearing the cheers from the crowd, He Xi Meng suddenly realized that he might have been a bit impulsive just now! Such a full-power chase-down play could easily lead to a muscle strain. Recalling that moment, he seemed to have gotten a bit carried away after being stripped by Amar'e Stoudemire...
"It's not worth it for a mistake, not worth it!" He Xi Meng quickly reassured himself. "Don't worry about your image, a mistake is a mistake..."
While thinking this, He Xi Meng didn't slow down his fast break at all!
After blocking Amar'e Stoudemire's shot, He Xi Meng unceremoniously shoved Amar'e Stoudemire out of bounds, sending him tumbling among the photographers. He himself, using the momentum from Amar'e Stoudemire's collision, successfully landed and picked up the rebound, then initiated a counter-attack!
The previous second, players from both teams were rushing towards the Spurs' basket.
The next second, the situation reversed, with He Xi Meng aggressively counter-attacking with the basketball.
Scottie Pippen reacted immediately: "Outer line delay, inner line defense!"
Under Pippen's command, Bonzi Wells turned to retreat near half-court, attempting to use his broad body to slow down He Xi Meng's fast break.
But He Xi Meng didn't engage with Bonzi Wells. With a 360-degree spin in motion, he directly blew past Bonzi Wells without much loss of speed.
Pippen turned around near the three-point line himself, forming a second defensive line to try and stop He Xi Meng.
Facing Pippen, whose footwork had significantly declined, He Xi Meng chose not to slow down. With a simple left-right fake, he drove hard to the side, accelerating past him!
Pippen didn't have time to recover as He Xi Meng had already cut into the three-point arc from his right...