The Knicks had possession on the next trip down the floor.
Chen Xi leisurely dribbled across half court and stood at the top of the key, running down the clock.
He had no intention of rushing a shot. Instead, he chose to drain the shot clock as far as possible before initiating his own attack.
Facing the basket, he drove quickly into the paint against Thomas, passed on the move to Toppin in the corner, then circled beneath the basket and came back out to the wing. He took Toppin's return pass, rose, and fired a three.
The ball spun toward the net and dropped cleanly through!
37–31!
The Knicks extended their lead even further.
Then came the final twenty-two seconds of the first quarter.
It was the Nets' possession.
Harden dribbled across half court and stayed near the logo, continuing to run down the clock.
Only when the countdown reached ten seconds did he move forward to the top of the key and initiate the offense.
Once again, he looked for a pick-and-roll first.
He curled around Aldama's screen, drove into the paint on the left, then fired a long crosscourt pass on the move to Thomas in the right corner.
Thomas caught it and immediately launched a three.
Clang!!
The ball bounced off the rim. No good.
Strus's contest had worked!
At that point, only 2.7 seconds remained in the first quarter.
After grabbing the rebound, Adams instinctively put the ball into Chen Xi's hands.
Chen Xi immediately took a dribble and turned, then gathered the ball and began his steps.
Still inside his own three-point line, he took a slow sequence of steps, using the change of rhythm to bait Harden into jumping for a block. Then, in midair, he sent the ball flying with a push