On Christmas Eve, December 25, 2002, the annual Christmas war is about to kick off, this year's Christmas war is different from previous years, compared with the Christmas war in previous years, the number of Christmas games this year has increased from two to three, respectively, the Lakers home game against the Kings, the Spurs home game against the Pacers, the Nets home game against the Pistons, and these six teams happen to be the six teams with the best record this season, the Kings are ranked first in the West with a 22-8 record, and the Lakers are close behind with a 22-9 record. The Spurs are third in the West with 20 wins and 10 losses. The Pacers are in first place in the league with a 25-5 record, far ahead of the 20-10 Nets and the 19-12 Pistons. The grievances between the Kings and the Lakers, the Pistons and the Nets, there is nothing to say about the grievances between these teams, so whether it is the battle between the Kings and the Lakers for the first place in the West, or the civil war between Duncan and Meng Xu "Wake Forest", or the battle between the Nets and the Pistons for second place in the East, it is a matchup full of highlights, so this year's Christmas war is also known by the media as the most difficult for fans to choose a Christmas war.

"Meng, welcome back to San Antonio!" At 8 o'clock in the evening, when Meng Xu walked out of the player tunnel of the Alamo Stadium, not only was he not booed by the Spurs fans on the scene like other Pacers players, but he was also cheered and applauded by the fans on the spot, and there were even many Spurs fans who had been waiting on both sides of the player tunnel, wearing the Spurs No. 5 jersey that once belonged to Meng Xu, and took out the banners prepared in advance to welcome Meng Xu who returned to the Alamo Stadium again. But there are still many Spurs fans who regard Meng Xu as their own.

"Thank you, thank you。。。。。。" Looking at these fans in front of him, the corners of Meng Xu's eyes were also a little moist, and after waving to them, Meng Xu sped up his pace, followed behind his teammates, and walked towards the bench on the sidelines.

"Meng is still as popular here as ever! I'm a little jealous when I see it. Looking at the Spurs fans who applauded Meng Xu, today's special commentator, Sean Elliott, who has been a teammate with Meng Xu for two years, said with a smile on his face, Sean Elliott has played for the Spurs for more than a dozen seasons, helped the Spurs win two championship trophies, and the Spurs also retired the jersey for him, but Sean Elliott's popularity in San Antonio has never been as good as Meng Xu, who has only played for the Spurs for two seasons, at least in the current Alamo Coliseum, There is not a single fan wearing the No. 32 jersey, but there are many fans wearing the No. 5 jersey with Meng Xu's name printed on it, not only that, although Meng Xu has left the Spurs for two seasons, the No. 5 worn by Meng Xu is still empty until now.

"Haha, Sean, you still have to accept your fate, who made you look less handsome than Meng, and the style of the ball is not as chic and elegant as Meng." After hearing Sean Elliott's words, Michaels laughed directly, and also made a sarcastic joke about Sean Elliott by the way.

"Erwin, do you think Meng and Tim will have a chance to face each other directly tonight?" With a burst of cheers from the crowd and the shouts of the MVP, Spurs big man Tim Duncan waved out of the tunnel with his hand.

"I think so." After Michaels asked, Magic Johnson replied very affirmatively that the Wake Forest showdown between Meng Xu and Duncan is the biggest highlight of this game, although the positions of the two on the court are not the same, one plays big forward, the other plays small forward, but Meng Xu's offense this season is more and more biased towards the basket, The average number of 3-point shots per game has been directly reduced to 5.5 times, and the main scoring means has changed from last season's 3-point shooting and fast-break scoring to this season's back-to-back singles supplemented by mid- and long-range shooting, and this change has also made Meng Xu's scoring efficiency skyrocket, and the average number of points per game is basically the same as last season, and the average number of shots per game is 3 times less than last season, so as long as Meng Xu still plays like in the previous games this season, then Meng Xu and Duncan will definitely have a chance to directly match.

