Popovich was the first to change the lineup in the second half, but he couldn't help but stay the same, Robinson played well at the No. 5 position and played 78 games in the regular season, averaging 26.2 minutes per game, but he is still a 37-year-old veteran. It's hard work against the big sharks, and Popovich certainly won't start him again in the second half.

Replacing Robinson is Mark Bryant, a big man with a height of 2.06 meters. The 1988 No. 21 pick is averaging only 1.9 points and 1.5 rebounds per game this season while shooting just 45.5 percent from the field, but the Spurs don't have many players on the roster who can top up the interior, and Bryant is already relatively reliable. And Popovich just hopes that he can hold up on the court until Robinson recovers, and it is still the young but powerful Duncan who fights O'Neal on the inside.

However, how could a Zen master not seize this opportunity? Although Popovich wanted Duncan to play against O'Neal, O'Neal deliberately found Bryant every time at the behest of the Zen master, and then used his good back-to-back singles to break down his defense. This made Popovich feel helpless, but when he saw Robinson panting on the side, he gritted his teeth and let O'Neal score again and again under Bryant's defense, leading the Lakers to gradually catch up with the score.

That's when the Spurs' sixth man, Malik Rose, stepped up. Szczebiak's defense at the No. 3 position was better than nothing, and under his "marking", Rose was like a fish in water, and he continued to play quick counterattacks to force the Zen master to call a timeout, and made the strongest response to O'Neal's basket score, and did not allow the Lakers to further narrow the gap.

With 5:31 left in the third quarter, Robinson, who had had had enough rest, finally stepped back on, hitting two shots from almost the same position in the middle range to help the Spurs extend their advantage. Although Robinson is old, his experience and skill are still there, and with Duncan holding O'Neal in check, it is not too easy for him to beat Walker.

Robinson gave almost all his strength throughout the game, hoping to help the team win another championship in his final season. He played 31 minutes and had 18 points and 11 rebounds, along with three assists and two blocks, while Duncan had another 27-point, 21-rebound double-double and a staggering five blocks as the pair combined to dominate the restricted area. Thanks to their efforts, O'Neal, who was used as a nuclear weapon by the Lakers, scored 30 points and 14 rebounds, but his shooting rate was less than 50%, and he had 7 turnovers.

The Lakers' other core Kobe Bryant was subject to Bowen's close defense throughout the court, although he was not angry enough to apply for a technical foul, but the shooting percentage was outrageously low, and there were 5 turnovers. When the "OK combination" both played abnormally, even Szzebiak hit 7 three-pointers and couldn't save the Lakers.

In the end, the Spurs defeated the Lakers 107-99 and reached the Finals for the first time in two seasons, hoping to replicate the 1998-99 season when they comfortably beat the Knicks 4-1 to win the championship. But compared to the Knicks led by Camby and Houston, the 76ers are much stronger, and this is not an opponent that the Spurs can easily beat by a wide margin.

Of course, after the Spurs struggled to qualify for the finals, major media in the United States began to hype the concept of master-apprentice duel, everyone wanted to see whether the teacher taught the student another lesson, or the student proved the results of his original learning in front of the teacher, and the teachers and students in their mouths were naturally 76ers coach Brown and Spurs coach Popovich.

As one of the most prestigious head coaches in the NBA, Brown began his coaching career in 1973 and began coaching the NBA team in 1976 after three years in charge of the ABA team. In fact, Brown's relationship with Popovich began in 1976, when Brown was the head coach of the Denver Nuggets in the ABA, and Popovich went to the Nuggets for a tryout through Hank Igan's recommendation. Although Popovich was eventually cut by Brown, he made a strong impression on Brown.

In 1979, Popovich was hired by Pomona College of Southern California as head coach of the school's basketball team and assistant coach for Russian history, where he showed his coaching talent by taking the team to the division finals in just three years and winning the league championship in 1986. That same year he moved to North Carolina as a trainee assistant coach, and three months later he joined Brown as an assistant coach under his staff, while Brown was the head coach at the University of Kansas.

When Brown became head coach of the Spurs in July 1988, he hired Popovich as an assistant coach, and the latter's NBA career began. But the good times didn't last long, and in the middle of the 1991-92 season, Spurs owner McCombs fired Brown and his entire coaching team, and the unemployed Popovich was recommended by Brown to join the Golden State Warriors as an assistant coach for the old Nelson. The Warriors' ubiquitous misalignment of offense and defense broke new ground for Popovich, where he spent two seasons studying.

In 1994, new Spurs owner Pete Holt invited Popovich back to the Spurs as general manager, when Popovich returned to San Antonio with a team of his own, including R.C. Buford, Hank Egan and Budenholzer, which was the original Spurs team in the league. At that time, Popovich wanted to poach the elder Nelson to coach the Spurs, but the Warriors refused to release him, so he had no choice but to choose Bob Hill as his first coach.

However, Robinson suffered a back injury at the start of the 1996-97 season, and the Spurs started the season with only 3 wins and 15 losses, and in December 1996, Popovich decisively cut Hill to become the head coach of the Spurs, and reached the first peak of his career in 1998-99 when he drafted Duncan with the first pick and helped the Spurs win their first championship in franchise history.

To some extent, Brown is the leader of Popovich's coaching career, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is his teacher, and Popovich did learn a lot under Brown back then, and the reason why the Spurs have become a disciplined and defensive-minded team is inseparable from Popovich's experience as Brown's assistant coach.

And in this year's finals, the pair finally met again, and both are very familiar with each other, and who will win the final victory will be even more eye-catching. In fact, neither Brown nor Popovich wanted to lose, but in the end there was only one winner, either Brown showed his strength to his apprentice, or Popovich successfully challenged the authority of his master.

This is the talk-filled finals that all media reporters and fans want to see!