After Brother Zhu left the court, Chen Xi immediately sprang to life. First, he sank two consecutive three-pointer pull-up jumpers against the Pelicans' 183-centimeter backup guard, then blew past the switching E'Twaun Moore and assisted Grant on consecutive mid-range shots, instantly revitalizing the team's offense.
This forced Alvin Gentry to call a timeout and put Holiday back in, intending to tie their minutes together and restrict Chen Xi.
But by then, the Pelicans were already down by seven.
The Thunder temporarily led 35–28 at the end of the first quarter.
Butler took over Chen Xi's burden at the start of the second quarter. Paired with McDermott, he produced a smooth perimeter attack, leaving Gentry troubled.
Should he put Brother Zhu back in to handle the perimeter defense?
Fortunately, that dilemma ended immediately, because even putting Brother Zhu in wouldn't limit Butler.
JB wasn't Chen Xi. Butler was strong and physical, unafraid of contact, and skilled at using his body to find his rhythm before shooting. That was a matchup Holiday wasn't particularly good at handling.
Although Butler wasn't yet the 2022–2023 Heat version of JB, and his skills weren't quite as polished, he could still easily suppress Brother Zhu.
After all, if this had been 2023 JB, Brother Zhu would practically have been eaten alive and demolished one-on-one during the Heat's Playoffs series against the Bucks that year.
Fortunately, the Pelicans still had Davis.
Brow's enormous help-defense range could barely help restrict Butler's attacking area, forcing him to take more uncomfortable shots from the perimeter.
But Donovan soon found a way to break through the deadlock.
After returning to the court, Chen Xi began running frequent Pick-and-Rolls with Butler. This forced Holiday to deal with Butler while freeing up Chen Xi's offense. Whenever Holiday chose to chase over the screen,