This showed that his body still had some potential.

It seemed he'd have to drink with Popovich more often in the future.

Olsen woke up, snuggled into Tang Tian's arms, and looked blissfully happy.

Looking at Olsen, who seemed perfectly fine again, and recalling Olsen begging for mercy last night.

Indeed, there was no field in this world that couldn't be plowed!

How annoying!

No, plow it again.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't... ah."

"Mmm~~"

…

Tang Tian came out of the shower and was finally satisfied to see Olsen sprawled out, unable to get up.

He took out his phone and called Budenholzer, saying that he might be late for the afternoon training session.

After hanging up, he asked Fagan to book a flight back to San Antonio for the afternoon.

Once Olsen recovered, the two went out for lunch, and then he returned to San Antonio.

The team would be heading to Houston tomorrow for an away game against the Rockets.

Harden had been on a tear this season, and facing him tomorrow would be a good opportunity for him to test his No-Fly Zone skill.

After all, he had been called for fouls by Martin multiple times before.

He would find out tomorrow night if this skill could bring the help he imagined.

When he arrived in San Antonio, he went straight to the arena.

Although he was a bit late, training hadn't started long before he arrived.

And because he had called ahead, the coaching staff didn't have any issues.

When it came to the full-court scrimmage, the starters and the bench players would play a ten-minute game.

"Manu, watch out for my block."

Before going on the court, Tang Tian specifically said to Ginobili.

Ginobili didn't pay much attention; Tang Tian and he had engaged in this kind of trash talk plenty of times.

But once they started playing, he realized that Tang Tian wasn't just trash-talking today.

In the ten-minute scrimmage, Tang Tian managed to block him three times.

"What did you do last night?"

After the scrimmage, Ginobili couldn't help but complain.

Slept with a woman.

Tang Tian thought to himself.

"I warned you to be careful."

But he said with a smile.

Harden's current playing style was very similar to Ginobili's at his peak, the only difference being that Harden was better at drawing fouls.

If the No-Fly Zone was effective against Ginobili, then it would definitely be effective against Harden as well.

This made him even more confident about tomorrow night's game.

After the training session, the players were all showering.

Tang Tian was watching game footage of the Rockets on his tablet, observing Harden's current playing style.

Budenholzer came in at this time and called Tang Tian outside.

"Gregg just told me that you were late for training, and you won't be starting tomorrow night."

"I called you earlier."

Tang Tian said, feeling puzzled; this kind of thing happened occasionally with the team, but there usually wasn't this kind of punishment.

"I know, and I told Gregg, but this is the coaching staff's decision. I wanted to give you a heads-up."

Budenholzer said with a helpless expression.

Tang Tian nodded after hearing that.

Budenholzer was just passing on the message. Although he didn't know what Popovich's purpose was in doing this, he was indeed in the wrong for being late to training.

He chose to accept this decision.

The next day, the Spurs flew to Houston to prepare for their game against the Rockets that night.

Before the game had even started, fans on the message boards were already eager.

"Tang Crazy vs. Harden Crazy, the 'Battle of the Crazies'! This is definitely the game I want to see the most this season!"

"And Harden definitely wants to beat the Spurs. Don't forget, he was unwilling to lose the Western Conference Finals with the Thunder before."

"Yeah, he was just a sixth man on the Thunder, and he didn't take the crucial shots. Now that he's with the Rockets, he can finally go all out and play against the Spurs!"

…

Not only abroad, but also domestic fans in the live broadcast rooms of various platforms were chatting enthusiastically.

The Rockets were the team that Yao Ming played for, their former team, and the Spurs were the team that Tang Tian played for, their current team.

This was definitely a major clash for domestic fans.

With one hour left before the game, both teams were making their final preparations in the locker room.

"Danny, you'll be starting at shooting guard tonight."

Popovich announced the starting lineup after finishing his tactical arrangements in the locker room.

"Kawhi, you'll be starting at small forward."

He added, taking an extra look at Tang Tian.

Only when he saw that Tang Tian's expression hadn't changed did he leave the locker room with a calm face.

It seemed that it was the right thing to have Budenholzer inform Tang Tian in advance yesterday.

He couldn't help but shake his head as he left the locker room. Being a head coach in this league really wasn't that easy.

After Popovich left, the other players were a bit confused. Tang Tian didn't seem to have done anything, and he had been performing so well, so why was he suddenly going to be on the bench?

"Tang, what happened?" Green also took the initiative to ask.

"I was late for training. Did you forget?" Tang Tian said with a smile.

Green nodded in sudden realization.

The other players also gradually realized, especially Diaw and Parker, who had also been late for training before, and they silently took note.

Thirty minutes before the game, the players from both teams came out of the player tunnel one after another.

The Toyota Center had a very low attendance rate, looking to be only about 60% full. This was even with Harden's explosive performance.

When it came to the market, the Rockets were even more miserable than the Spurs.

However, the TNT trio of Barkley, Smith, and O'Neal were all present at the commentary booth.

The low attendance at the arena didn't mean that the game had low viewership; there were still a lot of people watching online.

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups for both teams were announced.

For the Spurs, Parker and Green in the backcourt, Leonard and Duncan in the frontcourt, and Splitter at center.

For the Rockets, Lin and Harden in the backcourt, Parsons and Patterson in the frontcourt, and Asik at center.

The Rockets had their regular lineup, but when the Spurs' starting lineup was announced, there was a buzz in the arena.

Because there had been no news before the game, no one knew what was going on with Tang Tian tonight.

"Do you know what happened?" Barkley was also confused by the Spurs' starting lineup and turned to ask Smith.

Smith shook his head, clearly not having received any news either.

"Shaq?" Barkley then looked at O'Neal.

"I guess Tang is performing so well that the Spurs can't afford to re-sign him, so they're making him play off the bench to lower his value."

O'Neal said seriously.

His words immediately drew laughter from Barkley and Smith.

O'Neal's jokes were really starting to resemble Barkley's more and more.

They couldn't figure out the reason at the commentary booth, so it seemed they would only be able to ask about it after the game.

Just as they were talking, the starting players from both teams entered the court one after another.

Harden was also surprised that Tang Tian wasn't starting. He had made ample preparations before the game.

However, if Tang Tian wasn't starting, it would actually be better for him; he could warm up his hands before that.