Inside a mansion in San Antonio, the lighting was soft and the atmosphere relaxed.
Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili, already eliminated from the playoffs, sat together in the living room as the game played on the television.
Head coach Gregg Popovich sat nearby as well, watching the broadcast with a relaxed expression.
"Which team do you favor?" Popovich suddenly asked, his gaze sweeping across the three players.
"Boston Celtics!" "Boston Celtics!" "Boston Celtics!" The three answered in unison without hesitation.
Popovich smiled faintly, showing neither surprise nor disagreement.
In his view, the Oklahoma City Thunder were on the same level as them. The two sides were evenly matched, and the outcome was difficult to predict.
The Boston Celtics, however, stood alone at the top of the league for one simple reason—they had the superstar Goodwin.
Popovich understood full well how important a superstar was to a team.
He had once gone to enormous lengths to pursue Tim Duncan, a superstar in his own right.
When Tim Duncan entered the draft, the talent and ability he displayed were so far beyond every other player in his class that he immediately caused a sensation across the entire league. For teams in the midst of rebuilding especially, drafting Tim Duncan practically meant their rebuild was already more than halfway complete.
In the 1996–97 regular season, as many as nine teams failed to reach 30 wins, including the Denver Nuggets with 21 wins, the San Antonio Spurs with 20, the Boston Celtics with 15, and the Memphis Grizzlies with 14.
At the time, they were plainly gunning for the top pick. The Boston Celtics even had home fans cheering in celebration whenever the team lost.
Red Auerbach, the Celtics' legendary soul and the "Red Auerbach" of franchise history, was a diehard Tim