Popovich looked at Chen Yu, his face full of expectation.
After thinking it over, he concluded this was the only—and most reliable—solution.
After five games, Popovich had identified a key problem: the Spurs’ bench was inferior to the Pioneer’s.
It was the bench lineup that often fell behind or allowed opponents to close the gap.
But without Chen Yu’s Dragon Slaying Skill, how could he dare to overwork his starters?
’After all, it’s only the first round!’
If they got worn down and injured, the season would truly be over.
"Chen, can you do it?" Popovich pressed.
Chen Yu sighed internally.
’Although I’ve never explicitly said I stop helping other teams with player conditioning once the playoffs begin, some things don’t need to be said.’
’When the Grizzlies came to Phoenix for their game, they didn’t ask me for conditioning afterward. That in itself was a clear statement of their position.’
’So Popovich should be well aware of this.’
’But for him to still come to me... it just goes to show how badly the Pioneer have backed him into a corner, leaving him with no other moves.’
Unfortunately, Chen Yu would have to disappoint him.
"Greg, we’re friends, but unfortunately, I have to say I’m sorry. There’s just no time. My flight leaves in an hour. Once I’m in Los Angeles, I have to head to China first thing in the morning for some urgent business."
’It was perfect that he actually had to rush to China. Otherwise, it would have been too awkward to refuse.’
’Popovich had swallowed his pride to ask for help; it would be difficult for me to just say no!’
Popovich froze, then said, "Chen, just one day. Can’t you delay by just one day?"
He held up one finger and pleaded.
"I’m sorry!"
Chen Yu shook his head again and walked right past him.
’Even if I didn’t have to go to China, I wouldn’t have helped Popovich.’
’If I help you, what happens to the Pioneer’s upset?’
’Even if I could help the Pioneer with conditioning so their starters could play the whole game, their main advantage is their bench. Forcing the starters to play the entire game would be like crippling them, throwing away their own strength.’
’So, this was a favor I would never grant, no matter what.’
Popovich instinctively started to follow, wanting to plead again, but Budenholzer stepped in his way.
"Forget it, Greg. He’s not going to help us."
Budenholzer watched Chen Yu get into the elevator and sighed softly.
’A Spurs upset is clearly more beneficial to Chen Yu.’
If Chen Yu really wanted to help, he could change his flight; two hours would have been more than enough time.
Since he made excuses, it ultimately meant he was just unwilling to help.
"But..." Popovich ran a hand through his thinning hair in frustration.
He wasn’t stupid; of course, he’d thought of that. He just couldn’t accept it.
If Chen Yu wouldn’t help, the Spurs were in real danger.
"Let’s go!"
Popovich waved his hand dejectedly.
What made it even more frustrating was that he couldn’t even hold a grudge against Chen Yu for refusing. He’d surely need his help again in the future.
Chen Yu wouldn’t help, but the game still had to be played. That left Popovich with only one option.
「The next day, at the Rose Garden Arena.」
In the somewhat spartan visiting locker room, Popovich stood ramrod straight with his arms crossed, like a telephone pole.
He did not look pleased.
At the pre-game press conference, the reporters—who loved a good story and couldn’t care less about stirring the pot—had been full of snide remarks directed at him.
Popovich didn’t care.
’It’s not like I’m a man who cares about saving face!’
Popovich’s creed was simple: win. Winning was everything. The ’how’ wasn’t all that important.
For a moment, Popovich even considered playing dirty.
’Nash got injured once, couldn’t he get injured a second time?’
But in the end, Popovich dismissed the thought.
Getting injured once could be explained as an accident, but a second time would be inexplicable.
He could be shameless, but not *that* shameless. There were still some lines he had to draw.
’It’s not like they’d never meet again. If you injure their star player, what’s to stop them from injuring yours? If they went all out and took down Duncan for good, that would be a regret he couldn’t live with.’
