On May 20, 2000, the final round of the Western Conference semifinals, the last game between the Spurs and the Lakers, will be played at the Staples Center, the home of the Lakers, this season the Lakers bid farewell to the 32-year-old Great Western Forum Arena and moved to the Staples Center Arena, and in the first season of the Staples Center Arena, the Lakers won the first record in the regular season, and countless Lakers fans are also looking forward to the first season of moving into the new arena, the Lakers can regain the championship.

The series between the Lakers and the Spurs has reached this point, it can be said that both teams have no secrets at all, in the first six games, the two teams have completely exposed all their weaknesses and strengths, Popovich and Phil Jackson have also made adjustments that can be made, and in this case, they are already very familiar with the two teams, and they can only rely on the players' own play.

Since Phil Jackson adjusted the tactical position of Kobe and O'Neal, and replaced Glen Rice with Rick Fox and Robert Holly in the team, the Lakers' offensive fluency and deterrence have risen a notch compared to the regular season as a whole, while the Spurs reimbursed David Robinson, and the Lakers still have a great advantage in this game. So for this game, Phil Jackson is still very confident.

Compared with Phil Jackson's confidence, Popovich is a little vague, and the whistle in Staples itself will be slightly biased towards the Lakers, and O'Neal's deterrence and lethality are obvious to all, whether the Spurs' interior line can resist O'Neal is still a question mark, and the Spurs' outside group, after experiencing the hot feeling of the last game, what this game can look like, Popovich himself has no bottom in his heart.

At half past six in the evening, in the away locker room of Staples, Popovich looked solemn and did the pre-game arrangements and mobilization, the importance of this game is self-evident, winning, the Spurs will advance to the Western Conference finals, lose, all go home to fish. For Popovich, he wants to defend his title and doesn't want the Spurs to end the season like this.

"I won't say anything more, I hope everyone can forget the previous game, forget the previous score, and play this game as if it were the first game." If Popovich didn't have any thoughts about this series after David Robinson's injury and the team's loss of the Battle of Kings Mountain, then after the Spurs won the last game, Popovich's heart rekindled hope for this round of the series.

After Popovich made the final move, assistant coach Mike Budenholzer began to announce the starting line-up for the game, as well as the tactical arrangements after the opening. In this game, Popovich made adjustments to the starting lineup again, and did not follow the personnel arrangement of the previous game in the lineup, and the Spurs had an extremely high perimeter shooting rate in the sixth game between the two sides, so the Lakers will definitely make targeted arrangements in this game, and another point is that Popovich does not believe that the Spurs' outside three irons can continue the feeling of the last game, and it is too stupid to pin the victory on luck.

In this game, Samaki Walker will play as the starting center for the first time this season, and Tim Duncan will play as the power forward, after a number of games, Meng Xu returned to the position of small forward again, and the scoring guard Mario Elie returned to the starting lineup after doing more than 10 games as the sixth man, point guard Jaren Jackson replaced Avery Johnson, Jaren Jackson is far inferior to Avery Johnson in organizing the team, but Jaren Jackson is a little better than Avery Johnson in defense and shooting. And Sean Elliott and Avery Johnson will appear on the bench, which means that when the Spurs are in the main lineup, Popovich wants to use his brains on the bench.

Just as Mike Budenholzer finished announcing the starting lineup list, holding the tactical board prepared in advance, and explaining the tactics to various players, Popovich sat next to Meng Xu.

"Meng, do you remember your first game of the season against the Raptors?" Popovich patted Meng Xu on the shoulder, as if he wanted to chat with Meng Xu about family life.

"Remember, it was the first time in my career that I got a knockout." The away game between the Spurs and the Raptors, of course, Meng Xu will not forget, that game was an important turning point for Meng Xu in the Spurs, and it was also Meng Xu's first game after learning the big heart skills, and in that game Meng Xu shot 7 of 11 3-pointers, and finally shot a killer goal, and it was that game that made Popovich firm in his determination to correct Meng Xu, after that game, Meng Xu began to play the main force in the Spurs, and gradually became an important member of the Spurs.

"I remember before that game, even though you had to practice shooting after every practice, your shooting percentage was still very poor, so bad that sometimes you didn't dare to shoot when you were in an open position. Although right now your middle distance is still very poor. Popovich said this, and couldn't help laughing: "Do you remember the first time I yelled at you on the sidelines?" ”

"Hmm." Although Popovich smiled, Meng Xu didn't dare to laugh along, and when he heard Popovich say this, Meng Xu also nodded. At the beginning of this season, as a substitute for the Spurs, Meng Xu's main task is to defend, in addition to Popovich's lack of requirements for Meng Xu, as long as he does a good job in defense, even if it is 0 points and 0 boards, Popovich will never say anything. But since Meng Xu showed his shooting talent, Popovich's requirements for Meng Xu have also increased, and he will scold if he is not careful.

"We can't beat the Lakers with Thiem alone, so in this game, we need you to play, just like we did against the Raptors, the Celtics, the Knicks." Popovich said, standing up abruptly: "Shoot that damn basketball in there." ”

"I see." Meng Xu nodded, "I'll throw that damn basketball into it." "Since the last game, Meng Xu has liked the feeling of passing, if before that, the reason for Meng Xu's passing was because of his status in the team and more assist points, then since the last game, Meng Xu has experienced the joy of passing, the feeling of hello, hello, hello, everyone, and still stimulates Meng Xu's young mind, but for the head coach's "special request", Meng Xu can't refuse.