The Eagle

Donovan chose to put Westbrook and Chen Xi back on the court together. Both could relatively contain Booker's offense and freely switch on the perimeter, especially today when the rest of the Suns were collectively off. Stifling Booker meant cutting off the Suns' main scoring option.

By simply aligning Westbrook's and Booker's rotation minutes, the Thunder, with one more efficient scorer in a defensive grind, held a massive advantage.

Once Westbrook returned, he immediately made a huge impact on both ends. Teaming up with Chen Xi and Adams in pick-and-rolls, they broke through the Suns in four and a half minutes, unleashing a 16-2 attack wave that killed the game's suspense.

The Suns ultimately fell 98-116 to the Thunder again. Booker walked into the player tunnel with a dark face after the game.

The young shooting guard felt resentment toward his team's management brewing inside him.

"Damn it, without Russell, what does that Yellow-skinned kid have to act cocky about? Just a role player riding on his teammates drawing defense!"

Self-soothing eased some of his inner discontent, but it also left him feeling deeply powerless.

The Suns were 7-18 this season, dead last in the league, a record that weighed heavily on him.

Though the team's plan was to tank during a rebuild, for a proud second-year rookie, it tarnished his career.

Booker, who entered the league in 2015, had only won 30 games in total so far.

A long stretch of losing was undoubtedly damaging for a rising young star still developing.

Of course, Chen Xi couldn't care less about what Booker was thinking. Having just scored 23 points and won, Chen only cared about what late-night snack he should grab. Maybe head to the docks for some fries?

The Thunder players were in good spirits after ending their losing streak. After a quick celebration in the locker room, they paired up in twos and threes to go out and have some fun.

Chen, having found a new flame and forgotten the old, flatly rejected Turtle Turtle's invitation and went off to find Veronica instead.

Turtle Turtle, don't call me anymore—I'm afraid my girl will misunderstand.

On December 19, the Thunder hosted a visiting team from Atlanta at home.

The Hawks, led by Mike Budenholzer, upheld the "tradition" of the Hawks.

Their roster was always filled with many good, capable players, but no established star. The only one who could still be called a star was Dwight Howard, signed this July, long past his prime. But he wasn't on the active list for this game; the team's official announcement cited shoulder discomfort.

The Hawks played a team-oriented, patient style, consistently maintaining decent records, but never good enough to go far in the playoffs.

The team's core, Paul Millsap, was in his 11th season. Starting from his fifth season, this skilled forward had steadily averaged 15+ points, 3+ assists, and 7+ rebounds per game. His strength was that he'd barely declined; his weakness was that he'd never improved much either. He'd pretty much hit his ceiling.

The starting point guard was the 17th pick of the 2013 draft, Little Black, Dennis Schroder—a relatively well-rounded combo guard with decent all-around skills, a starter-level rotation player despite his small frame.

The Hawks' players all seemed like that—very adequate, but merely adequate. Maybe that was one reason the team never really caught fire.

When the game started, as expected yet surprising, the Hawks struck first. They repeatedly ran pick-and-rolls at the top of the arc, drawing the defense to disrupt the Thunder's formation, then passed to Kyle Korver, who cut off off-ball screens for the finish.

Simple and effective tactics.

At the same time, their disciplined transition defense limited the Thunder's fast breaks, leaving the Thunder momentarily at a loss.

In the end, they had to rely on Westbrook's individual play to keep things afloat.

Luckily, Westbrook's mid-range touch was on today, keeping the score within an acceptable range.

"Maybe Sam was right." Donovan's thinking wasn't limited to this one game; he was pondering the team's future. Oladipo, similar to Westbrook in type but several levels below, might not fit this current Thunder team. At least for now. He believed the hardworking Odie had a bright future, but Westbrook might not have the patience to wait.

Wasting the prime of a player of Westbrook's caliber would be a crying shame.

At the 8-minute mark of the first quarter, Chen Xi checked in. Standing before him was a veteran swingman of the same type—Korver, who entered the NBA in 2003 and made his name with sharp shooting.

The difference was that Korver, a white player, lacked athleticism and wasn't great on defense. But Chen, thanks to his cheat, had quickly developed above-average defensive skills.

Chen Xi's defensive efficiency this season was 105.6, firmly among the league's elite (that year: Westbrook 104, Kawhi 102, Green 99). Paired with his excellent off-ball ability and ridiculous three-point percentage, he'd reached the level of a top-tier 3-and-D player.

What's more, Chen was only 19 and a half, with a contract worth just $550,000 a year—an absolute positive asset. The only downside was that his contract was only two years, with a team option for the second, meaning the team would have to start extension talks by the second year at the latest. This prevented the team from exploiting Chen's high cost-effectiveness for too long to bolster the roster, but offering too small a contract risked losing this gem they'd unearthed from a low pick.

Over the past two weeks, Presti had received a flood of inquiries. Many teams tried to negotiate trades for Chen Xi. But GM Presti, who already had a plan, made it clear that Chen was currently not for sale, while subtly probing how much other teams valued their own starting forwards.

Let's set the front-office maneuvering aside and get back to the game. Thunder ball.

Chen Xi kept running the off-ball screen plays that had worked so well with Westbrook, popping out to the three-point line for an easy shot.

The advantage of playing with a prime Westbrook was that, over a large sample size, this elite combo guard was always the bigger threat, drawing more defensive attention and greatly helping his teammates develop their offense.

Back to the Hawks' offense. Schroder and Sefolosha ran a high pick-and-roll. Schroder then drove hard against Roberson into the paint, but his path was cut off in the key, so he passed to Korver on the left 45-degree angle. Chen Xi stuck close, though, and with time still on the clock, Korver chose to swing the ball back to Bazemore to reset the offense.