776: Just an Irritable Old Man

By the end of the first quarter, Popovich's arrogant expression had returned to his face.

The San Antonio Spurs headed into the break with a 27-25 lead. A two-point advantage was not much—perhaps it barely counted as an advantage at all.

But as far as the Spurs were concerned, as long as they were not being suppressed by the Grizzlies, they had the confidence to win.

"The Spurs have carried their excellent form into the Western Conference Finals. After falling behind early, they stabilized the situation and took the lead. I believe this year's Spurs have exceeded most people's expectations. The 74-win Grizzlies have run into their biggest trouble since the playoffs began."

Hubie Breen looked over the first-half stats. The Spurs were as efficient as ever. Meanwhile, Link seemed to have run into some trouble for the Grizzlies.

He scored seven points in the quarter, but shot only 40 percent. That was absolutely not the kind of efficiency Link should have had. If he had missed just one more shot, his first-quarter percentage would have dipped below 40 percent.

Other than Link, Jimmy Butler, who had scored five straight points at the start of the first quarter, also fell into a slump afterward.

Ever since Leonard switched onto Butler, Butler had struggled badly on offense.

Hubie Breen still remembered the eighth minute of the first quarter. Butler cut to the basket at just the right time, and Link delivered the ball precisely. Logically, Butler only needed to go straight up for the layup after catching the pass.

Yet Leonard somehow swatted away that seemingly automatic bucket.

That was only one sequence from the first quarter. Throughout the entire period, Butler had practically lived under Leonard's shadow.

Leonard's defensive ability seemed a little too overwhelming for Butler. Meanwhile, Link's offense