After Davis missed his second free throw, the Nuggets immediately seized the opportunity to launch a fast break.
On the sideline, Chen Xi sat quietly on the bench, a white towel draped over his head as usual and a water bottle in his hand. He watched the two teams battling on the court without taking his eyes off them.
On the court, the Nuggets showed a completely different energy as soon as Jokic returned.
The whole team seemed to have stepped up a level.
Jokic's extraordinary impact on the court was the source of the Nuggets' confidence.
But neither Chen nor Donovan, nor anyone else on the bench, seemed particularly worried.
They had plenty of faith in the players on the court.
And Westbrook and the others didn't let them down.
The Nuggets came out swinging and scored four straight points, but Alexander was the first to sound the counterattack.
On the next possession, he answered with a pull-up mid-range jumper after driving to the basket.
Then, on the following possession, Shai and Davis continued their signature pick-and-roll, before Shai drove and kicked the ball out to Batum on the wing.
Batum served as the hub, quickly moving the ball to Westbrook at the top of the arc.
Westbrook drove hard into the paint, took off in front of Jokic, and, after some light contact, calmly put the ball in the basket.
The outside duo's surge wiped out the small lead the Nuggets had just clawed back.
The score might not have changed much, but every point and every second mattered to the Thunder.
Chen Xi was still on the bench.
And Jokic was a center, after all.
He was bound to use up more energy than Chen Xi.
So from the Thunder's perspective, if the game came down to