Duncan was slow to realize it, but he nodded along.
Tang Tian had already "ruined" his Jersey Retirement Ceremony before, and now he was going to ruin Ginobili's too.
He really showed no mercy at all to these old friends!
After the timeout, the Spurs ran set plays and slowed the pace. The rhythm of the game visibly dropped.
That style worked well enough for maintaining a stalemate, but it was very difficult to erase a deficit.
Especially when the two teams were evenly matched.
The deadlock lasted until the end of the quarter.
During the Bench Connection Segment, Kuzma, who had been excellent this season, knocked down consecutive mid-range and long-range jumpers, helping the Pelicans extend their lead into double digits.
At that point, the Lakers' and Spurs' shared weakness was exposed.
Although both had assembled quasi-Big Three lineups, they took up too much salary cap space, weakening their role players by necessity.
When Leonard was injured last season, the Spurs had still made the Playoffs, and Green, Gasol, Mills, and the others had played no small part in that.
Now that they had all left, the Spurs could only rely more heavily on the re-signed Decolo and Belinelli, along with players like Cunningham and Ponsides.
At halftime, the score was 52-42, with the Pelicans carrying a double-digit lead into the second half.
The two teams had been evenly matched in the first half. Tang Tian's deep three-pointer and Kuzma's performance were the main reasons the momentum had shifted.
If things continued at this pace, the Pelicans had a very good chance of winning tonight.
But Popovich was clearly not the type to sit and wait for defeat.
In the second half, he adjusted the team's starting lineup, taking out Forbes and inserting Cunningham.
After that adjustment, George and