The Thunder's starters returned to the court and quickly launched their comeback.
Chen Xi first called Capela's name in a pick-and-roll, repeatedly bullying the mismatch with his size.
Then Little Sabonis knocked down another three from beyond the arc.
The Rockets wanted to build momentum again, but they were already running out of strength.
Harden was tired. He had played for too long.
The drop in stamina inevitably led to his shooting touch fading.
After LeBron missed two consecutive threes, he realized there was a problem. He then handed the ball to Paul and moved to the wing to draw defensive attention.
After taking over the ball, Paul also began actively running the Pick-and-Roll, trying to fight fire with fire.
He also tried to exploit Little Sabonis with a size mismatch.
But when he called for the Pick-and-Roll, the defender who switched onto him was Aaron Gordon.
It wasn't that he couldn't attack him, but the efficiency was lower.
At a crucial moment like this, when they were trying to cut into the deficit, even a slight drop in efficiency could lead to a loss.
And that was exactly what happened.
Although the Rockets didn't fall into a scoring drought, their efficiency was still slightly lower than the Thunder's.
That slight difference was the dividing line between victory and defeat.
As time passed, the game entered its final minute, yet there was still a full ten-point gap on the scoreboard.
D'Antoni sighed helplessly, called a timeout, and took out the starters.
Paul was somewhat unwilling, but he also knew that their hopes of winning were slim. He could only swallow his frustration and return to the bench.
Seeing that the Rockets had given up, Donovan also took out his starters and waited for the game to end.
A minute later,