Another Battle with the Swift Ship

November 11, the Thunder continued to hold down the home court, and this time, the challenger was the Los Angeles Clippers, with whom they had just recently racked up fresh bad blood.

The war of words between Chen Xi and Redick, the clash between Westbrook and Griffin—after the game, both on and off the court, it had all been hyped to a fever pitch, leaving both teams secretly gritting their teeth, vowing to take this victory and make the other side look bad.

Add in Chen Xi's comments from yesterday, which the reporters had rushed to publish, and Thunder fans and Clippers fans were suddenly locked in a bitter online feud. Throw in a bunch of fans from other rookies, and the Rookie of the Year debate was raging across the internet, indirectly boosting the Thunder's popularity by a huge margin.

Before the game, Chen Xi was interviewed again by reporters.

"Chris, Embiid made another statement yesterday, saying that in his eyes, you're just a clown, and his only rivals are Jaylen Brown and Ingram. Do you have any issue with that?"

"I've lost interest in listening to his trash talk online. As far as I know, Philly's record right now is 1 win and 7 losses. I think he should focus that energy on helping his team, so he doesn't end up being called a stat-padding cancer later on."

"Are you saying Embiid is just a stat-padding team cancer?"

"Of course not, hey! I'm being friendly accepting your interview here, don't take things out of context! I'm just saying, maybe~~"

A clown? What a load of crap. When you actually run into a real clown, don't chicken out, and for the love of god, don't take a rest day when you go to Denver, alright?

"Chris, Jaylen Brown posted on social media yesterday, saying he really respects your skills, but also telling you to watch out—he'll catch up soon."

Since entering the league, Jaylen Brown had been underperforming, averaging only 6.6 points per game, and people were starting to call him a bust as the third overall pick.

"Of course, Jaylen and I were college teammates. In the College League, we were tight and had great chemistry. I know how good he is. His recent struggles are just temporary; he'll break out of it soon. And when he does, people will see that the two strongest players in this draft class are us!"

"Chen! Facing the Clippers this game, are you confident in winning? After your feud with Redick last time, do you want to get some payback in this game?"

"I have a lot of respect for the Clippers and their players. The Clippers are strong, Paul is strong, Griffin is strong too. But I believe the Thunder are stronger. I have full confidence in my teammates and coach. As for Redick? Sorry, after he said what he did, he'll never earn my respect."

The game against the Clippers was tense from the very start. Just two minutes in, Oladipo and Redick got into it over some physical contact. Then, five minutes later, Chen Xi and Grant checked in, and on just their second possession, Grant was already jawing with Little Jordan.

BEEP!!!

Even though everyone knew this game might get messy, no one expected the gunpowder to be this thick from the opening tip.

The refs shoved the two apart, quickly stepping in to stop the conflict, especially after they saw Chen Xi take two steps toward the center of the action...

Seeing the refs' on-edge expressions, Chen Xi looked up at the big screen with an innocent face. Heaven knows, buddy here really isn't that violent of a guy. He just wanted to go pull them apart, but halfway there, his own teammates held him back. What kind of mess was that?

"Even though you can tell the refs are deliberately tightening the whistle, the emotions on both sides still aren't under good control."

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"Regardless, I hope these players can refocus on the game and not let outside factors affect their emotions too much."

The game restarted, Thunder ball. Same old tactic: Westbrook at the top of the arc, handing off to Little Sabonis, then running a pick-and-roll with Chen Xi. Paul immediately switched onto Chen Xi. Seeing no good opportunity, Little Sabonis didn't force a pass to Westbrook, who was covered by Batumot. Instead, he handed the ball back to Chen Xi at the arc to reset.

Facing Paul in front of him, Chen Xi didn't hesitate and flicked the ball to Odie on the wing.

Odie caught it and drove straight to the basket. Redick chased, but Odie hit a crossover stutter step, used his off-hand to nudge Redick off balance, then pulled up for a mid-range shot, easily sinking two points.

On the other end, Paul ran his signature pick-and-roll, using the big man switch to go small-on-big. With two simple crossovers, he had Little Sabonis completely lost. Grant came over to help, but that left Griffin free to wreck the rim.

Even now, CP3 still deserved to be called the League First point guard.

The Thunder didn't have time to dwell on that defensive lapse. Chen Xi quickly inbounded from the baseline, Westbrook pushed the fast break, Odie caught the ball on the wing and attacked the rim again. He blew past Batumot in front of him, but Little Jordan came over to help in the paint, so Odie dished it to Westbrook at the arc. Westbrook, without stopping, passed it to Chen Xi at the 45-degree angle.

Chen Xi faked a shot, sending the closing Redick flying past him, then drove straight to the basket. With the speed from First Step Master, Chen Xi was at the Clippers' paint in the blink of an eye. He gathered the ball, took three steps, and in mid-air, twisted into a reverse layup, avoiding Griffin's block to toss the ball up. It hit the backboard, bounced off the rim a couple times, and dropped through the net.

"Oh oh oh!!!"

"My god! What did I just see? Was that Chris's move?!!!" The commentator stared in disbelief at the big screen, which was replaying the clip.

"My god!! An airborne gliding reverse layup!!! Even though the height wasn't that high, this clearly exceeded our expectations for Chen! He's given us another surprise."

Paul shot a surprised glance at Chen Xi.

He can do that? Why hasn't he ever used it before?

Chen Xi clenched his fist. With Dodge Finisher and a silver First Step Master, he could barely make up for his lack of basic stats. At least now he had some real threat when driving to the basket.

The game continued. Paul once again went small-on-big after a pick-and-roll. Seeing Westbrook trying to chase and Little Sabonis dropping back, he didn't hesitate to take a long two-pointer, but the ball clanked off the rim.

Little Sabonis grabbed the rebound and immediately flicked it to Westbrook. Westbrook looked up, spotted a teammate sprinting down the court, and threw a long pass to Grant, who was about to reach the basket.

Grant caught it and went up for a dunk, but Little Jordan chased him down and swatted the ball.

BAM!!

The ball bounced off the backboard and out. Chen Xi snatched it up quickly and went right back up, taking advantage of Little Jordan just landing, to tip it in.

BEEP!!

Rivers called a timeout, trying to break the Thunder's rhythm. They couldn't let the fast break keep carrying them.