The Series Game Plan

The Thunder Team's offense had been held to just 20 points in the quarter, even with Chen Xi on the floor. You could say the strategy had worked exceptionally well.

And it wasn't that Chen Xi hadn't been good enough.

Chen had taken 10 shots in the quarter and made 6, with no Three-Point Shot attempts. He'd gone 5-for-6 from the line, accounting for 17 of the team's 20 points!

For the Pelicans, meanwhile, Butler had 6 points, Holiday 3, Little Sabonis 6, Redick 9, and Horford 2. The starting five had shared the shots around, shared the scoring, and played like a real team.

That style of play was both efficient and effortless.

Before long, the Thunder Team had found themselves in serious trouble.

Worse still, once the game entered the Second Quarter, the Thunder's lineup began to lose its edge, making things even tougher.

After Chen Xi went to the bench to rest, the Pelicans went all-in on a 2-3 Zone defense, collapsing hard into the paint and exploiting the lack of space in the Thunder's rotation. Their defense became even more suffocating.

With Chen Xi off the floor, the Pelicans could even magnify the clash between Westbrook and Alexander's playing styles, making their defense all the more ferocious.

Just three and a half minutes into the Second Quarter, the Pelicans went on an 11–2 run against the Thunder.

Aside from Alexander drawing a shooting foul on the Pelicans' Bench Center, Hayes, with a layup after driving to the basket, the Thunder couldn't manage another point.

With no other choice, Donovan called a timeout and sent Chen Xi back onto the floor.

Oklahoma was in deep trouble once again. Chen had to come in and put out the fire.

Back on the court, Chen looked at the