"Tonight, the Spurs' starting lineup is center David Robinson, power forward Tim Duncan, small forward Bruce Bowen, scoring guard Stephen Jackson, playmaker Tony Parker, after Lafrentz was robbed by the Mavericks, the aging David had to take on more responsibilities this season, and his average playing time per game increased from 24 minutes last season to 30 minutes this season." After reading the Spurs' starting list, Sean Elliott also couldn't stop shaking his head, David Robinson is now 38 years old, 30 minutes of playing time for him, has reached the limit of his current physical capacity, this season's schedule is not more than halfway through, David Robinson has already shown fatigue. Perhaps because of David Robinson, the Spurs have been so slow this season that they have taken just 76 shots per game, ranking last of all 29 teams in the league.

After seeing Sean Elliott's expression, Magic Johnson also nodded, this is the helplessness of the small ball market, finally got a Lafrenz, worked hard for two seasons, and prepared him to take David Robinson's class, but in the end, he could only watch others wave the checkbook and take him away, so that David Robinson, who was already on the verge of retirement, was pulled out again.

After two consecutive seasons of main players leaving, this season's Spurs are also miserable, except for Duncan, who is at his peak, the rest of the players, either Parker, Ginobili, Jackson and other rookies who have just entered the league, or David Robinson, Steve Smith, Anthony Goldwier, these old guys who are about to lose the ball, are also based on the current situation of the Spurs, although the Spurs' record is only ranked fourth in the entire league, But Tim Duncan has been firmly in the top two of the MVP rankings.

The starting lineup of the Pacers for this game is center Mutombo, power forward Jermaine O'Neal, small forward Meng Xu, shooting guard Hamilton, and playmaking guard Jamal Tinsley. This season's Pacers are arguably the most balanced team in the league, ranking in the top 5 in the league in terms of points per game and points per game. After Shaun Elliott introduced the Spurs' starting lineup, Michaels began to introduce the Pacers' starting lineup right after.

The Spurs and Pacers are the two teams with the best defense and the fewest points conceded this season, but the defensive systems of the two teams are completely different.

The Pacers' defensive system is from the outside in, relying on a group of swing people with excellent defense, and the Pacers' full-court tight defense is thriving, especially Meng Xu, Hamilton, James Posey, when the three of them are on the court at the same time, some teams with slightly inferior outside strength are even difficult to organize offense. In the last game of the Pacers away game against the Mavericks, the Mavericks, who had the most offensive firepower in the entire league, collapsed directly in the fourth quarter when facing the Pacers' full-court pressing, and the Mavericks' two outside cores, Finley and Nash, did not score a point in the fourth quarter, and the Mavericks, who were still leading by 9 points at the end of the third quarter, finally lost to the Pacers by 7 points, and the 12-point score in a single quarter was also the lowest score in a single quarter in the Mavericks in the past ten seasons. Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks who was watching the game at the scene, threw his sleeves away angrily when the game was not over.

After Michaels and Sean Elliott introduced the starting lineups of both sides, Duncan and Jermaine O'Neal walked into the middle circle and were ready to start jumping the ball, and finally won the title of "Jump Ball Finisher" last season, Jermaine O'Neal, beat Tim Duncan, and won the first offensive opportunity of the game for the Pacers.

"In today's game, if the Spurs want to win, the first thing to do is to defend Meng Xu, to keep him away from the basket as much as possible, to cut off the connection between him and Jermaine and Richard, and then the Spurs' outside players, they must break the blockade of the Pacers' outside line and give Tim enough help, as long as they can do the above two things, then the Spurs are very close to victory."

"Sean, how to defend Meng is a difficult problem that the entire league is considering now, although Bruce's single defense is very good, but it is still difficult to complete the task you have set for him." When the game started, after Shaun Elliott, who is a Spurs celebrity, set the preconditions for the Spurs to win, Magic Johnson shook his head after him, and seemed to not agree with Sean Elliott's statement. Sean Elliott's statement is actually simple, in the final analysis, it is still the defense of Meng Xu, as long as Meng Xu is restricted, the Pacers have already lost half. However, in fact, all the head coaches in the league now know that limiting Meng Xu is the key to dealing with the Pacers, but has any team really done it? No, Meng Xu is now the strongest outside player in the league with the most comprehensive offensive means, how can it be so easy to restrain him. As for cutting off the connection between Meng Xu and O'Neal Jr. and Hamilton, this is even more unrealistic, the current Pacers are not the Bulls of the year, except for Jordan, there is no stable offensive point, the Pacers' current O'Neal Jr. and Hamilton are both players who can contribute an average of 20+ per game.