After a long moment, Popovich looked up at Duncan. "Tim, we have no retreat. We cannot leave here with a loss today, no matter what. So I need you to play the entire game. Not one minute of rest."
His expression was serious.
Duncan’s expression was even more serious.
The expressions on all the players in the room turned grim as they all looked toward Duncan.
An imperceptible flicker of disappointment crossed Duncan’s eyes before he gave a slight nod. "I understand, Greg."
He said nothing more.
Popovich then looked at Parker and Ginobili.
They both nodded in turn.
There was simply no choice.
At 8 PM, the game officially began.
It was a do-or-die game, and both sides came out swinging from the opening tip.
Milicic held his ground as best he could, but Duncan still managed to back him down.
In the sliver of space he created, Duncan stepped up and released a steady hook shot that found its mark.
Milicic waved his fist in annoyance, but there was nothing he could do.
’He felt like he was defending as well as he possibly could, but he just couldn’t stop Duncan.’
The crazy thing was, Duncan had played the entire first half without a minute of rest.
When the two were close, Milicic could clearly hear Duncan’s heavy breathing.
He knew Duncan was tired.
’I’m exhausted too!’
From the start of the game, the two had been locked in a physical battle, each desperately trying to stop the other.
Duncan was probably even more tired than he was. He had to help on defense, link up the offense, and fight for every offensive rebound.
Rivers called a timeout.
Gathering his players, Rivers said with a serious expression, "Don’t panic. Just hang in there. Our opportunity will be in the fourth quarter."
The Pioneer were currently down by seven points.
A manageable deficit.
And Rivers believed that as long as they kept the deficit under ten, the time to counterattack would come in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs’ exhausted starters finally hit a wall.
’You guys haven’t rested, but the Pioneer have been using a normal rotation.’
Besides, Derek Anderson was on fire today, hitting 4 of 5 from three-point range and making his presence felt.
So, when the Spurs finally ran out of gas, it would be no problem for the Pioneer to make their move and win the game.
"Gentlemen, in just over a quarter of play, we’re going to make history!" Rivers said, looking at his players to inspire them.
Everyone nodded, full of confidence.
Having won the Celestial King Mountain game, the Pioneer were now fearless.
But things didn’t develop as Rivers had imagined.
By the fourth quarter, even Parker was starting to look gassed, but Duncan was still moving like he was fresh and had completely taken over the Spurs’ offense.
In the first three quarters, Duncan had already scored 26 points.
But in the fourth quarter, Duncan seemed to enter some incredible zone where he simply couldn’t miss.
Rivers felt Milicic was defending him perfectly. There were times his hand was practically in Duncan’s face, yet Duncan’s bank shots just kept falling.
Even double-teaming was useless.
If you double-teamed him, he passed out of it. The moment you eased up, SWISH, he’d score.
6-for-8 from the field in the quarter, plus free throws, Duncan stunned everyone by racking up 15 points!
He had already put up a monstrous stat line for the game: 41 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 blocks.
And that was with 23 seconds still left in the game.
The Pioneer trailed 94-93, down by just one point.
Spurs’ ball.
They ran down the clock, and with 8 seconds left, the ball was once again in Duncan’s hands.
On the sideline, Rivers’ heart was about to stop.
In an instant, Delembert and Iguodala lunged at Duncan almost simultaneously.
A three-on-one!
Given how he was playing today, Duncan had earned this treatment.
Duncan’s face was a cool, emotionless mask. He lowered his body, used a drop step to seal off Milicic, and forced a sliver of space open with his shoulder. He was completely surrounded.
But he jumped anyway, tossing the ball up while completely off balance.
He then crashed hard to the floor.
The ball dropped through the hoop at an impossible angle. The entire Rose Garden Arena went dead silent.
At the same time, the referee’s whistle blew.
And one!
A nearby Mutombo rushed over, pulled Duncan to his feet, and roared in excitement.
It was a dagger!
Duncan stomped his right foot on the floor, pushed away Parker and others who wanted to celebrate with him, and walked to the free-throw line.
