A Showdown Between the Stars (Part Two)

"That certainly wasn't something I came up with myself. I've seen other teams try it. The most common example is the Heat's strategy: box-and-one. They put their strongest defender on Chris, then force the other Thunder players to take more jump shots from the perimeter. Everyone knows Oklahoma's spacing has never been great. If you catch them on a night when their shots aren't falling, you've got a good chance of winning."

"But that could also get you shot right out of the game by the Thunder... or worse, bring out the ultimate Chris, the one who can drop 80 in a single game~~"

"Ahem, that's a low-probability event!"

"Any other ideas?"

"Sure, brother, plenty. There are several more ways to do it. For instance, you could play a 2-3 zone like Denver and trap him in the middle, forcing Chris out to the perimeter to take threes, which aren't exactly his specialty. That lowers his efficiency, and then you use your own firepower to hit back."

"...Man, Chris has an award called Three-Point King hanging on that wall of honors of his. And have you forgotten what he made his name with early in his career?"

"Emm... I don't care. Mike Malone did it that way."

"And last season, they nearly got shot to death by Chris several times... If Denver's offense hadn't been just as strong, if they hadn't had Jokic, what could Denver have done to beat the Thunder? Besides, that only worked for Denver. What other team could put up that kind of offensive efficiency?"

"Brooklyn could!"

"...I don't want to hear how to beat the Thunder anymore. Tell me, does the Thunder have any way to beat the Nets?"

"Uh, no."

"That certain? Are the Nets unbeatable in your eyes?"

"No, man. I mean, since