"It's not easy." Seeing that Meng Xu easily squeezed away Bowen's personal defense and received a pass from Jamal Tinsley, Sean Elliott really has no bottom, just like Magic Johnson said, although Bowen's defense is good, but it is not enough to limit Meng Xu, what Sean Elliott can look forward to now is how much trouble Bowen can cause Meng Xu in this game.

"The Pacers players on the court have all pulled away, Meng Xu singled Bruce Bowen with his back, the Spurs did not carry out the bag, Meng Xu pushed Bowen away, turned around and jumped, hit the board, beautiful, Meng Xu used his and Duncan's unique way, hit the first ball after the opening." Now the Pacers, the tactics on the offensive end are getting simpler and simpler, Meng Xu holds the ball and plays with his back to the single, if the opponent is trapped, then Meng Xu will pass the ball, if not, with Meng Xu's back singles ability, it can be said that it is an absolute opportunity when facing any outside player in the league.

"Coach, is this really okay?" Looking at Popovich who was sitting next to him without saying a word, Steve Kerr, the assistant coach of the Spurs, couldn't sit still, according to Kerr's idea, no matter whether there will be defensive loopholes, whether there will be leaks because of this, as long as Meng Xu holds the ball, he will be trapped, after all, among the remaining players of the Pacers, no matter which one, in terms of scoring efficiency, there is no way to compare with Meng Xu.

"Steve, hold your breath, it's only the first quarter now, don't be in a hurry." Steve Cole's words also pulled Popovich back from his thoughts, and looking at the game in progress on the court, Popovich's frowning brow also relaxed a little.

"Parker and Duncan's pick-and-roll, very good pick-and-roll coordination, Parker handed the basketball to Duncan, but Duncan was obviously a little dragging when he got rid of Jamal Tinsley just now, and Mutombo has made up for it in time." The Spurs used Parker and Duncan's blocking and dismantling to successfully create Duncan's misplaced opportunity to single Jamal Tinsley, but Duncan did not use his height advantage to shoot directly at Jamal Tinsley's head, but chose to hold the ball and shake Jamal Tinsley, and it was only this delay of just over 1 second, and Mutombo under the basket appeared in front of Duncan.

After being blocked by Mutombo, Duncan directly changed his position with the ball, protecting the basketball while sticking sideways to Mutombo. Unlike Meng Xu, who relies on his own strength advantage and pushes back directly against defenders, Duncan's back-to-back singles are textbook-style back-to-back singles for interior players, which is a perfect combination of physical fitness and footwork skills. Take Duncan's back to Mutombo this time as an example, Duncan sideways against Mutombo, his left foot crushed the ground, pushed back, and immediately half-turned, making a fake action to prepare to shoot, at the same time, the left heel crossed step, although Mutombo was not deceived by Duncan's feint, but Duncan still used half a body distance, and a time difference of 0.a few seconds, calmly shot.

"The same position, the same back-to-back singles, the exact same hitting the board, that's the exclusive skill of the Wake Forest duo." When Duncan used almost the same offensive means as Meng Xu, and hit Meng Xu back with a board hit where Meng Xu just shot a similar shot, and equalized the score on the court, the Magic Johnson, Michaels, and Sean Elliott on the commentary bench were all amused by Duncan and Meng Xu's special opening style.

Not only Michaels, but even Meng Xu, who was at the other end of the court, also laughed after seeing this scene on the court, especially when Duncan turned to look at him, Meng Xu even had an urge to rush over and high-five him to celebrate.