On November 5, 1999, at 5 p.m. U.S. time, the Spurs left their hotel and headed to the Compaq Center in Houston, where they would face their third opponent of the season, the Houston Rockets.

In the marching bus, almost all the players were hurrying to rest, only Meng Xu tossed and turned there, and after repeated psychological struggles, Meng Xu left his seat and ran to the front row of the bus, and sat down next to head coach Popovich.

"Meng, what's the matter?" Looking at Meng Xu, who was sitting next to him with an unspeakable face, Popovich took the initiative to ask.

"Oh, manager, that's it, I think, today I want to 。。。。。。" After a long time, Meng Xu still couldn't say that Popovich is a very principled head coach, if he rashly puts forward some special requirements that do not meet his principles, Popovich will definitely refuse without hesitation, or even be angry.

"Haha, what's wrong with your kid today, are you sick?" Looking at Meng Xu's embarrassed appearance, Popovich said jokingly.

"That's right, manager, today I want to get a little more minutes and I'm going to play against Steve Francis." Looking at Popovich's smiling but still somewhat serious face, Meng Xu still mustered up the courage to say it, and at the same time looked at Popovich nervously, for fear that Popovich would be angry and scold himself. At the same time, he slandered in his heart that it was all caused by this damn task.

"Well, Meng, I think you should know that with your current physical condition, it is not enough to cope with a whole game, and about 10-15 minutes per game is just right for you at the moment." The smile on Popovich's face disappeared in an instant, but in the blink of an eye, Popovich's other words made Meng Xu feel hope: "Tell me, is there any special reason?" If you can impress me, maybe I'll consider your request. ”

"Coach, it's like this, Francis on the other side 。。。。。。" Meng Xu opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't find a good reason to make it up, so his voice became smaller and smaller, and in the end, he was afraid that he couldn't even hear what he was muttering.

"Huh? Hahaha, I understand, I understand, I will consider your request, you go back and rest first. Popovich looked at Meng Xu who lowered his head, and suddenly laughed, although Popovich didn't hear what Meng Xu said in the end, but what did Popovich not understand after so many years in the NBA. Meng Xu and Francis both belonged to the ACC league when they were in college, and they entered the NBA at the same time, so they naturally wanted to overpower each other. And for Meng Xu and others, they grew up watching Jordan, Olajuwon, and David Robinson play, and it is normal for them to want to show off in front of their childhood idols. Thinking of this, Popovich thought of Tim Duncan in his rookie season, David Robin was still at his peak that year, although the team selected Duncan with the top pick, but there was no immediate plan to straighten Duncan as the core, on the eve of the Spurs vs. Bulls game, Duncan made a similar request to Popovich and Meng Xu, after some mental struggle, Popovich still agreed, asking David Robinson to let Duncan be willful, and that game Duncan also cut 19 points and 22 rebounds for a big double-double, Nearly toppled Jordan's Bulls, and it was after that game that Popovich had the idea of establishing Duncan as the team's offensive and defensive core, and finally put it into action last season, and Tim Duncan did not let himself down.

"Audience friends, we meet again, as soon as I come back here, I will feel a sense of intimacy。。。。。。。" At 8:30 p.m., at the Compaq Center in Houston, TNT's commentator Kenny Smith was giggling and joking with his partner in the commentary booth, and by the way, he introduced the situation at the game site. As the focus of this round, the defending champions played against the old powerhouse Rockets with Olajuwon and Barkley, and this game was also a derby between the top three in Texas, so this game also attracted the attention of countless fans and media.

"Let's take a look at the starting line-ups for both teams that we just got." Looking at the players of the two teams warming up on the court, Kenny Smith read the starting list of the two teams that the assistant had just handed over: "Let's take a look at my team first, oh, sorry, I thought I was a member of the Houston Rockets until now." Kenny Smith laughed as well.

The Rockets' starting line in this game is basically unchanged from the previous games, the starting center is still Hakeem Olajuwon, power forward Charles Barkley, small forward Walter Williams, scoring guard Shanton Anderson, and point guard Steve Francis.

Compared to this, the Spurs' starting lineup has also made some changes, starting center and power forward are still David Robinson and Tim Duncan, point guard Avery Johnson, shooting guard Mario Elie, and in the small forward position, Meng Xu replaced Chaggy Brown as the starter.

Meng Xu's mood still can't calm down, and his ears still echo the words that Popovich said in his ear when he walked out of the locker room, "In this game, you will be the same as Francis, but only this once, after this game, you still have to honestly go back to play as a substitute." ”

In fact, what Meng Xu didn't know was that after playing the game with the Warriors yesterday, Popovich wanted to increase Meng Xu's playing time, and in these two games, Meng Xu played 11 minutes and 13 minutes respectively. Contributing an average of 5.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5 steals and 1 assist per game, and scoring such data in 12 minutes per game is already very good, but these are not the point, the important thing is that as long as Meng Xu is on the court, the Spurs' defensive intensity can immediately improve a notch, Iverson of the 76ers, Jamison and Starks of the Warriors, these outside players who have always been able to cause trouble for their teams in the past, under the defensive system composed of Meng Xu and Duncan Robinson, they are all in trouble, and even successfully frozen, Popovich has been thinking about what it would be like if Meng Xu was allowed to play for 20 minutes, or even 30 minutes or 40 minutes. There is a famous saying in the NBA that "defense wins championships", for this sentence, Popovich is convinced, as Larry Brown's former assistant, Popovich's basketball philosophy is similar to Larry Brown, that is, team and defense, and even in some ways Popovich is more paranoid than Larry Brown. After the game with the 76ers this season, his former mentor Larry Brown kept praising Duncan and Meng Xu with envy, which also made Popovich very useful.

And Chaggy Brown, who operated last season, was really disappointing, and Popovich was already thinking about trading him. Just take advantage of today's game to see if Meng Xu can adapt to the 30-minute high-intensity game, if he can, then just righten him, if not, then according to the original plan, gradually increase his playing time.