Both men were elite mid-range masters.
And neither had any intention of going easy.
So Chen Xi had truly beaten KD head-on, shooting him down with one two-pointer after another, one difficult mid-range shot after another.
When the second quarter ended, the score stood at 73–77.
The New York Knicks had successfully cut the deficit to four points.
Then, after a brief halftime break, the second half got underway.
As one star left the stage, another stepped into the spotlight.
After Harden, Chen Xi, Durant, and the others had all displayed their individual prowess, the next player to step up was naturally Paul George.
Early in the third quarter, George caught fire for a stretch.
In just four minutes, PG unleashed an offensive barrage every bit as terrifying as Chen Xi's or KD's.
Two straight contested threes, a thunderous dunk off a drive, and a successfully drawn foul.
Those scoring plays added up to ten straight points for PG in a little over four minutes, helping the Knicks take the lead in one swoop.
Then Chen Xi stepped up again, carrying the load while George went through a brief "cooldown" and sustaining the Knicks' firepower with more unstoppable individual offense.
Everything seemed to have returned to the rhythm New York knew best.
The gap widened little by little, and the Nets found themselves trailing again.
But unlike their previous meeting, the Nets seemed better prepared this time.
With two minutes left in the third quarter, Kevin Durant suddenly erupted.
He made use of his excellent off-ball movement and formidable individual ability.
KD worked in perfect sync with Harden, whose playmaking created two relatively easy looks for him, and he knocked down both threes.
That one burst, combined with Siakam's successful putback on the final possession, brought the Nets right back