The San Antonio Spurs won the 41-game winning streak super lottery jackpot, becoming the longest winning streak breaker in North American professional sports history.
But this honorary bonus didn’t make Gregg Popovich feel any better. Even six months later, he still hadn’t fully recovered from the loss in the Tim Duncan battle.
In Popovich’s view, Duncan should have been with the Spurs. His style of play, skills, and mentality fit perfectly with the Spurs, just like he and David Robinson were a perfect match.
If he could join the Spurs, he would definitely usher in a legendary history for the Spurs.
But everything was ruined in the lottery draw. The Boston Celtics took the lead, and Auerbach could brag about it until his grave.
Duncan put on a brilliant performance in Boston, and the Celtics rose quickly. Now, they are still competing for a top-three spot in the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, the Spurs are languishing in the middle of the Western Conference, and a championship seems out of reach.
Beating the Trail Blazers in the regular season was quite an achievement, but challenging them in the playoffs?
Popovich didn’t even dare to think about it. He knew how much luck played in winning that game.
The entire Trail Blazers team was out of form, including Ah Gan, who reportedly had an upset stomach and felt weak.
No wonder his rim protection significantly declined during the game, and his offense was all about shooting rather than strong offense.
And the Spurs’ chance to test the full version of Trail Blazers with Ah Gan would come quickly, as they would face off again in San Antonio a week later in the Western Conference.
After ending their winning streak, the Trail Blazers quickly adjusted their form and easily defeated the Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic, avoiding the taste of consecutive losses.
Upon arriving in San Antonio, Gan Guoyang told his teammates on the plane: "Tonight’s game, we must win big, or people will think the San Antonio Spurs can really beat us, and they rely on strength, not luck."
See, with a loss as a base, the entire Trail Blazers team’s desire to win was ignited.
The evening game took place at the famous Alamo Dome Stadium.
It’s similar to Detroit’s former Silverdome and Seattle’s kingdom stadium, both large football fields temporarily converted into basketball courts.
Because the venue is huge, it can accommodate more than 39,000 fans to watch the game, making it the highest attendance stadium in the league.
But due to its size, it’s not comfortable for fans to watch games here.
Like the Silverdome of the past, the court was not set in the center of the field but on one side, with oversized blue drapes hanging to block off sections.
Tall temporary seating structures were set up on the field, but such temporary steel frames were not as comfortable as dedicated fixed seats, and VIP boxes could not be set up—significant ticket revenue.
Moreover, the seats were so high that fans sitting in the rear had a terrible view, and without relying on the big screen, it was challenging to see what was happening on the court, even worse than watching on TV at home.
So, despite the Spurs having such a large venue and seating capacity, with passionate San Antonio fans, their attendance was just mid-high in the league.
If given a venue with more than 39,000 seats to the Trail Blazers, Portland would far exceed the second place in both attendance rate and total attendance.
But tonight, the 39,000+ Alamo Dome tickets were sold out for the first time this season.
Because the Spurs’ opponent was the Trail Blazers, and the Spurs had just ended the Trail Blazers’ winning streak in Portland, the rivalry was fresh.
Home fans felt compelled to attend, hoping to witness the Spurs overturn the Trail Blazers again and double-defeat the smug red and black army.
During the pre-game warm-up, Gan Guoyang looked up at the high stadium dome and the giant blue curtain, reminiscing about his days of dominance at the Silverdome.
Back then, he was young, full of steely determination, and fought anyone who displeased him, traversing the NBA from east to west, south to north.
Now, he’s much more restrained, and Gan Guoyang started to admire Jordan for holding back against the Pistons for so many years and sticking to responding with basketball.
As the game approached, Gan Guoyang looked at the sea of Spurs home fans and said to David Robinson: "David, there are a lot of fans here tonight. They’re lucky; they’ll witness something."
David Robinson, with his hands on his waist, gently shook his head and said, "Sonny, let’s play well. Don’t get too emotional. God tells us to be merciful."
"The mere fact that we’re standing here playing is God’s greatest mercy. But I do want to settle the score from the last game."
"Don’t be like that; revenge leads nowhere good."
Last season, Robinson missed a lot of games due to injury, marking the first time he didn’t make the playoffs in his career.
This season, Robinson showed signs of decline.
At 32, age and injuries were eating into his athletic ability.
Nicknamed the small forward in a center’s position, Robinson’s playstyle heavily relied on running and jumping.
His shooting and low-post skills were only considered average among superstar centers.
Once his speed and explosiveness waned, his offensive impact decreased significantly.
This season, his average points have dropped to a career-low of 23 points per game (excluding last season’s injury).
He still averages around 11 rebounds, but his blocks fell to 2.8 per game, still All-Star level, but no longer MVP-caliber for an interior player.