Ginobili's appearance on the court was met with thunderous cheers.

Although Ginobili's historical significance was somewhat less than Duncan's,

as Popovich said in his preceding speech, Ginobili had sacrificed a lot for the Spurs.

Coupled with his personality, he was extremely popular in San Antonio.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you all."

After three consecutive thank yous, the cheers from the fans finally subsided.

"Sorry, Coach, I can't be responsible for your hair, just like no one can be responsible for mine."

Ginobili's mischievousness was inherent. His opening remark overwhelmed the crowd and drew waves of whistles from the audience.

"And I have to thank you and the Spurs. You know, as a 57th pick, I might have sat on the bench for a few seasons and then left on another team."

Ginobili's next words turned the whistles into cheers.

Although Popovich mostly had Ginobili come off the bench, both he and Ginobili, and Ginobili and the Spurs, had mutually benefited from each other.

"Tim, your speech was six minutes long. I love you to death. It's been 19 years since you first called me by the wrong name. We're all getting old."

"Tony, I also miss my long flowing hair, but I can probably only see it in game footage now."

"Tang, being your teammate is one of the happiest things in my life. I can brag to my sons now that I was once on the same team as the number one basketball player in the world."

Ginobili thanked everyone one by one.

"At the 1999 NBA Draft, I couldn't believe it when I got the call that I had been selected. It changed the direction of my life's efforts.

When the phone rang again in 2002, I was ready.

Basketball is a team sport. You can't win a championship single-handedly. I'm lucky to always have a great group of teammates around me.

I also want to thank the Spurs staff and fans. You make this family more fun.

Finally, I want to thank Popovich. You are a sincere, generous, considerate, and intelligent madman who is so important to me.

You are not only a coach but also a father, and you have taught me so much.

I don't care about the basketball aspect since I've retired, but you made me realize that life is much bigger than basketball."

At the end of his speech, Ginobili summarized his basketball career.

Finally, he thanked Popovich in particular. For the GDP (Ginobili, Duncan, Parker), Popovich's relationship with them was the same: he was both a coach and a father.

After Ginobili's speech, the curtain above the arena was unveiled, revealing his number 20 jersey, as the host introduced him.

To his left was Duncan's number 21 jersey.

And the next player to have his jersey retired here would most likely be Parker's number 9.

The GDP entered the league one after another, and now they were retiring one after another on the same team. This was destined to be a historical story.

The fans in the arena stood up and applauded Ginobili, and the applause lasted for a long time.

Ginobili hugged Duncan and the others one by one.

After tonight, he would be a legend like Duncan.

After the jersey retirement ceremony, Duncan and Ginobili sat in the front row by the court to watch the game.

Then came the introduction ceremony, and the starting lineups of the two teams were released one after another.

For the Spurs, the guards were Derrick White and Bryn Forbes, the forwards were George and Leonard, and the center was Aldridge.

Since Duncan's retirement, Aldridge had started to gain weight.

He played center in more than half of the games last season, and this season he was the undisputed starting center.

When Popovich was lobbying Aldridge to join the team, he said that he would not let the latter play center. The truth was that his words could not be trusted.

The Pelicans had also made changes to their starting lineup.

Dedmon's outside shooting had been consistently poor this season, and his playing time had been greatly reduced.

Stevens did not arrange for him to start in this game, but instead used Harrell as the starting center.

The other positions were the same as the regular lineup.

Davis tipped the ball back to the Pelicans' half, officially opening the curtain on the second game between the two teams this season.

Tang Tian controlled the ball. After signaling Davis to post up in the low post, he passed the ball inside.

Although Aldridge had gained weight, his defense was average, and Davis had an advantage in the matchup.

This was something that was missing when the two teams last played.

Davis received the ball and, after a low-post footwork move, shot off the backboard.

The ball hit the backboard and went into the net.

Davis scored the first points for the Pelicans.

Duncan showed a gratified smile on the sidelines at this time.

After Davis practiced with him last summer, he had been treated as his own disciple.

And this low-post back-up move really had a lot of his style.

The Pelicans scored first, but in the next round, Leonard held the ball and broke through Siakam to score a layup.

He didn't play for a season last season, but his condition was still amazing after returning this season, averaging a career-high 27 points per game.

Davis continued to post up in the low post, and he still squeezed away Aldridge.

However, just before he shot, Leonard's help defense came over to interfere and successfully disrupted his offense.

With dominance on both offense and defense, there was a reason why Leonard was now ranked third on the MVP list, ahead of Durant.

Back on the other end, it was still Leonard, who broke through to the inside with the Ai hammer tactic and sent a precise pass to Forbes at the corner, who made a three-pointer with ease.

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

CCX, in the VIP box, showed a gratified smile.

When he took over the Spurs, there was a hidden danger of Leonard's injury, but he still gave Leonard a super max contract of 220 million for 5 years.

Judging from Leonard's state this season, he had bet correctly.

"It's great that he was able to stay."

Ginobili smiled and said to Duncan on the sidelines.

Duncan nodded, then turned his gaze to Tang Tian.

Popovich had already told him the whole story of Leonard's affairs, and it was really thanks to Tang Tian that Leonard was able to stay.

In the Pelicans' offense, Tang Tian held the ball in the frontcourt and was double-teamed by George and Leonard at the first time.

Although the two were playing the three and four positions on the court, it was obvious that Popovich had a targeted defensive deployment.

Tang Tian was under great defensive pressure when he broke through. He passed the ball to Siakam on the weak side, and Siakam flew to the basket for a layup.

But Leonard's defense was really strong. He turned around and interfered, and disrupted Siakam's layup again.

Aldridge protected the defensive rebound, and the Pelicans' offense failed again!

The Spurs launched a fast break. White dribbled the ball forward and, at the three-point line, passed it to Leonard, who was following up.

Leonard took the ball, and Tang Tian was in front of him.

He did not choose to pass the ball, but instead directly changed direction and broke through for a layup.

The two were very familiar with each other, but Leonard was stronger and had a better wingspan.

After the confrontation, he beautifully turned around under the basket and put the ball into the basket.

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

Leonard challenged Tang Tian and succeeded!