On the court, Li Fei calmly accepted his teammates' embraces.
He glanced at the stat sheet, an almost imperceptible smile touching his lips.
His gaze passed over the cheering crowd and settled on the San Antonio Spurs' bench.
Duncan sat in a chair with a towel over his head, his shoulders moving slightly. He looked utterly forlorn.
Li Fei's eyes remained calm, but beneath that calm, there seemed to be another layer of meaning.
Welcome to the NBA Finals, kid. Now, lesson two begins.
Under the flashing cameras at the postgame press conference, the commentators' impassioned analysis still echoed in his ears.
Marv Albert and Kevin Harlan had attributed Li Fei's victory to an elaborate, forty-three-minute exercise in "boiling a frog slowly," a grand deception centered on stamina.
Yet only Li Fei knew that, cool as the theory sounded, the truth was far simpler and more brutal.
He had never thought that deeply about it.
All that talk of a "calculating hunter" and "simmering over low heat" was nothing more than the spectators' rosy interpretation of the outcome. From beginning to end, his tactical approach had consisted of just one principle: let his teammates hold the line early and shine on the NBA Finals stage. As long as the score stayed close, he would handle the final few minutes himself.
One against two?
Of course he could take on two defenders. He would even dare to try taking on three. But if he played that way from the opening minute, wouldn't he be telling Popovich outright that his double-teaming strategy was a waste of effort? With that old fox's ability to adapt, who knew what even more outrageous defensive scheme he would immediately devise?
Keeping his sharpest blade hidden until the end wasn't about waiting for his opponents to tire.