The consecutive home victories have given the Supersonics strong confidence.
Before the start of the fifth game, George Karl directly told reporters: "We are here to secure a victory and end the Trail Blazers' dominance in the Western Conference. Otherwise, why have we endured such a grueling season? Now we are on the same starting line. I think it's time for a regime change; no one wins forever."
When asked about Gan Guoyang's accusation of inappropriate remarks from the Seattle side, George Karl denied it, saying, "I think it's nonsense! It's completely baseless. If such a thing had happened, it would have surfaced long ago. Why only now?"
Up to this point, Karl made a reasonable argument.
