This play, with layers of screens, allowed He Xi Meng to get an opportunity to break through Peja. Peja was good at offense but not defense. Facing He Xi Meng's layup, he was forced to foul.
He Xi Meng originally had the chance to seal the win with free throws, but his first shot bounced off the rim. All the Kings fans saw hope and shouted wildly, hoping to continue to disrupt He Xi Meng.
But on the second free throw, He Xi Meng calmed down and did not grant the Kings fans their wish.
The Spurs still led by 3 points. The Kings had no chance for a killing blow, but they did have a chance for a tie.
Adelman gave this opportunity to Peja!
Jason Williams controlled the ball, Webber made the pass, and Peja shot!
But unfortunately, although Peja's three-point shooting was good now, it was far from the level of a future three-point king! Moreover, the Kings' offensive flow did not create many good three-point opportunities. This was because the current Kings lineup did not have many players capable of shooting three-pointers and taking the last shot! The Spurs could easily guess the Kings' first offensive option, so they could limit their options, forcing Peja to take a difficult shot under Bowen's defense...
In the end, the ball bounced off the rim, and the game ended.
The Spurs narrowly defeated the Kings by 3 points, ending their three-game road trip with a 2-1 record.
After 10 games in the new season, the Spurs had a record of 9 wins and 1 loss, not only leading the Western Conference but also the entire league, once again becoming the top team.
With twin towers in the paint, defensive stalwarts Bowen and Elliott on the perimeter, the newly crowned assists king He Xi Meng in the middle, and future All-Stars Brad Miller, Ginobili, and Reed coming off the bench... this lineup, even if not mature and not at its peak performance, was already among the league's top tiers...
However, Popovich, in order to integrate the lineup, practice tactics, develop rookies, and preserve the core players' energy and reduce the risk of injuries to the starting lineup... was willing to give up some winnable games. While ensuring they remained league leaders, he did not deliberately pursue regular season achievements.
Before the 2001 All-Star Game, the Spurs' record was 36 wins and 10 losses, still far exceeding the Lakers' 30 wins and 16 losses, ranking first in the West and first in the league.
But because Popovich had been the head coach for the Western All-Stars the previous year, and due to the rule against serving consecutive terms, the second-ranked coach in the West, Phil Jackson, was selected as this year's Western head coach.
The head coach for the Eastern Conference was none other than Larry Brown, the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers' record before the All-Star Game was 36 wins and 13 losses. For the Eastern Conference teams, which were originally weaker than the West, this record was indeed top-tier. And this was mainly thanks to Iverson's maturity! Iverson in the 2000-2001 season had indeed reached the peak of his individual career.
If He Xi Meng did not have the vast support of Chinese fans behind him, this year's All-Star vote king would have been contested among Carter, O'Neal, and Iverson!
However, because of He Xi Meng's special status and his outstanding performance in the Sydney Olympics, the number of Chinese fans who liked him and were willing to go to the trouble of voting for him continued to grow. He Xi Meng directly won the All-Star vote king for the second consecutive year with over 2 million votes!
Carter came in second with 1.71 million votes, while O'Neal and Iverson both received 1.5 million votes, ranking third and fourth respectively.
He Xi Meng's Chinese identity was like a bug; as long as he could appear on the court healthy, no one could shake his position as the All-Star vote king. The powerful force of Chinese fans compelled other stars to fight for the second position in the All-Star popularity contest...
It is rumored that the league has noticed this bug and is preparing to fix this issue of purely fan-voted selections to prevent world fans, led by Chinese fans, from forcefully pushing their national stars into the starting lineups of the All-Stars.
Because this year's All-Star voting not only saw He Xi Meng receive an extremely high number of votes, but even the Lakers' Da Zhi received a very high number of votes, almost becoming a Western Conference All-Star starter alongside He Xi Meng...
The league higher-ups could understand He Xi Meng's selection as a Western Conference All-Star starter. However, if Da Zhi were also selected as a starter, the stars of other teams in the league would be furious.
This forced the league to modify the All-Star voting rules in advance.
It was a shame for Da Zhi! If Chinese fans had pushed a little harder, his votes could have at least entered the top five Western forwards. However, that would have meant Da Zhi squeezing out Webber, who should have been the starting forward.
This was because Da Zhi received 1.28 million votes, while Webber received 1.3 million votes! The difference between them was only 20,000 votes, ranking them third among Western forwards.
The number one Western forward was Duncan, who received 1.45 million votes.
Due to He Xi Meng joining the Spurs, Duncan received a large number of votes from Chinese fans who were also fans of He Xi Meng. He emerged from the West and was close to becoming one of the league's most popular players.
But in reality, because Duncan was too low-key off the court, in North America, apart from San Antonio and Texas, Duncan did not have as many loyal fans as other stars like O'Neal, Kobe, and Iverson.
And on his hometown of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, the total population is only 49,000... while the permanent population of Dachanglong Village in Junbu Town, Puning County, Guangdong Province, China, is as high as 45,000...
This means that if Chinese fans from a few villages voted for Duncan, the source of votes could far exceed the total population of Duncan's hometown. Moreover, not many fans on St. Croix are passionate about basketball...
Several Spurs players saw their vote counts surge significantly due to He Xi Meng. This included small forward Elliott, whose story as a "kidney warrior" deeply moved Chinese fans, leading to him receiving many votes. He ranked fifth among Western forwards, behind Garnett and ahead of Rasheed Wallace and Pippen.
Among the candidates for Western Conference starting center, David Robinson also received a considerable number of votes. If not for the invincible presence of O'Neal in the West, David Robinson would have very likely secured the starting position.
In the Western Conference guard race, He Xi Meng undeniably took one spot, and Kobe undeniably took the other.
Kidd was forced to give up his original starting position and ranked third to fifth along with Jason Williams and Payton.
The final Western Conference starting lineup was: O'Neal, Duncan, Webber, Kobe, He Xi Meng.
The Western Conference reserve lineup was: David Robinson, Garnett, Malone, Rasheed Wallace, Finley, Kidd, Payton.
O'Neal, due to a foot injury, ultimately missed the All-Star Game this year. Divac of the Kings was selected as a reserve.