The courtside photographers reacted quickly, finding Duncan in the crowd in the stands.

That guy was grinning from ear to ear!

And he should be.

Davis was his personal disciple, and now that he was playing so well on the court, he was genuinely happy.

Ginobili was quick to react, though. Seeing the two of them on the LED screen, he reached out and patted Duncan on the shoulder, signaling him to look up.

Only then did Duncan stop smiling.

He was happy for Davis, but they were at the Spurs' home court, and he was a Spurs legend now.

It was like he'd seen Crawford. He quickly composed himself, his expression becoming serious and focused.

Ginobili, standing next to him, burst out laughing.

He'd spent so many years with Duncan. How had he not realized that the guy was such a drama king!

The game continued on the court. George missed a three-pointer from the outside, and Davis grabbed the defensive rebound.

The Pelicans advanced to the frontcourt and played a set offense. Davis continued to post up in the low post.

This time, the Spurs collapsed the defense, but Davis reacted quickly, passing the ball to Harrell under the basket at the first opportunity.

After receiving the ball, Harrell took a step and powered up, throwing down a violent two-handed dunk!

The crowd erupted.

Davis wasn't just scoring himself, he was energizing the entire Pelicans team!

Tonight, he was truly Davis Pippen!

Popovich called a timeout.

Having contained Tang Tian, and with Gasol injured, this was a golden opportunity for the Spurs to pull ahead and win the game.

But Davis's sudden emergence had completely disrupted his plans.

When the timeout ended, the Spurs made a substitution, with Forbes replacing Baynes.

Popovich had switched back to their regular lineup.

The Pelicans hadn't made any changes initially, but before going back onto the court, Stevens saw the Spurs' adjustment and turned around to call Siakam over.

Playing small ball against small ball, Stevens was exploiting the advantage Davis had over Aldridge.

His reaction speed was truly impressive.

When play resumed, the Spurs attacked first. Leonard made an off-ball cut, using Aldridge's screen, and received a pass from White for a layup, scoring two points.

Back to their regular lineup, the Spurs' offense clearly felt better.

At 16-21, the Spurs had narrowed the gap to 5 points again.

"Defense! Defense!"

The home fans were shouting in unison, led by the announcer, to cheer on their team.

Tang Tian received the ball in the frontcourt and was still double-teamed, but this time it was Forbes and George instead of George and Leonard.

This was a subtle adjustment, Popovich's tactical strategy of using players from the two and three positions to guard Tang Tian.

Seeing this, Tang Tian immediately chose to break through on the right.

With a series of dazzling crossover dribbles, George stayed with him, but Forbes was left behind.

Tang Tian squeezed past George, drove to the basket, and scored, drawing a foul on Aldridge in the process.

It proved that Tang Tian wasn't afraid of being double-teamed at all, but his efficiency was lower when double-teamed by the top wings George and Leonard.

Tang Tian made the free throw, helping the Pelicans extend their lead to 8 points.

Aldridge and Leonard ran a pick-and-roll in the frontcourt, and Aldridge received a pass back after the screen and hit a mid-range shot.

The Spurs' offense with this lineup was really strong, which was a major reason they were able to win 70 games and break the franchise's regular-season record.

In return, the Spurs switched their defense again, with George and Leonard going back to guarding Tang Tian.

But Tang Tian was like a coach on the court, immediately using hand signals to call a play.

Davis and Siakam set an off-ball screen under the basket, and Brogdon's high lob pass was perfectly timed. After Davis caught the ball, Forbes was guarding him.

With the Spurs playing small ball, George and Leonard, as small forwards and power forwards, were both guarding Tang Tian. Even if they rotated quickly, there would definitely be a mismatch under the basket.

Siakam boxed out Aldridge, so Davis was definitely matched up against a guard.

Davis caught the ball and simply ran over Forbes for the shot, easily putting the ball in the basket.

The Spurs' offense failed to score on their possession, and the Pelicans ran the same play.

With Popovich shouting from the sidelines, the Spurs didn't switch this time, instead having Leonard collapse into the paint as much as possible.

But their rotation speed couldn't keep up. After Davis caught the ball, he took a step and threw down a two-handed dunk!

At 28-18, the Pelicans had extended their lead to double digits!

Popovich rubbed his forehead and turned to call Cunningham over.

Cunningham replaced Forbes on the court.

Leonard posted up Green in the frontcourt and squeezed past him, but his turnaround layup was almost blocked by Davis's help defense.

After a successful defensive play, Davis jumped again and grabbed the defensive rebound.

He was on fire tonight.

In return, Davis posted up Cunningham in the low post.

Cunningham was a tough defender. Popovich had sent him in to contain Davis.

But after a series of physical contests, Davis turned and banked in a small hook shot again.

The crowd on the sidelines erupted.

Davis had already scored 14 points in this quarter alone!

Aldridge, Forbes, Cunningham... no one on the Spurs could stop him!

The camera showed Popovich on the sidelines.

The old coach stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the court without moving, his expression a bit wooden.

The Spurs' defense was very passive tonight.

It wasn't that Popovich's tactics weren't working, or that the Spurs had execution problems, but Davis was just in too good of a form tonight!

According to the Spurs' experience against the Pelicans in the regular season, as long as they contained Tang Tian, they could stop the Pelicans' offense.

Davis could score, but his individual scoring couldn't keep up with the Spurs' team scoring.

But Davis was really on fire tonight. He didn't miss a shot after the start of the game, and more importantly, he energized the entire Pelicans' offense.

Popovich had made all the adjustments he could, but he still couldn't do anything about it.

And he couldn't use a double-team to defend Davis, because the Pelicans also had Tang Tian!

In fact, not to mention a double-team, he had only had Leonard defend Davis on the previous play, and Tang Tian had told him that wouldn't work with a 2+1!

The result was that the Spurs couldn't solve their defensive problems all night.

The point difference widened at a visible rate.

At the end of the first half, the Pelicans were leading the Spurs by as much as 55 to 40, a 15-point lead!

Davis had scored 28 points alone in the first half! More than half of the team's total points!

Although Davis's shooting percentage dropped somewhat in the second half, the Pelicans played steadily and maintained their lead until the end of the game.

In the end, the Pelicans defeated the Spurs on the road with a score of 106 to 93, taking the first victory in the Western Conference Semifinals!

Davis made 18 of 28 shots, scoring a game-high 45 points, 16 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals, playing the most brilliant game of his career!

As for Tang Tian, he only took 15 shots in the game, making 7 of them, and got 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Compared to his season stats and performance, he had completely coasted to victory tonight.