Camera flashes flickered nonstop.
Popovich’s brow furrowed slightly. He rubbed his face, looking troubled and somewhat distracted. After a long moment, he asked, "Right, what was the question?"
The reporter who had asked the question immediately repeated it. "Greg, do you think there was a problem with your defense in the final moments of the game?"
He paused, then added, "Also, with the series now tied 2-2, are you worried you might lose the entire series? In other words, that you might... fall victim to an eighth-seed upset."
As the final words left his mouth, every reporter in the press conference hall looked up at Popovich.
Many of the reporters had been wanting to ask about a potential eighth-seed upset.
Popovich’s brow tightened further. He was silent for a moment before answering, "I don’t think there was anything wrong with our defense. Joe is an excellent player, his offense is a huge threat. In the final moments, he played very well and made the shot. It’s as simple as that."
"As for whether we’ll lose the series..."
Popovich’s gaze sharpened. "I don’t think so. We just haven’t found our rhythm yet. Our opponents have always been the Suns, the Lakers, the Magic!"
After saying this, Popovich stood up and walked out.
The reporters all looked at each other, nonplussed.
The subtext of Popovich’s statement was clear: the Pioneers weren’t worthy of defeating the Spurs.
"Did he really say that?"
In the arena’s medical room, Chen Yu asked the question as he treated Milicic’s nose.
Rivers stood nearby with his arms crossed, smiling as he nodded.
He wasn’t angry about being underestimated. When they actually pulled off the upset, he wanted to see the look on Popovich’s face and hear how he would explain his failure.
Chen Yu shook his head slightly. ’For Popovich to say something like that, the Pioneers must have really gotten under his skin.’
In reality, having reached this point, the Pioneers had already won, regardless of whether they could pull off the upset or not.
Just then, Rivers, lost in thought, said with some annoyance, "If only we’d won two more games at the end of the season, we could have finished seventh."
After speaking, he glanced at Chen Yu.
Chen Yu’s mind raced, and he guessed what the man was thinking.
’He’s probably already thinking past upsetting the Spurs and on to their second-round opponent.’
If they pulled off the upset, they would face the Suns in the second round.
The Grizzlies were talented, but they certainly couldn’t challenge the Suns.
Clearly, Rivers didn’t want to play the Suns.
Even without O’Neal, the Suns were a tough matchup.
"You might have an even harder time against the Lakers," Chen Yu said.
The Spurs won through teamwork. Their team-building philosophy was to scavenge for undervalued players and gamble in the draft. Their only true superstar was Duncan.
But the Lakers were different. The Lakers weren’t afraid to spend money; their only fear was not being able to get the players they wanted.
Most importantly, the Lakers had two and a half superstars.
Kobe, Yao Ming, and then Odom.
Duncan was formidable, but on the perimeter, neither Parker nor Ginobili had Kobe’s ability to break down a defense single-handedly.
And on the Pioneers’ side, there was likely no one in the frontcourt who could stop Yao Ming.
If Randolph had to guard Yao Ming, he’d get destroyed.
Of course, with the Pioneers’ big men playing more on the perimeter, Yao Ming would also have a tough time defending them, but that would just become a shootout between them.
If the Pioneers had actually finished seventh and played the Lakers, it would have been a tough series as well.
But regardless, the Pioneers were already outstanding. Their future was truly bright.
Just then, Milicic, who had been tilting his head back the whole time, suddenly chimed in, "Dr. Chen, I think we can win."
His gaze was firm.
Chen Yu was slightly taken aback, then smiled and nodded. "I believe in you."
’For young players, confidence is often the most important thing.’
’Beating a strong opponent sends your confidence soaring.’
"Chen, it’s all up to you now," Rivers said.
They had fought hard to win this game, which bought Nash more time to recover.
But whether he could return on schedule still depended on Chen Yu.
To give Nash the best possible rest, he didn’t travel with the team to San Antonio. Instead, on the morning of Game 5, he flew to San Antonio on Paul Allen’s private jet.
Even on the plane, Nash wasn’t idle; with Chen Yu’s help, he was doing recovery exercises.
Paul Allen had also made time to come along. He sat nearby, quietly watching Nash train.
After completing a set amount of rehabilitation exercises, Chen Yu immediately began to massage him.
The moment he started, he delivered a Gold Level recovery effect.
Recovering enough to play in just three days was no easy feat.
After all this, Nash stood up and moved around a bit. He put a hand on his lower back and said, "It still feels a little sore, but I don’t think it’s a big problem."
’Who hasn’t played through back-to-back games with a minor injury before?’
Chen Yu nodded and told Nash to go rest.
"Chen, do you think we can pull off the upset?" Paul Allen asked in a low voice after pouring Chen Yu a glass of wine.
