The game on the court continued.
And the first quarter was gradually drawing to a close.
Before long, the first quarter officially ended.
The score stood at 39–41.
Thanks to Haliburton sinking an incredible Logo Shot three-pointer in the final five seconds of the first quarter, Phoenix had secured a two-point lead.
Then, after a brief break,
the game moved smoothly into the second quarter.
At the start of the second quarter, both teams unsurprisingly put out their transition period lineups.
The Knicks went with Paul, Strus, George, Ethan, and Adams.
The Suns, meanwhile, had Booker leading Okogie, Jae Crowder, Maka, and Eubanks.
On paper alone, the New York side perhaps had the stronger lineup.
But as the Knicks entered the second quarter, what deserved more attention was perhaps how they played without Chen Xi, and what looked different from before in their transition period with Paul and George leading the team together.
Back to the game.
The Knicks had possession for the first attack of the second quarter.
Strus inbounded the ball to Paul in the backcourt.
Paul caught it, turned, and quickly crossed half court.
At the top of the key, he waved Adams up for an On-ball Screen, then accelerated into mid-range territory.
He read Eubanks's defense, then faked a pass toward the middle. Once he baited Eubanks into shifting his feet, he immediately gathered, jumped, and shot.
With little interference, the mid-range jumper dropped cleanly.
CP3's mid-range shooting was one of the signature weapons that had kept him thriving in the league.
Across his playoff career, it was a terrifying skill worthy of comparison with Durant's.
At his peak, he maintained steady volume while consistently shooting between 47% and 54%. At just 183 centimeters tall, he produced mid-range numbers comparable to KD's, which said plenty