As a result, with three and a half minutes left in the first quarter, the score was still tied at 28–28.
But that balance was broken when Towns came onto the court.
By then, both Tures and Bond had checked out, and the Three-point Shooter had also taken two players off the floor.
Their starting center, Little O'Neal, had come out too, replaced by a tall, lumbering traditional center.
Against Towns, this traditional center had only a slight advantage in height. His footwork was no match at all.
Towns kept using his footwork to get past him.
Though Towns's mid- and long-range shots weren't falling today, he was still highly efficient once he drove to the basket.
He scored again and again.
In the end, the Kings went on a 10–3 mini run over those three and a half minutes.
They finished the first quarter ahead, 38–31.
The Kings' power forward, Tures, had been a real surprise in that quarter.
He had originally been just a blue-collar big man whose job was to defend, set screens, grab rebounds, and box out.
In short, he did all the dirty work on the court.
As for scoring, he was considered optional.
But no one had expected him to come out and put up eight points and eight rebounds in a single quarter.
As Tures came off the court to rest, Popovich kept his eyes on him.
He was a little puzzled.
Today, Tures had become the Kings' X-factor.
Of course, every team needed an X-factor, especially in high-level matchups like the playoffs and even the Western Conference Finals. By then, the opponents had studied every star player and every set play inside and out.
They generally had a counter for everything, leaving both sides locked in a stalemate.
That was when a