After the timeout, Popovich made another roster change, replacing Bertans with Forbes and going back to the One Big Four Small Lineup.
However, this adjustment moved George and Leonard to the Power Forward/Small Forward positions, weakening their defense against Tang Tian.
The message was clear: since they could not stop Tang Tian no matter what they did, they might as well stop trying and simply trade offense.
No matter how strong Tang Tian was, he only had one shooting opportunity per possession.
Given the Spurs' form tonight, trading offense was not necessarily hopeless.
Popovich's strategy quickly proved effective. The Spurs were red-hot on the offensive end tonight, and over the next half quarter, they engaged the Pelicans in another shootout.
At the end of the third quarter, the score was 90-94.
Although Tang Tian's 27 points in the quarter had powered the Pelicans to 40 points, the Spurs were only down by four.
The outcome was still full of suspense.
In the crucial Fourth Quarter, buoyed by fans' cheers at home, the Spurs surged again under George's leadership and built a lead advantage.
The third quarter's pattern played out again in the final period, with the two teams locked in a dead heat until just before the end of the game.
Although the Pelicans were in the same form as last game, the Spurs had truly played well tonight.
Leonard in particular had already broken his previous Playoffs single-game record of 43 points, raising it by an entire tier to 50.
On the other side, Tang Tian had also exploded for a playoff season-high 60 points.
This was a clash between gods.
With 30 seconds left, Leonard made a difficult layup for his 52nd point, tying the score at 125.
Stevens called a timeout.
The fans felt as if they