Biting Into the Lead

The break between quarters.

Chen Xi sat on the bench, breathing hard.

His teammates sat beside him, all silent. For a moment, the atmosphere on the bench felt rather gloomy.

It was undoubtedly a tense stretch.

As for Chen himself, he had just come off the court and was too exhausted to pay attention to anything else. The most important thing for him now was to recover as quickly as possible and stay sharp.

As for the other Thunder players, they didn't have much confidence facing Chen Xi, either.

After all, they'd all been playing so badly...

Fortunately, Chen was fairly perceptive about things like that.

So when the Second Quarter was about to begin and the rotation players were getting ready to go in, he pushed himself up with his hands on his knees, then stepped over to gather with his five teammates.

"It's no big deal, guys. We're still only down by seven. That's just three possessions. If we push hard, we can easily make it up. I believe in you, and you believe in me! Let's go!"

"Let's go! OKC!!"

After giving their morale a small boost with a few simple words, Chen Xi watched them make their way onto the court.

Maybe Chen Xi's encouragement had helped a little. Or perhaps it was simply a matter of the players finding their rhythm.

Once the Thunder's rotation players took the floor, they managed to get some decent results for a change.

Alexander, coming off the bench, complemented Westbrook well that night.

His mid-range shot was looking pretty good early in the Second Quarter.

After checking in, he hit two of three consecutive mid-range jumpers and also drew a Defensive foul on Holiday.

He had at least helped the team weather that difficult stretch.

That meant the Thunder