110: Popovich's shudder! An incomprehensible phenomenon.

Staples Center, post-game press conference.

It was still packed with people.

All the reporters were waiting for that man to appear.

Gregg Popovich.

He walked into the press conference room expressionlessly and sat down behind the table.

Countless flashes lit up on his face.

A senior reporter from ESPN was the first to stand up, pointing the microphone at him.

"Coach, may I ask, how do you evaluate Lin Feng's performance tonight?"

As soon as this question was asked, all the noise in the press conference room disappeared.

The air seemed to have been sucked out.

Everyone held their breath, their gaze focused on the silver-haired old man.

The red indicator light of the camera flickered silently.

Basketball fans all over the world were waiting for the legendary coach's answer through various channels.

Popovich did not speak immediately.

He just sat there, looking at the dense array of microphones and recording pens in front of him, his eyes somewhat vacant.

One second.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

The entire press conference room was eerily quiet, with only the sound of camera shutters constantly clicking.

The reporters began to stir.

They had never seen Popovich like this.

No sarcasm, no brevity, not even a hint of emotional fluctuation.

He just sat there quietly, like a statue that had lost its soul.

Finally.

After half a minute of silence.

Popovich slowly reached out and pulled one of the microphones in front of him to his mouth.

His movements were slow and heavy.

Everyone present subconsciously leaned forward.

"We..."

Popovich spoke.

His voice was unusually hoarse, carrying an unprecedented weariness.

He paused, seemingly organizing his words, or perhaps making a difficult decision.

Then, he raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over all the reporters below the stage, and said, word by word, a statement that would shake the entire league.

"We didn't lose to the Los Angeles Lakers tonight."

This sentence stunned everyone present.

Didn't lose to the Lakers?

What did that mean?

The reporters looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion.

Popovich ignored their reactions and continued to speak the second half of the sentence in that heavy, emotionless tone.

"We lost to a... phenomenon that we cannot understand."

Phenomenon!

When this word came out of Popovich's mouth, the entire press conference room erupted!

All the reporters' eyes widened, their faces filled with shock!

They frantically took notes in their notebooks, afraid of missing a single word!

Popovich looked at the restless crowd below and did not stop.

He seemed to want to pour out all the shock in his heart.

"When a player's shooting speed is so fast that your defender can't react at all."

"When his shooting percentage is so high that all your defensive schemes are useless."

"That's no longer a problem that tactics can solve."

These words exploded in the ears of every reporter like a sudden clap of thunder!

This was no longer a simple post-game comment!

This was an admission!

It was the greatest coach in history publicly denying his own basketball philosophy!

It was his personal admission that his proud system, which had dominated the league for nearly two decades, had completely failed in the face of Lin Feng's performance tonight!

After saying these words, Popovich did not give the reporters any more opportunities to ask questions.

He pushed his chair back, stood up, and, escorted by staff, left the press conference without looking back.

Leaving behind only a dead silence and countless dumbfounded faces.

A few seconds later.

The entire news center completely erupted!

"My God! Popovich admits he can't defend Lin Feng!"

"Quick! Post this video! The title is 'An Unfathomable Phenomenon'!"

"This is definitely the biggest news of this year's playoffs, no! In the past decade!"

In less than a minute.

This interview video of Popovich, accompanied by various sensational headlines, swept across global social networks like a virus.

Twitter, Facebook, major sports forums.

All places related to basketball were completely flooded with the words "An Unfathomable Phenomenon."

"Did I hear that right? Popovich said it himself? He was convinced by a sophomore rookie?"

"More than just convinced! He was beaten to the point of questioning life! 'An Unfathomable Phenomenon,' what a high praise for a player!"

"I take back everything I said before! Lin Feng is a god! A god who descended upon Staples Center tonight!"

"Where are those people who said Lin Feng was a team cancer and played circus basketball? Does your face hurt?"

All the previous online ridicule and arguments about "circus basketball" were shattered overnight.

In their place was a new term, imbued with awe and mythical connotations.

—Divine Domain.

And on the other end of this storm.

The Lakers' post-game press conference.

Lin Feng, accompanied by D'Antoni, walked into the venue.

Unlike the oppressive and heavy atmosphere of the Spurs' side, here, it was filled with the joy of victory.

The frequency of flashes was several times denser than before.

Lin Feng sat down behind the table, his expression calm.

As if the person who had made fifteen three-pointers on the court and forced the greatest coach in history to concede early was not him.

A reporter impatiently stood up.

"Lin, did you hear? Just now, Coach Gregg Popovich described you as an 'unfathomable phenomenon.' What are your thoughts on this?"

Lin Feng picked up the microphone, his expression largely unchanged.

"Coach Popovich is one of the greatest coaches in the league, and I respect him very much."

His answer was humble and official.

"Tonight's victory belongs to the entire team. My teammates put in tremendous effort on the defensive end, and they created shooting space for me."

Another reporter immediately followed up with a question.

"Fifteen three-pointers, the second-highest single-game playoff scoring in history. Do you consider this the greatest game of your career?"

"No."

Lin Feng shook his head.

"This is just one playoff game. We just won one game, making the series score 1:2."

"The series is still long, and we have no right to be proud."

"Our goal is to win the entire series."

His voice was not loud, but every word revealed an unquestionable firmness.

The reporters below the stage looked at this overly calm young man, a strange feeling rising in their hearts.

On the court, he was like a raging fire that consumed everything, domineering, flamboyant, and arrogant.

Off the court, he was like a bottomless lake, calm, humble, and steady as a mountain.

This huge contrast shrouded him in an even more mysterious aura.

The press conference continued.

But everyone knew that from the moment Popovich said those words.

This series, which everyone thought had no suspense, had undergone a drastic change.

Suspense was reborn.

And the already tilted scale of victory was quietly, slowly swinging towards the other side.