Luckily, the Corner Specialist badge lit up at just the right moment. Chen Xi breathed a sigh of relief, turned, and headed back downcourt.
"Fuck, next time I'll just jump and pass it out. This peak Green's lateral movement is no joke."
Chen was still muttering to himself, shaken, while the arena had gone strangely quiet.
The fans didn't care about strategy. All they'd seen was Chen Xi, a second-round pick this year, blowing past Curry, shooting right over Green, and then celebrating early on the Warriors' home court—turning back to defend before the ball even went through the net. That was supposed to be Curry's signature move!
"It's hard to believe. Even though I've said it so many times, I have to say it again: Chen just doesn't look like a rookie. He looks like a star!!!" Kenny Smith let out a piercing cry.
"The game is going in a completely different direction than I expected. I thought this would be a showcase for Westbrook, Durant, and Stephen Curry, but now the spotlight is on someone we'd overlooked!"
"It's worth pointing out that Chen is clearly more than just an excellent shooter. You'd expect him to play more off the ball, but so far, he's repeatedly initiated the offense with the ball in his hands, showing us a lot more possibilities. This young man may have a much brighter future than we imagined!"
Kerr finally called a timeout. He'd already figured out the Thunder's strategy: they had to hide Curry on defense. At the same time, they needed to break the Thunder's rhythm and cool off that number three.
"Good job, Chris." Donovan patted Chen Xi on the shoulder as he came off the court.
"Keep it up. Even if your efficiency drops, keep wearing Stephen down. If he can't get going, it'll affect the whole Warriors system. Then we'll figure out how to deal with KD. I don't believe he can beat us all by himself."
"Let's go, OKC!!!" The Thunder players huddled together and shouted in unison, their spirits high.
The game resumed, and the Warriors' offense had no trouble. Even a perimeter defense as good as the Thunder's would struggle to stop them in the half court, especially with a freakishly tall player like that at the three.
Durant easily sank a jumper, putting two points on the board.
On the Thunder's possession, Chen Xi went up early to set a screen, drawing Curry over to face Westbrook.
"Tch, it's not like I don't have teammates! You've got Green, and I've got Turtle Turtle!"
After coming off the screen, Westbrook faced Curry, accelerated, muscled past him, and charged straight to the basket.
Green quickly collapsed on defense, but Westbrook moved the ball on almost the same beat, sending it to Adams. When Zaza went to help on Little Sabonis, the basket was wide open in front of Aquaman.
Adams laid it in easily, and the Thunder maintained their lead.
The game continued back and forth. With eight minutes left in the first quarter, Donovan took Chen Xi and Westbrook out, letting Butler—who hadn't been much involved in the offense during the first half of the quarter—lead the bench.
The Warriors, meanwhile, brought in Iguodala and Livingston for Curry and Dream, with KD continuing to lead the team through the transition period.
But the Thunder couldn't keep up their scoring during that stretch. McDermott hit one three-pointer, but none of the other reserves scored. With Butler left to do all the work, they couldn't match the firepower of KD, Iguodala, and Livingston. After Butler came off, the Thunder nearly fell apart.
"The bench depth just isn't there," Barkley pointed out.
"That's one of the reasons I'm backing the Warriors. Not many teams have enough talent to put a player as good as Iguodala on the bench. Only the Warriors and the Spurs."
By the time Chen Xi and Westbrook returned, their original seven-point lead had turned into an eight-point deficit. Chen immediately understood the helplessness Harden must have felt during those two years of trying to beat the Warriors.
But that was life. If you couldn't fight it, you could only enjoy it.
Look on the bright side: there were eight more points to chase!!! Hahahahahahahaha, fuck!!!
After Westbrook and Chen Xi returned, the Thunder's offense clearly picked up. Butler was still resting, but fortunately Roberson could just about fill in for him on defense.
After working their tails off for a quarter and a half, they'd cut the deficit to three. One of the two guards would take a breather, and the lead would immediately balloon again. Donovan had no choice but to play Chen Xi and Westbrook for as many minutes as possible.
That continued until the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. Chen Xi had barely rested at all, and Westbrook had only left the game for a single possession.
"It's hard to believe this is just a regular-season game! So far, the Thunder's three perimeter players have logged a combined 111 minutes—that's 37 minutes apiece—and there are still five minutes left! Unless something unexpected happens, they probably won't come out again! That means all three of the Thunder's perimeter players will end up playing more than 40 minutes tonight."
"Since Chen was moved into the starting lineup, the Thunder's offense has definitely improved. The downside is that their bench has gotten thinner, and that could become a key limitation for them going forward. We can't expect them to play more than 40 minutes every night."
"By comparison, the Warriors' players have had very healthy minutes. The Thunder started the game by trying to wear Curry down, but now it looks like they may be the ones with the bigger stamina problem."
Huff... huff...
Chen Xi braced his hands on his knees and panted heavily as he watched Westbrook step up to the free-throw line yet again.
"Fuck, are Turtle Turtle and JB reincarnated indentured laborers or something? They're absolute machines. I'm running out of gas here!!!"
After watching Westbrook make his second free throw, lift his shirt, and wipe away his sweat, Chen Xi struggled to straighten up and ran back downcourt.
The Warriors' offense hadn't dipped at all, holding steady throughout. In fact, an outburst early in the third quarter had briefly stretched their lead to 14 points. Fortunately, Butler and Westbrook had repeatedly muscled their way to the rim and clawed it back.
In a moment's lapse, Klay had used his movement to get open again, then cut to the basket. Chen Xi couldn't keep up this time. His legs felt as if they were filled with lead; he could barely lift them, and all he could do was watch Klay lay it in with ease.
Beep—
Donovan called a timeout.
With five minutes left, Chen Xi was taken out to recover. Grant went in for him.
But even those few minutes of rest were enough for the Warriors to catch fire again. Durant hit three after three, pushing the lead back to nine.
Without a key source of perimeter scoring, the Thunder were ruthlessly crowded in the paint, and their efficiency plummeted. Grant and Roberson had both been shooting terribly tonight and couldn't provide any support.
"Chris, how are you feeling?" Donovan glanced at Chen Xi on the bench, looking helpless. If he could help it, he didn't want to run his starters into the ground—especially Chen Xi, whose stamina was clearly nowhere near Westbrook's or JB's.
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