Grant caught the ball, turned, dribbled forward twice, then passed to Chen Xi, who was sprinting downcourt.
Chen Xi caught the ball near midcourt, then accelerated toward the frontcourt.
The 76ers were slow getting back on defense, and Maxey was the only one who could barely keep up with Chen Xi.
Unfortunately, merely keeping up with him clearly wasn't enough.
As Chen Xi stepped inside the three-point line, he gathered the ball and took two strides to the free-throw line. He planted hard with his right foot, leaped into the air, and glided toward the basket, finishing with a one-handed slam dunk.
Maxey, trailing behind Chen Xi, clearly couldn't do a thing about a free-throw-line dunk that was this outrageous.
All he could do was watch as Chen Xi pulled off an incredible finish.
Beng!!
"Ooh! A free-throw-line dunk! A free-throw-line dunk in a real game! Chris!"
"Looks like Embiid's dunk just now fired Chris up. He's tried to finish with a dunk in each of the last two possessions!"
"I don't think that's good news for Philadelphia. A fully unleashed Chris is no pushover..."
"But the 76ers have an in-form Embiid leading the way, don't they? Joel Embiid has averaged an incredible 35.4 points through the first four games of this season. Maybe that's where their confidence comes from. Maybe they really can challenge Chris offensively?"
"I'm not optimistic, but I admire their courage. Let's wait and see."
The 76ers called a timeout.
It came after Chen Xi finished that fast-break counterattack with a dunk.
Rivers, standing on the sideline, decisively called the timeout. He then made a show of stressing defensive discipline to the starters and, while he was at it, fed them a couple of lines of encouragement.
Come on! Come on! Let's go!!~~
After