Westbrook's presence had successfully ruined the Knicks' plan to use fast breaks to quickly make up the deficit in the opening minutes.
After that, they had no choice but to settle into another prolonged tug-of-war to decide the winner.
During the Transition Period, the Thunder Team managed to steady the situation somewhat. But against the offense led by Chen Xi, they still couldn't match the Knicks' efficiency.
Fortunately, that stretch didn't last too long.
Soon, the game reached the final seven and a half minutes of the Fourth Quarter.
When Joe Ingles once again got an open look off Chen Xi's drive-and-kick and sank a long two with his foot on the line, cutting the gap back to four points, Donovan immediately called another timeout. He then sent every starter except Westbrook back onto the floor.
Westbrook, meanwhile, was set to sit and rest for a while.
He would probably return with three or four minutes left, just before the deciding stretch began.
By coincidence, the Knicks also seized the timeout as a chance to make an adjustment.
When play resumed, New York's lineup had changed to Hart, Chen Xi, Grant, Ethan, and Toppin.
It was another experiment by Thibodeau. With Hartenstein in foul trouble, he didn't stick with Drummond, instead sending out an extremely small lineup.
But looking at the players' skill sets, this small lineup surprisingly had a balance of athleticism, shooting, and defense.
More importantly, apart from Hart, their board man, the other four were all forwards with decent size. They might not even be at a disadvantage on the boards.
Of course, whether they could really hold their own in rebounding against the combination of Brow and Miro still needed to be tested in an actual game...
The Thunder Team's backcourt.
Play resumed.
C.C. stood out