Spurs Crush Lakers, Meet in New York for Finals!

On the Lakers' side, the head coach known as the "Silver Fox"—Del Harris—was exceptionally rigid and inflexible in his tactical arrangements.

Ever since the first game of the series, the San Antonio Spurs had employed the same unchanging defensive strategy: double-team Shaq O'Neal while assigning one player to shadow Kobe Bryant one-on-one.

Yet in the face of such a sustained and obvious tactical setup, the Lakers seemed completely helpless. Other than repeatedly having Kobe force isolation plays, they appeared unable to come up with any more efficient or varied way to break the deadlock.

When a player's stamina and touch were at their peak, hero ball could save the day.

But once stamina began to fade and shooting touch inevitably fluctuated, hero ball became poison.

What Popovich was betting on was Kobe's isolation game. No matter how strong a player's one-on-one ability was, isolation offense was ultimately a low-percentage weapon.

Not everyone was peak Jordan. And even the Chicago Bulls' isolation offense had been built upon Phil Jackson's Triangle Offense, not this mindless spread-the-floor isolation approach.

What Popovich was betting on was that Kobe could not sustain such supremely consistent play over an entire seven-game series.

Once the third quarter began, Kobe's scorching touch indeed began to cool.

Under the Spurs' increasingly vicious physical defense, he missed two consecutive difficult fadeaway jumpers.

On the sideline, however, a sharp, hawk-like gleam flashed through Gregg Popovich's seemingly sleepy little eyes. He had keenly spotted an opening!

He saw that O'Neal, having gone several possessions without touching the ball, already had frustration and impatience written all over his face. Even his movement on the court had started to slacken.

Moreover, after the brutal battle of the first half, The Shark's stamina had clearly declined to a degree.

Popovich immediately called a timeout.