Duncan was the type of player who could finish a game with 20 and 10 without breaking much of a sweat, but at this moment, the TV broadcast showed him drenched in it.
Standing at the free-throw line, Iguodala, who was close by, could smell the foul odor coming from Duncan.
Duncan had body odor, and it was unusually strong.
It took a full ten seconds before Duncan shot the free throw.
Right through the net.
He didn’t celebrate.
’Up by four with eight seconds left. The Pioneer still had a chance.’
Pioneer timeout.
A look of resignation was written all over Rivers’ face.
The Pioneer had played well enough in this game; Nash’s 12 assists were the best proof.
When the team’s offense was flowing, Nash’s assist numbers were always high.
But who could have predicted that Duncan would play the entire game and erupt for a full 44 points?
D’Antoni gathered everyone and quickly drew up a play for the final shot, while Rivers watched from the side with mixed feelings.
Truth be told, having come this far, Rivers felt he could accept any outcome.
Duncan had given his all, and so had everyone on the Pioneer.
’And there’s no shame in losing to *this* Duncan!’
Most importantly, even if they lost this game, Rivers didn’t believe Duncan could replicate this performance in the next one.
’He’ll be absolutely exhausted!’
But the next game was back in San Antonio, so it would be far better to finish the series today.
Randolph was subbed out, as was Iguodala, who wasn’t much of a three-point threat.
Joe Johnson was moved to the small forward position.
Derek Anderson, whose three-point shot had been on fire all day, was subbed in.
The plan was to score, and quickly, to leave enough time to foul the Spurs and get the ball back with a chance to tie.
Most of the fans in the arena were on their feet, watching this crucial shot.
Milicic set a screen on Parker, and O’Ku immediately threw the inbound pass. Nash, curling off the screen, caught the ball.
Ginobili was already lunging at him.
At the last moment before releasing the shot, Nash pulled back and fired a sharp cross-court pass straight to Derek Anderson, who was sprinting to the corner.
The final shot was entrusted to the red-hot Derek Anderson.
Bowen turned and lunged, but it was too late.
With all eyes on it, the basketball clanked hard off the rim and out.
No good!
Duncan leaped up, snatched the rebound, and hugged the ball tightly to his chest.
Milicic’s attempt to strip the ball failed, and the whistle blew.
But it no longer mattered.
The Spurs had won.
On the sideline, an ecstatic Popovich jumped up and down on the spot, waving his arms and shouting.
Tim Duncan had saved the Spurs!
By the time Chen Yu heard the result of Game 6, he had already arrived in China.
"Game 7?"
When he heard that Duncan had played all 48 minutes and exploded for 44 points, Chen Yu couldn’t help but shudder.
’Popovich is really working Duncan like a beast of burden.’
"Boss, do you think the Spurs will win?" Hunter asked.
After Game 6, the media, which had been loudly predicting an upset, suddenly fell silent.
It was as if they had just remembered that the Spurs still had a two-time MVP in Duncan.
Like weathervanes, they switched directions and started hyping up the Spurs again, claiming the Pioneer had lost due to their youth.
Chen Yu thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I’m betting the Pioneer will win, even at the Spurs’ home court."
’That game took too much out of Duncan.’
’Playing that hard... there’s no way he could recover in just one day.’
’And then there was Mutombo. He played nearly the entire game as well. At his age, you can imagine what kind of shape he’ll be in for the next one.’
’Randolph is not a pushover either.’
Hunter raised an eyebrow, disagreeing internally.
Unexpectedly, Chen Yu’s words proved prophetic.
Two days later came Game 7.
At the AT&T Center, on the Spurs’ own home court, in front of twenty thousand of their fans, the Spurs suffered a blowout loss.
The Pioneer sank 16 three-pointers, scored a whopping 115 points, and beat the Spurs by a massive 19 points.
The fourth eight-seed upset in NBA history had just occurred!

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