CHAPTER 1311: CHAPTER 415: THE PRICELESS TREASURE WORTHLESS (MONTHLY TICKET REQUESTED!)

Then, Payton quickly made the second one.

"Gary posts up and scores again! What’s going on? Did we just travel back to 1996 during the halftime break?" Mike Breen initially thought the first one was a fluke, but two consecutive plays using the same move were definitely intentional by the Warriors.

After Payton scored, his trash-talking naturally didn’t stop: "Tony, your defense isn’t even as tight as Eva Longoria last night! If I had met her earlier, she would have been loosened up by me. When we were teammates, I knew any woman with you would suffer. Fortunately, I’m willing to help you out."

This was definitely trash talk worse, and more indecent, than "your wife tastes like a donut."

If Kevin Garnett’s donut comment was just a hint, then Gary Payton practically told Parker to his face: "I bagged your woman, and she enjoyed it."

The hardest thing for a man to endure is another man insulting his woman in public. Although Tony Parker didn’t hit Payton on the spot, it didn’t mean he wasn’t angry inside.

A play later, an enraged Parker anxiously tried to strip the ball away when the Glove posted up on him; he wanted to force Payton into a mistake to shut him up.

But Gary Payton instinctively dodged Parker’s gamble for a steal, and smoothly spun for a breakthrough.

Bruce Bowen had no choice but to switch over to cover for Parker, which meant he left Raja Bell alone with Roger!

Roger quickly ran off, and as he started, he nudged Raja Bell in the chest with his elbow, preventing him from keeping close.

Gary Payton then perfectly timed his pass to Roger, who scored a three-pointer in the gap left by Raja Bell, cutting the lead to just six points!

"Despicable bastard!" Raja Bell cursed, clutching his chest.

Roger shrugged indifferently: "Useless lowlifes always find excuses for themselves."

Just as Roger finished speaking, Gary Payton’s voice chimed in: "Tony, what are you so hurriedly trying to strip off me? Your wife’s lingerie? Sorry, I used it to wipe off D*ck and then threw it away."

The San Antonio Spurs were experiencing something no other team had gone through; never in NBA history had any team faced such a mental assault.

Even the referee couldn’t take it: "Roger, Gary, shut up, I don’t want to give you guys technical fouls!"

Roger and Payton just smiled and nodded, shut up? Unless you sew my mouth shut with a needle and thread!

The Spurs’ situation deteriorated rapidly in the third quarter. Gary Payton stripped Tony Parker’s woman with words and his defense on the court.

Without the system’s protection, his defense was no different from those garishly dressed quick-service women under the Eiffel Tower.

Bruce Bowen and Raja Bell had to repeatedly cover for Parker, and whenever Roger got a one-on-one opportunity, he could score easily.

Both Raja Bell and Bruce Bowen were strong defenders, but neither stood a chance against Roger one-on-one.

In the eighth minute of the third quarter, when Gary Payton scored his 10th point of the quarter with another post-up, Gregg Popovich smashed the tactics board: "Damn it, how is that bastard playing so efficiently!?"

That’s the big question for most.

In people’s minds, Gary Payton, one of the best point guards of the ’90s, was long gone.

He died when Shawn Kemp left Seattle.

In the following years, he had stats but no wins. After leaving Seattle, he didn’t even have the stats.

He wandered from place to place each year like a useless vagrant, only to be ruthlessly kicked out in the end.

That’s the Gary Payton people imagined.

So, the Gary Payton now overturning the game for the Warriors in the third quarter was unbelievable.

But this is the specialty of the Golden State Gangsters; you never know who might step up in the game to play a key role, just like the Houston Rockets of 1994 and 1995.

During that time, the Rockets had only Hakeem Olajuwon as a stable force; the others were inconsistent.

Yet, the Rockets had an unparalleled team atmosphere, a common goal, and a strong belief. So, in every game, someone would step up to support the Dream.

This happened to the Warriors.

Frustration in defense and anger sparked by trash talk also affected Tony Parker’s offense; his haste made his efficiency lower than in the first half, and even some foolish shot choices resulted in Marcus Camby blocking him several times.

Gregg Popovich yelled at Tony Parker during the timeout in the ninth minute of the third quarter, and benched him early.

And this meant the Spurs’ lead was no longer secure.

By the end of the third quarter, the Spurs and Warriors were tied. Roger scored 14 points in the quarter, more than in the entire first half combined.

The Warriors played with complete momentum in the third quarter, and before the start of the fourth, as Roger was about to go on court, he walked to the Spurs’ bench and looked at Gregg Popovich: "When did you start talking crap like LBJ?"

This was a warning from the King to the traitors.

In the fourth quarter, Gary Payton’s efficiency declined. Passion, awakening, and atmosphere can ignite a player’s form, but time-worn scars cannot be healed.