Chen Xi thoroughly enjoyed watching one of his attributes quietly tick upward every few days while his numbers were still low. That rush was addictive.
Visible improvement was the most appealing part. No one could resist the excitement and satisfaction of watching their stats gradually climb.
The Timberwolves hadn't given the Thunder much trouble, but the Miami Heat, their next opponent, clearly wouldn't let them take a win so easily.
After Dwyane Wade, once the heart and soul of Miami, had rejected the team's offer and ultimately left for Chicago, Chris Bosh, whom the team had planned to build around, was diagnosed at the start of the year with blood clots—a career-ending illness—and was forced to retire abruptly.
As a result, the highest-paid player on the Miami Heat roster was none other than Hassan "Whiteside" Whiteside, with a salary of $20 million. And this was 2016.
The team had plenty of problems, but everyone knew Miami never tanked.
Under the guidance of Championship coach Pat Riley, the Heat had been instilled with a hard-nosed, tough-minded team ethos. Even in years when their roster was less than stellar, they still managed to hover around the edge of the Playoffs. And that was true even now, after the Heat had lost three superstars: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.
At eight o'clock that evening, at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The players took the court, and the game began.
The Heat's starting lineup, led by Dragic, immediately turned the game into a defensive battle. Their steadily increasing defensive pressure made it hard for the Thunder to adjust.
The Heat loved to play an aggressive Zone defense against teams that struggled from three. They only needed to keep opponents out of the paint, then collapse and double-team the main threat, effectively shutting down the other team's offense.
Donovan had clearly recognized the team's problem. With the score at 6–9 three minutes into the game, he made the decisive call to take Adams and Roberson out and send Chen Xi and Grant in.
"It's here—Coach Donovan's latest innovation, the Five-Out Lineup." Kenny Smith was still on commentary today.
"This lineup worked pretty well against the Warriors. Now the Thunder are using it again against the Heat's Zone defense. Will it work against Miami, too? Let's wait and see."
Heat possession
Although the Heat were excellent defensively, their lack of offensive talent was plain to see. Dragic, Winslow, and West all lacked the ability to create offense at a high enough level. They could only follow the set plays and try to find room for a shot through movement.
But this was where the Thunder's three-guard lineup with one big man paid off. The smaller lineup brought greater mobility on Chase Defense and made it easy to keep the Heat's slower perimeter players outside the free-throw line, forcing them into tougher long twos and three-pointers.
After three straight Pick-and-Rolls came to nothing, Dragic decided to lob the ball inside, hoping Hassan could finish. But Whiteside clearly couldn't overpower Little Sabonis one-on-one with ease.
After several attempts to fake Little Sabonis into the air, Whiteside had no choice but to force up a shot. As expected, he clanged it off the rim.
The teams switched ends. Westbrook pushed the ball up quickly, then passed to Chen Xi on the wing at a forty-five-degree angle.
Seeing that West was still two steps away, Chen Xi jumped and shot without hesitation, pulling up for three.
The ball traced a graceful arc and dropped through the hoop without even brushing the net.
At the other end, the Heat's next possession ended with Winslow missing at the rim. Little Sabonis grabbed the rebound and passed to Odie, who brought it up. A simple Pick-and-Roll at the Top of the Key, followed by a pop-out, gave Chen Xi another bit of space.
Chen Xi knocked down another easy three, then raised his right hand and flashed the three-point gesture as he retreated on defense. The crowd answered with a deafening roar.
"I think the Heat need a timeout. Spo has to make a change. They're giving Chris far too many uncontested looks. If they don't adjust, the Philadelphia 76ers' fate will become a cautionary tale for them."
But surprisingly, the Filipino coach didn't call a timeout right away. He watched the game continue. Perhaps he wanted to see the players adjust on their own. Maybe that was one way he helped them improve.
Sure enough, by the third possession, the change in the Heat's Defensive strategy was obvious. They were still playing a sort of Zone defense, but this time they pushed farther out and applied much more pressure up top. With West hounding him, Chen Xi could barely get the ball.
But the strength of the Thunder's Five-Out Lineup didn't lie in Chen Xi or Little Sabonis hitting mid- and long-range shots. By opening up the floor, it unleashed Westbrook's offense.
Pushing the defense outward inevitably opened up the paint, and Westbrook's explosive ability to drive and attack the Basket would make the Heat pay.
He easily blew past Dragic, then pulled up for a jumper before Whiteside could step up to help on defense and scored.
This season, Westbrook's sharply increased share of the team's possessions meant he had to shoulder a huge portion of the offense. His steady, efficient mid-range pull-up had greatly expanded his offensive arsenal.
When his devastating drives and precise mid-range shots came together, Westbrook on offense was almost the equal of a prime Wade.
Watching Westbrook unleash himself on the court, Spo couldn't help feeling nostalgic for the player who had once worn the Heat's number three jersey—the third-best shooting guard in history.
After getting used to playing with a maxed-out roster, Spo looked at the players on his team now. It wasn't that they weren't trying. They were the Jordans of their own stories, to be sure. But in the NBA, talent was only the ticket that got you into the league. After seeing superhuman talents like Westbrook, LeBron James, Derrick Rose, and Kevin Durant, how many people had completely lost faith in hard work and given up, letting themselves sink into mediocrity?
Back in the game, Whiteside was in serious trouble. He couldn't guard that little number-zero player on the perimeter, and Westbrook had excellent court vision. If Whiteside stepped up to help, he would only free Sabonis.
That big white man with the soft touch had far too many ways to finish from three to eight feet away from the Basket.
Whiteside wasn't especially sharp defensively. After several trips back on defense, Little Sabonis easily faked him into the air. Already out of position, Whiteside had no chance of stopping him from scoring.
A series of plays targeting Whiteside left him unable to cover everything at once.
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