Returning to the game, it was the New York Knicks' turn to attack again.
Chen Xi took the inbound pass in the backcourt, slowly dribbled across half court, and moved to the top of the key to initiate the offense.
He waved Hartenstein up, used the pick-and-roll to fake a drive, then passed back to Hartenstein. Switching to off-ball movement, he went to the left wing and waited for his teammates to see his hand signal and take their positions.
Once everyone was in place, the movement began.
Chen Xi first took two steps toward the paint, pretending to cut inside, before immediately twisting back out. He then turned toward the baseline and screened for Strus as he came up to receive the ball.
After catching Hartenstein's pass, Strus waited a moment for Chen Xi's second screen, faked a drive, and passed the ball back.
As their passing and movement drew the defense's attention on this side, Toppin came up from the weak-side corner to screen for George, then turned and curled into the paint.
At the same time, Chen Xi received the ball again and drove straight into the heart of the Nets' defense. After a crossover that feinted left, he delivered a beautiful no-look pass right into Toppin's hands in the ghost position.
Toppin caught the ball and immediately jumped for a layup, scoring two effortless points.
The entire play had just one purpose: to draw the defense through Chen Xi's repeated passes and catches, keeping every Net focused on the threat on that side and making Claxton unconsciously shade toward the strong side, thus creating an opening for the cutter.
Whether the player cutting inside was Toppin or George hardly mattered. That was just a minor detail.
With an uncontested layup created by a timing advantage, neither