The halftime break was not particularly long.
Especially for the New York players, who had burned through a great deal of energy in the first half.
Those brief fifteen minutes were clearly enough for them to quickly recover physically.
This was a problem the Knicks were bound to face against the Thunder. There was no way around it.
Their opponents had a deep bench, while their own rotation was short...
Soon, with the break over, the second half officially began.
Both sides brought back their usual starting lineups and began their third-quarter battle.
One quarter meant twelve minutes of game time, plus all the assorted timeouts, free throws, substitutions, and even random outsiders storming onto the court to ask Chen for a photo, among other things.
Once that whole series of interruptions was over, the third quarter came to an end as well, having taken roughly half an hour in total.
For the fans, it had undoubtedly been an exciting half hour.
They had watched Westbrook nearly dunk on Drummond, Cunningham trade buckets with George, and Chen Xi chase down Alexander for a massive block...
And what excited them even more now was that this tense, thrilling, high-intensity showdown was finally heading into its last quarter—the final twelve minutes of an all-out battle.
The score stood at 103–98.
Then the baseline official blew his whistle.
The fourth quarter of this game between the Thunder Team and the Knicks finally got underway.
Oklahoma inbounded in the backcourt, then slowly advanced toward the frontcourt, preparing for the first possession of the fourth quarter.
The Thunder Team's lineup on the floor consisted of Cunningham, Bane, Alexander, Barrett, and Davis.
The Knicks, meanwhile, had Hart, Strus, Chen Xi, George, and Adams.
During the third quarter, Ethan had still failed to keep himself out of