Celtics coach Ime Udoka couldn't afford to manage He Xi Meng that way. He Xi Meng finished chatting with Duncan, then went to talk to Ginobili, then to Parker and Bowen, and after that, to Big Baby and Liu Yudong...
In short, while the other Celtics players were warming up and shooting, He Xi Meng was busy catching up and chatting. He barely shot any balls, only joining the tail end of the warm-up.
Fortunately, the pre-game warm-up wasn't broadcast live. Otherwise, fans back in Boston seeing He Xi Meng's laid-back attitude might have questioned his loyalty to the Green Team…
In the ensuing game, He Xi Meng and Duncan both kept their promises, competing to see who could slack off more elegantly.
He Xi Meng handed over the offensive burden to Carter and Yao Ming, retreating to the defensive end to specifically contain Parker and prevent him from getting going.
Duncan, in turn, entrusted the offensive responsibilities to Parker and Ginobili, falling back to the defensive end to help Nesterović contain Yao Ming and prevent him from impacting the game.
With He Xi Meng and Duncan not playing to their full potential, Parker and Yao Ming struggled to make their mark. Ultimately, the game devolved into a duel between Carter and Ginobili.
Figgins also wanted to get involved but found himself stumbling against the Celtics' second-year rookie, Ariza.
Figgins, seeing Ariza as just a young rookie, figured he could easily overwhelm him.
He hadn't expected this lanky rookie with long arms and legs to possess such high defensive awareness.
After the refinement of the previous season, Ariza was now capable of shouldering significant responsibility, serving as the Celtics' starting small forward.
It wasn't that Tony Allen's defensive ability was inferior to Ariza's, but rather that having Tony Allen play shooting guard and Ariza play small forward, with Carter at shooting guard, allowed Carter to maximize his matchup advantages.
Carter's physique was more than capable at small forward, and when moved to shooting guard, he was essentially in a league of his own.
Figgins, unaware of Ariza's depth, treated him as an ordinary second-year rookie, and thus, he found himself capsized.
Figgins couldn't exert full force, and the home team, the Spurs, found themselves locked in a struggle with the Celtics until the final moments of the game.
Ginobili had already had his explosive moments, scoring 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists, but his stamina was starting to falter.
"Demon Blade's" playing style was unconventional and demanding on energy, meaning he could maintain peak output for about 20 minutes. In this game, Ginobili had already played 32 minutes, so it was no wonder he was running out of steam.
Parker excelled in games where his team was in the lead, but this game was extremely tight, and with He Xi Meng's interference, Parker's shooting percentage was quite "encouraging."
Popovich didn't dare to pin their hopes of winning on Parker and turned his attention to Duncan.
Duncan had been quite active on defense today, primarily slacking on offense. With the game nearing its end, Duncan only had 14 points.
"Tim, can you still play?" Popovich tentatively asked Duncan.
Duncan nodded expressionlessly, "I think I can still hold on!"
"Excellent. Then on the next possession, you'll take it!" Popovich said, drawing and writing on the tactical board, designing a pick-and-roll down-low play for Duncan with Parker!
Parker would fake a drive to the basket, and Duncan would feign a cut down the middle, both applying pressure to the Celtics' defense simultaneously, forcing them to collapse the paint.
Just as everyone, including the fans in the arena, thought the Spurs would resolutely attack the Celtics' basket, Duncan did the opposite. He abruptly stopped, spun, retreated to the free-throw line area, caught the ball, took a dribble to fend off Diaw, turned, and shot a smooth, fluid jumper that swished through the Celtics' hoop!
Diaw had been contesting Duncan for almost the entire game, and he had thought that Duncan was having an off day and wouldn't be much of a threat for the rest of the game. He hadn't expected that when Duncan wanted to, he could still toy with him.
This feeling left Diaw bewildered.
"Is Tim always like this when he plays?" Diaw couldn't help but ask He Xi Meng on the way back on defense.
"Like what?" He Xi Meng countered.
"It feels like he's out of the game, but then in the next play, he can still make you look like a fool..."
"Oh, playing the pig to eat the tiger, that's Tim's favorite trick."
"Uh... favorite trick?"
"You don't seriously think Tim was playing badly today, do you?" He Xi Meng asked Diaw with a hint of amusement.
Diaw looked embarrassed, "Wasn't he?"
"Absolutely not! To put it this way, Tim was only playing at about fifty percent of his ability today. He chose not to take many shots that he could have made. It wasn't that he couldn't make them, he was just being lazy! Now that it's the final moments of the game and the Spurs need someone to close it out, Duncan will definitely step up... Boris, I regret to inform you, your toughest moments have just begun..."
As expected, within a minute of He Xi Meng's warning to Diaw, Duncan took all of the Spurs' offensive possessions. He scored directly twice and drew a foul from Diaw on another, making both free throws, scoring 8 consecutive points!
Even the good-natured Diaw was starting to get agitated! He was willing to foul to stop Duncan, but it was still ineffective; Duncan was as steady as a rock from the free-throw line.
Fortunately, after Duncan's surge, He Xi Meng also took over the Celtics' offense. He made 2 of 3 three-pointers from beyond the arc, scoring 6 points, barely holding off Duncan's mini-run and preventing the Spurs from pulling away with a decisive streak.
On the Spurs' final possession, Popovich still passed the ball to Duncan, but Duncan improvised. He drew the Celtics' attention as a decoy and passed the shooting opportunity to Ginobili, who was cutting from the wing!
Ginobili had a good feel for his shot in this game, especially in the first three quarters, where he was almost unstoppable. If it weren't for the Spurs not having an outstanding secondary scorer today, which led to Ginobili playing too many minutes, his scoring efficiency in this game would have been very high, despite missing all three of his shots in the fourth quarter.
Logically speaking, with Ginobili going 0 for 3 in the quarter, Duncan shouldn't have given him the final shot.
However, Popovich not subbing Ginobili out and keeping him on the court indicated that Ginobili still posed a threat.
And Duncan, in the crucial final moments, instinctively trusted his teammate. It wasn't about passing the buck; Duncan didn't need to pass the buck, but he genuinely felt that Ginobili had a better chance than he did!
He Xi Meng had anticipated Duncan's intention to pass at the last moment, but by the time he rushed over to block Ginobili's shot, Ginobili had elevated the trajectory, causing He Xi Meng's block to miss...