It was no exaggeration to say that any team with a player like Jokic would make all its other players better.
The two teams traded baskets from there.
The Kings kept scoring through Wang Yi's relentless offense, while the Knicks relied on King Arthur to drive and dish, setting up his teammates to score.
The two teams' offensive efficiency was more or less even, but the Kings had two big centers, giving them an extra edge on the boards.
As a result, the Kings grabbed four more rebounds than their opponents in the first quarter.
That gave them four extra possessions, allowing them to score six more points than the Knicks.
The second quarter unfolded much like the first.
The Kings outscored their opponents by another four points.
At halftime, the Kings led the Knicks by ten.
If the game had continued normally, the Kings would have had a 100% chance of winning.
But as the saying went, anything could happen on the court. If you could determine the winner just by making predictions, there would be no point in playing the game.
In the third quarter, the Knicks' Seth Curry suddenly caught fire.
Just three minutes into the quarter, he had already drained three three-pointers.
The Kings scored during those three minutes too, but their efficiency was nothing special.
That allowed the Knicks to cut the deficit to just five points.
The Kings had no choice but to call a timeout, hoping to cool Seth Curry off.
But Seth Curry was the kind of player who could go on a rampage.
When he got hot, he didn't reach the same sky-high level as his brother Stephen Curry. His threes weren't as terrifying, and he couldn't sustain that kind of shooting for as long.
But his ability to erupt in