Staying in Control

On the court, Caruso looked visibly frustrated.

After working so hard to win possession, he'd given the ball right back with a bad pass. And because James had sprinted downcourt, the Thunder had gotten a chance to attack five-on-four in the frontcourt.

Under those circumstances, the Lakers had naturally had no time to adjust their defense and double-team Chen Xi.

Then Caruso had been forced to guard him one-on-one again—and Chen Xi had blown past him with a single crossover...

That whole sequence had been well below Caruso's standards, and it had been a real blow to morale.

But the game was still going, so Caruso had only covered his head, showing his frustration through his body language before turning and running upcourt again, ready for the next possession.

As for Old Zhang, he hadn't gone back to the defensive end after seeing Chen Xi steal the ball.

James had already seen how things would play out, and had chosen the least strenuous approach...

The Lakers went back on offense.

Schroder brought the ball up and passed it to James.

After catching the ball, James faced the basket and called for a pick-and-roll. He used Griffin's screen, forced Green to switch onto him, then lobbed the ball inside.

Griffin rolled to the basket, turned, and caught the ball with a mismatch against Chen Xi.

He backed Chen Xi down once, then spun quickly again. Using his size advantage, he got past Chen Xi in a single step and reached the basket, where he challenged Little Jordan's rim protection.

He rose hard and made a quick adjustment in the air before releasing the ball.

The ball evaded Uncle's block, but unfortunately, it didn't go in.

It bounced twice, then spun out.

Chen Xi grabbed the rebound, turned, and pushed the ball