Both head coaches, Popovich and Sloan, placed immense importance on defense! Therefore, this showdown between the old and new powerhouses of the Western Conference was destined to be a defensive battle.
He Xi Meng either used up his three-point shooting touch in the last game against the Bucks, or Stockton's subtle tactics had an effect. He Xi Meng's touch from beyond the arc was quite dismal today, hitting only one out of six attempts!
David Robinson, under the interference of the muscular Malone, only shot 4 for 13. The only player who performed exceptionally was the rookie number 21, Duncan!
Because Malone had to drop down to the low post for most of the time to assist Polliness in defending David Robinson, Duncan gained a lot of free space, allowing him to get a steady stream of shooting opportunities.
In this game, Duncan shot 23 times, made 12, and shot 8 of 14 from the free-throw line, scoring a game-high 32 points and 8 rebounds. However, because He Xi Meng and David Robinson were contained by the Jazz, and Ginobili from the bench couldn't display his "demon knife" attributes against the veteran Jazz, the Spurs ultimately suffered their first loss of the new season! Their winning streak thus came to an end at nine games.
In the final six games of November, the Spurs faced the Celtics, Nuggets, Bulls, Nets, Pistons, and Raptors!
The Celtics were still in a rebuilding phase, with their core players being Antoine Walker from the '96 generation and Pierce from the '98 generation. Both were very young and couldn't yet prop up the glory of the Celtics.
The core of the Nuggets at this time was Ron Mercer, Antonio McDyess, LaPhonso Ellis, James Posey... and He Xi Meng's old acquaintance, Erick Dampier! "Crazy Dampier" was performing well for the Nuggets, consistently holding down the bench player, Chauncey Billups, which prevented Billups from getting a chance to move up in the team...
The core of the Bulls was Elton Brand, but the current "Ship King" couldn't steer a ship and was just floundering with the Bulls. And this year, the Bulls' bench had a young man named Ron Artest! When he played against Jordan during practice, his skills were not refined, and he was thoroughly dominated by Jordan. He then retaliated with a vicious collision, costing Jordan two broken ribs, and earning Jordan's recognition... This young man named Ron Artest later changed his name many times. However, Chinese fans still habitually call him Artest, or Metta World Peace!
The core of the Nets this season was still Stephon Marbury and Keith Van Horn from the '96 generation, along with Kenyon Martin, the second pick of the '97 generation. Every time Marbury faced He Xi Meng, he seemed to be fueled by adrenaline and played with great intensity. In this game, Marbury went all out against He Xi Meng, shooting 22 times. But unfortunately, He Xi Meng didn't give Marbury too many opportunities on the defensive end. Duncan and David Robinson in the paint had excellent help defense awareness! This resulted in Marbury's shooting percentage in this game being only 31.8%. Despite scoring 20 points and dishing out 13 assists, he couldn't lead the Nets to defeat the Spurs!
He Xi Meng's personal statistics were similar to Marbury's, with 21 points and 14 assists. However, He Xi Meng only used 14 shots to achieve what Marbury took 22 shots to accomplish... The main reason was the completely different level of support from his teammates.
On the Nets' side, Marbury was the strongest scorer, the strongest playmaker, and the strongest perimeter defender, shouldering too many responsibilities by himself.
On the Spurs' side, He Xi Meng's most important role was as the strongest organizer! Duncan was there for scoring, and David Robinson for defense. He Xi Meng had no need to do everything himself.
The difference ultimately manifested on the court: Marbury worked himself to exhaustion without much appreciation, while He Xi Meng, with a smile, earned the respect of the entire Spurs team...
The Spurs won the first four games against the Celtics, Nuggets, Bulls, and Nets without much suspense. However, the last two opponents, the Pistons and the Raptors, dealt the Spurs a significant blow!
The core of the Pistons this season was Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse!
The core of the Raptors this season was Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady!
These two teams were not strong in the interior. Their greatest strengths were their versatile wing players! And the shooting guard and small forward positions were precisely the Spurs' weakest two positions!
Mario Elie and Chucky Brown were good role players, but only just good. When they were matched against players like Grant Hill, Vince Carter, and McGrady, their fate was already sealed: they would be overwhelmed!
In the previous game against the Pistons, He Xi Meng tried to utilize his playmaking ability to involve Duncan and David Robinson, aiming to overwhelm the Pistons' interior with the Spurs' twin towers! But the Pistons, who had always possessed a tenacious spirit, tenaciously withstood the impact of the twin towers and then, led by Grant Hill, launched a counter-offensive that crushed the Spurs!
In the subsequent game against the Raptors, He Xi Meng learned from his lesson. Seeing that the Raptors' interior players, Antonio Davis and Charles Oakley, were not easy to overwhelm, he chose to engage Carter in a shootout on the perimeter!
As a result, Carter, in his early years in the league, was incredibly potent! A flurry of drives, dunks, and pull-up jumpers directly stunned Duncan! In this game, Carter exploded for 39 points, and the substitute McGrady scored 26 points! The brothers, working together, completely overwhelmed the Spurs' wings, and also overwhelmed He Xi Meng...
Ultimately, with the end of the November games, the Spurs and the Lakers were tied with 13 wins and 3 losses, sharing the top spot in the Western Conference. Since the two teams had not yet played each other since the start of the season, there was no head-to-head tiebreaker.
O'Neal, with his statistical advantage of averaging 28.7 points, 13.4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3.4 blocks, defeated Duncan and was unilaterally selected as the Player of the Month! The league at this time did not distinguish between Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, so O'Neal's Player of the Month award held significant weight.
With He Xi Meng and David Robinson assisting, if Duncan played to his full potential, his individual statistics might not necessarily be worse than O'Neal's!
However, with Popovich overseeing things from above, and He Xi Meng having poached Brad Miller from the Hornets before the season started, who siphoned off a considerable amount of individual statistics that should have belonged to Duncan, Duncan's statistics in the first month were even lower than in the original history...
Fortunately, Duncan was relatively indifferent to these individual honors. Or rather, Duncan had a more long-term perspective; he valued championship rings more and didn't care too much about such superficial accolades.
He Xi Meng, precisely because he knew Duncan's temperament, prescribed the right remedy. By poaching Brad Miller, he relieved pressure on Duncan, preventing his major injuries from occurring too early. If it were another player who placed great importance on personal statistics, even if He Xi Meng did it for their own good, few would be willing to accept it...
This was what made Duncan so special!