But the Knicks immediately called a timeout.
Right after that, Chen Xi returned to the court.
Using his off-ball offense and Paul's playmaking to open things up, he helped the Knicks score five straight points, putting together a small run and stabilizing the situation once again.
After that, the Nets' shooting efficiency regressed to the mean once more, and their hopes of a comeback gradually wore away under New York's dull-knife-cuts-flesh suppression in efficiency on both ends of the floor.
In the end, the final buzzer sounded, and the game was over.
The New York Knicks won another victory, 136-127.
Kevin Durant put up an empty 39 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers.
Chen Xi, meanwhile, once again posted a dazzling stat line of 46 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and 2 turnovers, continuing his legendary run.
It had to be said that, throughout the game, it looked as though the two sides traded blows and competed fiercely.
But in reality, the Knicks seemed to have held the initiative the whole time, even giving people the sense that they had not exerted much effort.
Perhaps it was because, although Brooklyn really was stronger this season than it had been last season—
This season's Knicks had already become a team on another level.
Both were improving, but one was 1+1+1, while the other was 1x2x2...
Judging purely by the actual feel of this game, the threat the Nets Team posed might not even have been greater than what the Philadelphia 76ers had brought.
After all, Butler's full-court pressure defense had been genuinely hard-working.
And the Nets?
They had a player like Shorter guard Chen Xi at the point of attack for an entire game, only letting Prince take over for four or five minutes in