That was only to be expected, though.
With Duncan and Parker drawing the defense's attention, Tang Tian and Diaw naturally faced less defensive pressure.
Plus, they were both the kind of players who used their brains, and they wouldn't let an opportunity slip away once they had it.
Thibodeau, on the other hand, seemed agitated, even furious.
As a former assistant coach under Jeff Van Gundy, he was a defensive-minded coach like his old boss and paid particular attention to the team's performance on the defensive end.
Add to that his explosive temper, and he really couldn't stand it for a moment, roaring at his players like a lion.
Rose continued to force his way to the frontcourt, and this time his aerial layup after the breakthrough drew a foul on Diaw for a hand check.
The Bulls' offensive routine was really simple. When Rose was on the court, it was just him playing, and opponents generally found it very difficult to defend.
Rose made both free throws, and the Bulls continued to cling to the score thanks to his individual performance.
The Spurs advanced to the frontcourt again. At this point, the Bulls' defensive intensity had obviously increased, and Thibodeau's roar was having an effect.
They couldn't execute their tactics, and the ball ended up in Duncan's hands. Duncan posted up Boozer in the low post, turned several times in a row, and then hooked a shot off the backboard.
"Clang!"
The ball ricocheted off the rim and shot into the net.
The "Stone Buddha" may be old, but he can still eat.
The Spurs led 8-4!
On the Bulls' offense, Rose broke through the double team and passed in the air, the ball going to Deng in the corner, who seized the opportunity and made a three-pointer.
7-8.
Both sides showed their respective characteristics from the start, and the situation on the court was quite tense.
The Spurs' frontcourt attack failed, and again it was Rose, who drove into the paint with a high-difficulty reverse layup, directly helping the Bulls to overtake the score!
He had already scored 6 points in less than 3 minutes.
A healthy Rose was really unstoppable.
The home fans' emotions were completely ignited, and cheers and whistles rose and fell, stretching out endlessly.
Parker's floater after the breakthrough still didn't go in, Noah grabbed the rebound and the Bulls launched a fast break.
Rose sprinted to the frontcourt, broke through and passed to Hamilton, whose catch-and-shoot mid-range jumper also went in.
11-8, the Bulls took a 3-point lead over the Spurs.
They had scored on all five of their possessions, their form was astonishingly hot!
Popovich was also yelling at his players from the sidelines, clearly very dissatisfied with the team's defense during this stretch.
The Spurs' frontcourt attack saw Leonard's catch-and-shoot layup slide off the rim.
The Spurs' slump was more due to problems with their own offense, as they had failed to score on three consecutive possessions.
"Come on, Chicago!"
With the team's morale high, the shouts of the fans in the arena rang out again.
After the initial stalemate, the Spurs were now at a disadvantage.
Rose looked for Noah's pick-and-roll this time, and after the screen, continued to accelerate and charge inside.
The simplest of tactics, but extremely destructive, like a sharp blade straight into the Spurs' abdomen.
It looked like another 2 points were coming.
Just then, Tang Tian suddenly left Luol Deng and came over from the weak side to help defend, directly choosing to double-team!
Rose, caught without a passing opportunity, jumped up and chose to pass.
"Pa!"
Just as he passed the ball, Tang Tian suddenly snatched it away!
Jumping up to pass was Rose's habitual passing style.
His passing vision wasn't very good, and the purpose of jumping was to increase his field of view.
But the weakness of this passing style was also obvious, because there was an action of stopping in the air to look at people, and Tang Tian had completely captured his intention!
Tang Tian landed after intercepting the ball and passed it to Diaw next to him as soon as possible.
Diaw's role was highlighted again, with a long pass from the backcourt to the frontcourt.
Parker caught the ball and the "French sports car" made a fast break layup.
10-11.
The Spurs temporarily stabilized the situation on the court through successful defense.
"Tony, you can give him some space, his three-pointer isn't good."
Tang Tian reminded Parker as he retreated on defense.
Parker nodded.
Rose dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, and Parker kept two meters away from him this time.
Rose had a completely open look from outside, and he jumped up and shot.
"Clang!"
The basketball bounced off the rim!
Noah grabbed the offensive rebound, but his shot was interfered with by Duncan and didn't go in, and Diaw grabbed the defensive rebound.
The Spurs completed two successful defenses in a row!
The faces of the fans in the arena were tense, as expected of a match between the top teams in the East and West.
Although the Spurs had just suffered a losing streak, with their starters all playing, the two sides were evenly matched, and the outcome was difficult to predict.
In the Spurs' frontcourt attack, Duncan continued to post up, and he had an advantage in his matchup against Boozer.
Noah helped defend from the baseline, and Duncan passed inside to Diaw.
Diaw moved for a bit but didn't shoot, waiting for Deng to contract back before swinging the ball to Tang Tian in the corner.
