Once Paul George found his offensive rhythm and became a serious scoring threat again, the pressure on Chen Xi naturally eased.
Under those circumstances, the Knicks could return to the pace of play they knew best.
The Boston Celtics might soon find themselves facing the same situation as in the teams' first meeting of the season.
Time ticked away, and with New York in control, the third quarter gradually drew to a close.
After three quarters, the score stood at 95–91.
The Knicks had wiped out ten points of a fourteen-point deficit in a single quarter.
Under the onslaught of New York's surging comeback, the Celtics had looked on the verge of collapse.
Fortunately for them, they had managed to scrape into the fourth quarter with a slender four-point lead.
It was hardly what they wanted, but there was little they could do about it.
Once George and Chen Xi both began imposing their influence on the game, the Knicks' offense became all but unstoppable.
Granted, New York still had not managed to contain the Celtics' offense particularly well.
But in a contest of offensive efficiency, even the Celtics could hardly be sure they would hold up.
After all, Chen's terrifying shooting percentage, consistently above fifty percent and sometimes approaching sixty, was no joke...
Before long, the game entered the fourth quarter.
With their comeback momentum riding high, the New York Knicks launched another push early in the quarter.
Then... they ran straight into a downpour.
A rain of threes unleashed by Tatum, Pritchard, and Aaron Nesmith.
In the first two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, each of those three players knocked down a three-pointer.
In just a handful of possessions, the Celtics went three-for-four from beyond the arc, riding that shooting to an 11–4 run