The fans in the arena had shouted themselves hoarse. From the very first second, the two sides had been locked in a fierce battle. The game had gone straight into high gear from the opening tip and stayed there ever since.
Leonard's successful one-on-two stop and Link's spectacular chasedown dunk had completely set the stage for both sides to torture each other.
By now, the game had reached the final quarter, with just over a minute remaining.
Yet both teams' scores were still hovering in the seventies and eighties.
Spurs 79, Grizzlies 82. One thing was certain: neither team would reach 100 points today.
For two teams ranked in the league's top three in offensive efficiency, that was simply unbelievable. These days, it was rare to see a full game end with both teams scoring around eighty.
But for the two best defensive teams, such a score somehow made perfect sense.
Today, both sides had put far more effort into defense than offense.
The relentless battle between Link and Leonard had set the tone for the game. Their defense had inspired the teammates around them.
As a result, the previous three-plus quarters had turned into a terrifying defensive slugfest.
Neither team was shooting well. On the Spurs' side, LaMarcus Aldridge had made only 4 of 19 shots, for a 21.1% field-goal percentage.
Looking over Aldridge's entire career, he had rarely shot this poorly.
Danny Green's 41.7% shooting percentage was not much better. One more missed shot and he would have fallen below 40%.
Dwyane Dedmon was shooting only 33%, while Jonathan Simmons, an important weapon off the Spurs' bench, was shooting just 25%.
For a team built around team offense, the Spurs' overall 36.6% shooting percentage today was truly hard to believe.
A few years ago, when the Spurs had