The Mavericks turned around, wanting Bradley to force a shot against Brad Miller. Brad Miller had been with the Spurs for a few months and knew Popovich's preferences, understanding that Popovich valued his low-post defense more than his mid-range shooting ability.
Therefore, Brad Miller defended this play with extreme effort. He couldn't completely prevent the tall bamboo pole from getting close to the basket, forcing him to shoot from a longer range and successfully disrupting the shot, preventing Bradley from scoring.
Duncan seamlessly secured the defensive rebound and handed it to He Xi Meng for the push.
Facing Strickland's retreat, He Xi Meng accelerated, appearing ready to drive straight to the basket, drawing all the Mavericks' defenders to his side.
Meanwhile, Duncan quietly moved to the weak side, trailing along the baseline.
Seeing this, He Xi Meng abruptly stopped, turned, faked a pull-up jump shot, and then executed a high lob pass directly to Duncan, who was trailing on the weak side!
Duncan caught the ball, took flight, and before Nowitzki and Bradley could turn around, he finished with an alley-oop dunk, slamming the ball into the Mavericks' basket!
Duncan regaining his space to take flight was, in a way, a precursor to the Spurs' offense starting to flow.
Before this, due to David Robinson's slump, Duncan had been struggling inside, unable to control defensive rebounds, which naturally prevented fast break opportunities.
Turning back, the Mavericks scored a basket through Finley's aggressive drive.
On the Spurs' side, He Xi Meng again called for Brad Miller to come to the high post. This time, Bradley chose to step out, but He Xi Meng used a change of direction, easily getting past Bradley and driving into the Mavericks' paint. Nowitzki was forced to step up for the help defense, and He Xi Meng, with a no-look underhand pass, directly fed Duncan, who was trailing behind Nowitzki!
Duncan caught the ball under the basket and, without adjusting, immediately jumped! He jumped so high and was so directly under the rim that his head nearly hit the backboard. Fortunately, Duncan reacted extremely quickly, tilting his head slightly to avoid the rim's block, and with both hands, completed a two-handed reverse dunk...
"Wow..." the Mavericks fans couldn't help but let out a sigh of helplessness.
On one hand, they marveled at the Spurs' fluid passing and cutting coordination. On the other, they were astonished by Duncan's leaping ability!
Before his major injury, Duncan was indeed one of the pioneers of the airborne style of play...
Compared to the pairing of Malik Rose and Duncan, the combination of Brad Miller and Duncan was clearly more effective.
Since Malik Rose couldn't play center, Duncan had to fill the center position, which greatly taxed his stamina and limited his all-around stats.
Brad Miller, however, didn't have this problem. With his mid-range shooting ability, he was an excellent substitute for David Robinson.
When David Robinson was not playing well, Brad Miller could step in at the center position, not only holding down the paint and strengthening the Spurs' interior defense like David Robinson but also pulling opponents out of the paint and shooting from the high post, just as David Robinson did.
In short, for the Spurs, Brad Miller would be a great substitute for David Robinson!
Although David Robinson was far from retiring, with Brad Miller's presence, the Spurs' lineup would be more stable.
Even though Popovich had experimented with pairing Brad Miller and Duncan during daily practices, the results in practice, without He Xi Meng driving the offense, were mediocre, not at all as outstanding as in this actual game.
The Mavericks had finally managed to contain David Robinson through their efforts, taking the dynamism out of Duncan.
Then, a substitute like Brad Miller came off the Spurs' bench and revitalized their interior play, bringing the dynamism back to Duncan.
With the "Twin Towers" combo going on a small rampage in the third quarter, the Spurs successfully established a double-digit lead.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the home team, the Mavericks, led by Finley, attempted a comeback.
However, Popovich fielded only He Xi Meng as the starting player, allowing He Xi Meng to lead four players from the bench – Brad Miller, Malik Rose, Jalen Jackson, and Terry Porter – to successfully weather the Mavericks' counterattack!
Several Spurs' bench players scored consecutively under He Xi Meng's orchestration. He Xi Meng himself also knocked down a few pull-up three-pointers, making 4 out of 5 attempts and accumulating points. The Spurs used offense as defense, changing the rhythm of the game and catching the Mavericks off guard. Not only did the Mavericks fail to complete the comeback, but they didn't even have an opportunity to narrow the score.
As the Spurs' starting lineup gradually returned to the court, the Mavericks' fate was sealed.
In the end, this unequal battle between the Mavericks and the Spurs concluded with the Spurs winning decisively by a score of 106:90.
He Xi Meng, thanks to his barrage of three-pointers in the early fourth quarter, once again became the Spurs' leading scorer. In this game, He Xi Meng recorded 23 points, 13 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. Duncan achieved a double-double with 21 points and 17 rebounds, while Brad Miller contributed the third-highest 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists for the Spurs, successfully emerging from the third rotation.
David Robinson, due to his sluggish performance, played only 27 minutes and recorded 7 points and 7 rebounds.
Because of He Xi Meng, some unseen changes were quietly occurring within the Spurs.
After defeating two fellow Texas teams, the Spurs improved their opening record to 4 wins and 0 losses.
Their third game of a four-game road trip would be against the Clippers!
This marked He Xi Meng's first return to Los Angeles since joining the Spurs. He Xi Meng originally wanted to invite Kobe and Fox and others out for a meal, but upon checking the Lakers' schedule, he lost the desire to call them. The Lakers were currently on a three-game road trip in the East and wouldn't be back in Los Angeles for a couple of days.
Since he couldn't arrange a meal, He Xi Meng respectfully asked Popovich for leave, planning to spend a night at home!
Yes, strictly speaking, He Xi Meng's home was in Los Angeles! The one in San Antonio was merely a dormitory for his work period...
Kiera had finally finished all her filming for Pirates of the Caribbean and had recently returned to Los Angeles, planning to take a break before accepting new scripts.
He Xi Meng's trip to Los Angeles with the team for an away game coincidentally provided the couple with an opportunity for a "reunion."
Although they had agreed to have a "big battle of three hundred rounds" after the game, as a couple, watching TV together after dinner would inevitably lead to some physical contact, which could easily spark "different kinds of fireworks"...
"Didn't we say we'd have the big battle of three hundred rounds tomorrow night?"
"We did! So tonight, we'll only fight two hundred rounds, or, if you want to fight four hundred rounds, I wouldn't object either..."