He was really in love with Tang Tian tonight.
Tang Tian caught the ball and shot quickly before Deng could help defend.
"Swish!"
Tang Tian's open three-pointer went in!
3 for 3 from three-point range in a single quarter!
13-11!
The Spurs took the lead again!
"Is this a player who hasn't played for three games?"
The commentator was amazed by his performance.
"He may have accumulated more than a week's worth of energy and is releasing it all at once tonight!"
The guest commentator used a very vivid metaphor.
Popovich gestured from the sidelines, and the Spurs changed to a 3-2 zone defense.
His reaction was still very quick, only one possession slower than Tang Tian.
The Bulls' outside was left open, and Parker was determined to let Rose shoot, only guarding Hamilton.
With 5 defending against 4, the Bulls' continuous pick-and-roll tactics on the free throw line didn't create any opportunities.
Seeing that more than half of the offensive time had passed, Rose dribbled the ball and chose a pull-up three-pointer.
In the first two seasons of his career, his three-point shooting percentage was very low, all below 25%.
Last season, he developed his three-point ability, and although it was unstable, it was at least over 30%, reaching over 33%.
But this season, because of injuries and intermittent play, his outside touch was a bit off again.
"Clang!"
The ball hit the front of the rim and bounced out again!
Rose failed to make two consecutive open three-pointers!
Diaw's rebounding instincts were very keen, and he flew over to grab the long defensive rebound, then turned around and made a long pass.
Parker appeared at the receiving end, and after getting the ball, the sports car started up again.
Rose retreated very quickly on this play, sticking close to him and not giving him a chance to accelerate.
Parker advanced to the frontcourt, and both players had already retreated to their respective halves.
Just as this fast break attack was about to fail, he glanced at Tang Tian, who was late to arrive on the right.
A direct pass.
Tang Tian got the ball as soon as he was in position.
This pass had a master-class feel to it, the person and the ball arriving at the same time.
Tang Tian caught the ball and shot again.
"Swish!"
Tang Tian's pull-up three-pointer went in!
4 for 4 from three-point range in the quarter!
The commentator was right, Tang Tian had accumulated all the energy from the past week and released it tonight!
And this was concentrated energy, astonishingly large!
Thibodeau cursed under his breath and called a timeout.
The Bulls were known for their defense, and their ability to sit firmly in first place for most of the season was also due to their defense.
But the team had allowed a role player who hadn't played for three games to make four three-pointers in a row tonight, which he absolutely couldn't tolerate.
After the timeout, the Bulls replaced Richard Hamilton with Ronnie Brewer.
This was a clear signal to strengthen the defense.
Brewer was the Bulls' defensive ace, and he did a good job on the defensive end, not giving Tang Tian too many good shooting opportunities.
However, his offense was also much less reliable than Hamilton's, the scoring efficiency of both teams declined, and the score remained deadlocked.
Popovich made a very subtle rotation adjustment at this time, with Green, Tang Tian, and Leonard being substituted out 2-3 minutes earlier than usual.
Neither Thibodeau nor anyone else paid much attention to this detail.
At the end of the first quarter, the Spurs led the Bulls 36-31 by 5 points.
During the break, Thibodeau was interviewed by the arena reporter.
"Our team's defense was terrible in the first quarter, we'll find our rhythm in the second quarter."
Thibodeau's interview style was consistent, always talking about defense.
Back in the second quarter, the players from both sides took the court again.
Thibodeau habitually reached out and touched his nose, but he was stunned when he turned his head.
The Spurs put up another lineup in the second quarter that was beyond his expectations.
Ginobili, Green, Tang Tian, Leonard, Splitter!
This was the three-forward lineup that the Spurs had used against the Clippers before!
On the Bulls' side, it was Deng with four substitutes, CJ Watson and Korver on the outside, and Taj Gibson and Asik on the inside.
The Bulls' offense.
Watson held the ball on the outside, and Korver used Gibson and Asik's consecutive pick-and-rolls on the right side to catch the ball and shoot a three-pointer.
When Rose wasn't on the court, the Bulls played more of a screen-and-roll offense on the weak side.
The tactics were somewhat similar to the Spurs', but the difference was that they had no auxiliary tactics on the weak side.
Deng basically stood in the left corner and watched, while on the strong side, in addition to Gibson rolling after the pick-and-roll, Watson stood at the top of the arc and didn't move after passing the ball.
Not every coaching staff is as good at tactics as the Spurs, and the Bulls' label is iron-blooded and defensive.
Korver put in a lot of effort to get open, but he was stuck by Tang Tian as soon as he caught the ball.
Leaving aside the set offense, the Spurs' three-wing tactics were really strong on the defensive end.
Korver couldn't attack with the ball, so he could only pass it back to Watson.
