After being warned by Hansen, Popovich didn’t dare to intentionally injure anyone, but he still had other methods.
The "unhappy" Randolph was the breakthrough.
Especially since Randolph’s touch wasn’t on point tonight, exploiting him had a high chance of success.
Alerted by Hansen, Randolph immediately snapped back to his senses.
But it was only Hansen whom Randall completely trusted after experiencing the series against the Thunders.
When the offense switched to defense, Hansen received the ball on the strong side and fed it down low to Randolph.
Blair was still playing dirty, but before the help defense arrived, Randolph scored a 2+1 over him and, shaking his head, he got hyped and shared a forceful high-five with Hansen.
Hansen turned his head and looked at Popovich, and seeing his helpless expression, he smiled.
You can’t expect Randolph not to perform, finding a rhythm inside is much easier than on the perimeter.
At a crucial moment, Manu Ginobili hit a three-pointer from the outside, helping the San Antonio Spurs keep the score close.
During the regular season, Ginobili was the second leading scorer on the Spurs, just behind Parker, and his signature ability was being plug-and-play, being able to contribute whether starting or coming off the bench.
At this point, Hansen adjusted his tactics, signaling for Randolph to come up high for a pick-and-roll.
Ginobili is known for offense, but his weakness is defense.
Randolph’s screen shook Ginobili hard, and Hansen easily got a mismatch against Duncan.
Duncan’s feet were still firmly planted on the floor, though Ginobili had already gotten around Randolph and was closing in; they were preparing to sandwich him.
Seeing this, Hansen chose to pass.
He wasn’t someone who usually passed the ball much, but with Ginobili double-teaming, Randolph was wide open.
Of course, the pass was a bit low, but luckily, Randolph’s long arms salvaged it.
Then, Randolph drove to the basket.
His touch being off today, the closer to the basket, the higher his chances.
At that moment, Ginobili backed down under the basket, sideways.
Seeing this, Randolph leaped, dodged with a stride, and switched to a left-handed layup.
Despite his build, he was really agile.
But the next second, he suddenly lost balance in midair and fell to the ground.
Everything happened so fast; Hansen was busy blocking Duncan’s help-defense and didn’t notice what happened.
The next second, Randolph furiously got up from the floor and with a very street move, slammed Ginobili to the ground.
Players from both teams immediately rushed together.
The referee’s urgent whistle halted the game, and several people had to pull Randolph away.
Meanwhile, Ginobili, who was thrown to the ground, looked to be in pain.
The game moved into a technical timeout and the referees needed to check the replay to make the call.
During the downtime, Hansen looked up at the replay.
The replay showed that as Randolph was shooting, Ginobili made a very covert move by sticking out his hip, a seemingly careless action that directly caused Randolph to lose his balance in midair.
Normally, this action wouldn’t affect Randolph, but he was dodging during a layup, completely airborne.
Luckily, he was tough-skinned with limited jumping ability; if it had been Griffin, he would definitely have been injured.
Seeing clearly what had happened, Hansen’s expression changed instantly. Thıs content belongs to 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱
Had his intimidation of Popovich worn off?
Unlikely, as Popovich’s style of dirty tricks is well-known, using small players to foul so even if caught, the core players remain protected.
Especially since he had just seen Popovich’s helpless look, which didn’t seem feigned.
He then remembered some things, one of which happened this season.
Inside the GDP, Duncan and Parker played fairly clean, but Ginobili was different.
Aside from being provocative, he also played dirty, largely unnoticed because players like Bowen and Hory attracted the focus.
One incident this season involved the Rockets against the Spurs where Ginobili intentionally stepped under Aaron Brooks from a great distance, leading to Brooks being out for the season.
It was notable since Brooks earned the Most Improved Player award last season averaging 19.6 points per game.
The so-called curse was merely destroyed by that one step from Ginobili.
After reviewing the playback, the referees made their decision: Ginobili was charged with a technical foul, and Randolph was called for a flagrant foul and ejected from the game.
Boos of "RefreeSucks" filled the arena, as Hollins approached to talk, but once the referees made the call, it was final.
At that moment, Hansen looked across to the other half of the court and saw Ginobili already up and listening to Popovich laying out tactics as if nothing had happened.
His expression darkened, a fierce look flashing in his eyes.
He turned around, pulled the ejected Randolph close, and whispered, "Find a place where you can watch the live broadcast."
Randolph didn’t understand what Hansen meant by that, but still nodded in agreement.
After the technical timeout and the penalty shots, which both sides took two due to the rules nullifying possession, essentially making it still the Grizzlies’ ball.
The Grizzlies shot first, with Hansen making both free throws.
For the Spurs, it was Ginobili at the free-throw line.
As he began to shoot, boos filled the arena.