Neither Duncan nor David Robinson attended the post-game press conference for the Spurs. They ceded all their media spotlight to He Xi Meng... In truth, both were too lazy to appear, having long wanted to offload this excruciatingly boring task onto He Xi Meng. However, because He Xi Meng had always cleverly controlled his scoring, consistently scoring a few points less than Duncan, or performing slightly less exceptionally than David Robinson, Popovich could never quite pin him down.
But tonight, He Xi Meng had no escape.
Tonight, He Xi Meng was the brightest star in the entire league, and all sports media across America were focusing their cameras on him. How could he possibly avoid attending the post-game press conference?
Popovich originally intended to blather on: "O'Neal had an outstanding performance in the paint today; he battled David and Tim single-handedly..."
"Excuse me, Coach Popovich, we don't want to hear about O'Neal. Could you comment on He Xi Meng's performance today?" the reporters below the stage interrupted mercilessly.
"Hmm... Xi Meng? Xi Meng played well today, shot very accurately... Speaking of shooting accurately, Kobe also shot very accurately today! His pull-up jumpers and fadeaways gave us a lot of trouble..."
"Sorry, Coach Popovich! We don't want to hear about Kobe either; we want to hear you talk about He Xi Meng's performance..."
"Huh? Xi Meng? I've already talked about Xi Meng's performance... Alright, I'll say it again, he played very well, shot very accurately today... And when it comes to shooting accurately..."
"Alright, alright! Thank you, Coach Popovich, you don't need to say any more. Let's just ask Xi Meng directly..."
"So you're the ones who chose not to hear it? It's not that I'm unwilling to talk, okay? Tomorrow's reports, you're not allowed to write nonsense, not allowed to bash me, alright?"
The assembled reporters collectively frowned. However, in order to interview He Xi Meng as soon as possible, they didn't want to entangle with Popovich further, so they all nodded, signaling that if Popovich wasn't going to properly evaluate He Xi Meng, he should get out of the way and not disturb their interview with the day's protagonist.
"It's a great honor to play such a game in this familiar arena! As you all know, I'm not a player who is particularly adept at scoring. I'm a point guard, and my job is to create scoring opportunities for my teammates. For example, letting Tim score, letting David score, letting Jalen score, letting Mario score, letting Manu score... But in this game, my hands felt good! So, everyone encouraged me, supported me to score myself. Of course, the Lakers' defensive strategy was also an important factor. Their interior defense was very tight, making it difficult for me to find easy opportunities to assist David and Tim. As a last resort, I had to increase my outside shooting and penetration, attempting to force them to change their defensive focus... Of course, until the end of the game, I couldn't change the Lakers' defensive strategy... From what I understand, Coach Harris is not a rigid coach..."
He Xi Meng paused here, scratched his head, and joked, "Perhaps Coach Harris wanted to give me a chance to perform, so that my image in the hearts of Lakers fans wouldn't be too terrible..."
The reporters present weren't particularly interested in Harris's true intentions. Rather, they were more interested in: Lakers versus Spurs, which team did He Xi Meng prefer?
This was a very sharp question, easily capable of attracting fan attention and thus boosting readership. However, for He Xi Meng, answering this question poorly could offend quite a few fans. Fortunately, He Xi Meng wasn't a rookie and naturally wouldn't foolishly jump into a trap. The best way to answer such questions was the same attitude Popovich adopted when facing the media: nonsensical deflection and evasion!
"Both the Lakers and the Spurs are great teams! It is the greatest honor of my career to have played for both of these teams... Of course, my career has just begun, and in the future, I might play for other great teams in the league... As a professional player, I have my professional responsibilities. Whether I was playing for the Lakers before or playing for the Spurs now, I will do my utmost to help the team achieve victory and contend for championships... Yes, championships! That is the honor that every professional player who joins this great league dreams of achieving... Speaking of which, I seem to have won a championship..."
Saying this, He Xi Meng raised his right hand, then pretended to be shocked and asked the reporters, "Oh, God, where is my championship ring? Can anyone tell me where my championship ring went?"
The reporters were momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter.
"Go look for it in Kayla's bed..." a sleazy red-haired reporter was the first to answer He Xi Meng.
He Xi Meng raised an eyebrow, looking as if he suddenly understood.
"Thank you, brother! Now I know where to find my championship ring..."
"You definitely won't be disappointed... Hope to see your brilliant performance again in the next game..." another even sleazier yellow-haired reporter offered He Xi Meng best wishes with a meaningful look.
The laughter of the reporters present became even louder.
He Xi Meng pretended not to understand the implication, his brow furrowed in feigned distress as he replied, "That will be difficult, brother! In the next game, I definitely won't score 50 points..."
"Actually, no one expects you to score 50 points again in the next game..."
"Then 30 points? 20 points? I think 20 points is my true level, my goal for the next game is 20 points..."
Popovich watched He Xi Meng engage in this eye-opening banter with the media with a look of satisfaction, thinking to himself, "This kid has a lot of my youthful spirit... Oh, no, he's much better at bluffing than I was in my youth..."
After a round of nonsensical rambling, the reporter who initially asked He Xi Meng "Do you prefer the Lakers or the Spurs?" came to his senses and realized that He Xi Meng seemed to have answered nothing at all before concluding the press conference.
Worse still, the attending media colleagues were all grinning, appearing quite pleased... It remained to be seen if they would still be in such good spirits when they had to rush their articles, couldn't think of reliable content, and stayed up late to churn out reports.