If they could upset the Spurs, he felt it would be even more thrilling than when the Pioneers made it to the Western Conference Finals years ago.
At the very least, it would prove that the team’s rebuilding strategy was on the right track.
Chen Yu thought for a moment and said, "Paul, I won’t lie to you. I can only say that there’s a chance. It depends on how everyone performs."
In the first four games, they had won two. One was thanks to their ultimate run-and-gun offense, and the other was due to an explosive performance from Milicic.
But Chen Yu felt there was another major reason.
In fact, this reason might just be the X-factor in whether the Pioneers could pull off the upset.
Their bench.
The Spurs were constrained by their salary cap, so their bench wasn’t particularly strong.
The Pioneers, on the other hand, had a bench that could really play.
Larry Hughes, Samuel Dalembert, Al Jefferson, Darius Miles—these were all players with starter-level talent.
You just had to look at one statistic to see it.
In the four games, the scoring comparison between the Pioneers’ and Spurs’ benches was 27-16, 38-21, 26-24, and 33-20, respectively.
They had won the last game thanks to their bench as well.
O’Ku efficiently scored 13 points, shooting 2-for-3 from three-point range.
This group of bench players each had their own unique skills. If used correctly, they could genuinely create a miracle.
Chen Yu had reminded Rivers of this.
Of course, even without Chen Yu’s reminder, there was no way Rivers would have missed such a clear statistical advantage.
Most importantly, the situation from previous years, where the Spurs would have Chen Yu maintain their players’ bodies during the playoffs and then run their starters into the ground, was no longer happening.
Now, Chen Yu helped no one but the Suns.
Dragging the series out to six or seven games was clearly more advantageous for the young Pioneers.
Paul Allen nodded slightly and didn’t ask any more questions.
At the AT&T Center, before the game, when Popovich learned that Nash had arrived at the arena and saw him warming up, his expression soured considerably.
"Forget it, Greg. Chen’s here. There’s nothing to be done about it," Carlesimo said with a sigh.
Popovich sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "Chen’s emergence has really taken a lot of the unpredictability out of the league."
So many teams in the past had failed to achieve their expected results simply because a player suffered an unexpected injury.
Carlesimo smiled. "But it has also prevented a lot of ’what ifs,’ hasn’t it?"
It saved fans from saying, ’If so-and-so hadn’t gotten hurt, would we have lost?’
Besides, the Spurs had benefited from it too. With injuries taken out of the equation, it came down to pure skill, which was fair.
"Forget it. Let’s not think about it. We just need to play our game. We can’t lose this one today," Popovich said grimly.
Losing at home again would put them in real danger.
Learning his lesson from the previous game, Popovich strengthened his interior defense, especially against Milicic.
He put in Horry to replace Bowen, took out Barry, and had Bowen move to the two-guard spot to defend Joe Johnson.
Milicic liked to drift to the perimeter and also had the ability to pass out of the post. If Duncan was constantly drawn out, it would easily create an opening in the paint for Nash to drive into.
He put in Horry.
Horry had height and was a crafty veteran who had a lot of experience dealing with long-range shooters.
Popovich’s plan was that when Milicic pulled out to the perimeter, Horry could switch onto him, alleviating the pressure on Duncan.
This also freed up Bowen to guard Joe Johnson. In the last game, Joe Johnson had only scored 16 points, but 6 of them came in the final two minutes, and they were lethal.
That left Iguodala open, but he didn’t have much of a shooting ability, and if he drove inside, Duncan would be there to stop him.
The plan was sound, and it was indeed effective. A targeted Milicic went 1-for-4 from three-point range and scored only 14 points for the entire game.
However, Popovich never expected someone else to explode.
Randolph!
With the Spurs focusing their defense on Milicic, Randolph, who had been in a slump for four games, finally found his rhythm. He went 12-for-17 from the field and, including free throws, erupted for 27 points.
Mutombo was really showing his age; he was completely unable to stop the human cannonball that was Randolph.
Moreover, Nash’s return created many easy scoring opportunities for Randolph.
to 97. A five-point margin. The Spurs had once again been toppled by the Pioneers on their own home court.
When the game ended, Popovich stood on the sideline with his arms crossed, looking completely dazed.
All season long, he had been thinking about how to deal with the Suns, the Lakers, and the Mavericks.
The reason he had fought so hard for the first seed in the West at the end of the season was to avoid the veteran Kings, thinking the young Pioneers would be an easy opponent to handle.
But he never would have dreamed that this very group of young players he’d underestimated would hit him with a sucker punch.
Down 2-3 in the series, with the next game at the Pioneers’ home court, the Spurs were now standing on the edge of a cliff.

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