Still Trailing at Half-Time

On the court, the Lakers were still executing their offensive tactics step by step.

The pick-and-roll combination between James and Griffin remained dominant.

In the first half of the game, the two frequently attacked the Thunder's paint through their cooperation, achieving quite good results.

At the same time, Caruso, who came on as a role player, also impressively hit two three-point shots, helping the Lakers further expand the court spacing.

This put the Thunder in a very disadvantageous situation from the start.

Although Chen Xi's individual offense was still strong and sharp, he could consistently output firepower whether facing James or Caruso.

However, this was not the Thunder's usual playstyle.

What the Thunder needed was connection between the inside and outside, and multi-point cooperation.

The current problem was that Jeff Green and Alexander, when acting as a distraction, couldn't make three-pointers. This, in turn, led to the Lakers' increasingly fierce double-teaming of Westbrook in the paint.

Then Westbrook's turnovers began to increase unavoidably.

With these two factors combined, the Thunder's offensive logic was destroyed.

After all that, they could only pass the ball back to Chen Xi, relying on him to break through the defense...

This playstyle was clearly not efficient, nor could it last.

So, around the six-minute mark, Donovan finally couldn't stand it anymore. He called a timeout and replaced Green and Alexander with Batum and Anthony, hoping to open up space for Westbrook and Chen Xi.

After the lineup adjustment, it quickly produced results.

Batum quickly solved the team's spacing issues after coming on.

He immediately received a pass from Westbrook and hit a long two-pointer just on the line, and then three possessions later, he smoothly made a corner three-pointer.

In the first quarter, he shot 2-of-4 from three-point range, posing a sufficient spatial threat to