The Bulls didn't have time to organize a second tactic, and Watson called Deng over to pass the ball, preparing to solve the problem with Deng's individual ability.
Deng was all-around on both offense and defense and was known by Bulls fans as Rose's "Pippen."
But in reality, his strength was in off-ball offense, and this kind of ball-handling offense was a bit difficult for him.
Continuous dribbling, relying on the backboard after leaning on, Deng's offensive choice was relatively simple.
Leonard stretched out his big hand at this time, completely covering Deng's vision.
"Clang!"
Deng's shot went wide, and Splitter protected the defensive rebound.
Splitter passed the ball to Ginobili, but the Bulls had quickly retreated to their half, their defensive awareness was indeed first-class in the league.
Ginobili held the ball to the frontcourt.
"Man! Stick to your man!"
Thibodeau shouted at his players from the sidelines, he and his old boss Van Gundy were always full of energy.
His roar did have an effect, and the Spurs' hammer tactics were completely disrupted.
With more than half of the offensive time gone, Ginobili called Green for an outside pick-and-roll, switching his defender to Korver.
Korver was a weak point in this lineup for the Bulls.
With the wings spread out, Ginobili held the ball and went one-on-one against Korver in the middle.
Dribbling and starting with a signature serpentine breakthrough, Korver was clearly a bit unable to keep up with the rhythm.
Gibson quickly helped defend from the wing, and Ginobili passed the ball through his legs to Leonard with a flashy behind-the-back pass.
Just as Leonard got the ball, Deng had quickly come over to help defend.
The Bulls' help defense and rotation on the defensive end was perfect.
Leonard leaned against Deng, wanting to attack, but there was no chance, and it was almost 24 seconds.
"Here!"
He heard Tang Tian's voice, turned his head and quickly threw the ball to Tang Tian.
Tang Tian caught the ball and shot quickly before Deng could return to defend.
The buzzer sounded as the ball was released, a 24-second buzzer-beater.
"Clang!"
This shot was a bit rushed, and the angle was obviously a bit off, the ball hitting the back of the rim.
But after bouncing twice, it fell into the net.
A three-pointer, in!
Tang Tian not only had a good touch tonight, but he was also lucky!
"Damn it!" Some fans couldn't help but swear.
There were also obvious emotional changes among the Bulls' players on the court.
This kind of possession where they successfully defended for 23 seconds, but were scored on in the last second, was the most demoralizing for the defense.
On the Bulls' offense, Gibson was in the low post preparing to post up Leonard, but Watson's pass inside was a mistake, directly passed to Leonard who was half-circling around.
The Spurs quickly launched a fast break, Ginobili dribbling and showing off, a behind-the-back dribble past Watson, then accelerating and holding off Korver to the restricted area, before passing the ball behind his back to Tang Tian who was fast breaking on the left.
Tang Tian caught the ball and quickly shot.
Deng arrived at this time, flying to block Tang Tian.
But Tang Tian's release speed was fast enough, and his block was obviously a beat late.
"Pa!"
Deng's block slapped Tang Tian's hand.
Tang Tian lost his center of gravity in the air, and landed with a protective leg-spreading motion to avoid falling.
"Swish!"
At the same time, the basketball went into the net.
It was a 3+1!
The arena was in an uproar.
It was Tang Tian again!
The previous three-pointer was lethal, and this 3+1 was devastating!
Tang Tian was also a bit surprised, he had been fouled on this heavily contested shot, and he was prepared to take three free throws, but he didn't expect it to go in.
It seemed that he was really lucky tonight.
Before Tang Tian could take the free throw, Thibodeau immediately called a timeout.
Tang Tian's four consecutive three-pointers at the start of the first quarter almost collapsed the Bulls, and now he had made two three-pointers in a row, widening the score to double digits at once.
The Spurs' bench was in an uproar, this newly developed three-wing lineup was really easy to use.
Popovich showed a sly smile at this time.
In fact, it wasn't difficult to break this three-wing lineup, find an inside player who was strong in low-post one-on-one and could pass the ball, and Leonard definitely couldn't stop him.
Even if Tang Tian and Green were fast at double-teaming, as long as the ball was passed out, it was an opportunity.
But the problem was the timing of this lineup, which was also the smartest part of it.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the starters were all resting on the bench.
Very few teams had an inside player on their bench who was strong in one-on-one and could pass the ball.
That would be a luxury.
Take the Bulls as an example, Boozer was the only one who met this requirement.
And Boozer was a starter, this point wouldn't appear on the court.
Of course, if they could force Boozer to play earlier, it would also be beneficial to the Spurs.
You had to know that there were 48 minutes in a game, and in this kind of high-intensity game, playing one minute more in the first half would mean one point less of stamina for the players at the decisive moment.