The troubling thing was that even shooting this well didn't seem enough to hurt the Knicks...
The ball struck the back rim, bounced up against the backboard, then came back and hit the back rim again before dropping to one side—into Ethan's hands.
It missed!
Possession went straight back to the Knicks.
Ethan secured the rebound and immediately passed to Chen Xi before heading upcourt to take his position.
He had no desire to hold on to the ball.
For the New York Knicks, whenever Chen Xi was on the court, there was never any question of who controlled the ball.
Chen was the only one who ever chose to give it up. No one else tried to take it from him.
The reason was simple enough: the rest of the team knew their limits.
Chen Xi dribbled leisurely across half-court and initiated the offense from the top of the key.
He waved Horford up to set an on-ball screen, then dribbled toward the left wing. He briefly shook Brown's chase and attacked Porzingis, who had switched onto him.
Before Brown could catch up, Chen Xi snapped into a Hardaway Crossover, followed it with a crossover step, and accelerated down the left side into the paint.
He drew Porzingis along with him and used the big man's body to cut off Brown behind them, forcing Brown to abandon the chase.
Chen Xi drove all the way to the low post, pounded the ball, stopped, and spun. Then he gave a shot fake, found his angle, and fired a hard bounce pass.
He sent the ball straight between Porzingis's legs. It hit the floor and sprang precisely into Horford's hands.
Horford caught it and went straight up for an easy layup.
Against Chen Xi, Porzingis's size and exceptional physical gifts had