And so, once the game returned to its usual rhythm, it slowly wound down in a calm atmosphere.
Before long, this thrilling Game 2 of the Finals had finally reached the last two and a half minutes.
At that moment, the score was 124–128.
The Brooklyn Nets still held a four-point lead.
Then, after Reddish missed his third wide-open three-pointer of the night, Donovan decisively called a timeout and put Jeff Green back in.
At the same time, that sent Chen Xi a signal.
The decisive final stretch had arrived. He could start turning it on...
When the timeout ended, the players returned to the court one after another.
The Thunder inbounded from the backcourt.
Westbrook took the inbound from Batum, turned, and dribbled up the court.
At the top of the key, he faced Harden's defense. After a stationary crossover, he suddenly accelerated, blew past Harden in one step, and drove into the lane. Then, after drawing a double-team, he passed to Batum on the wing.
Batum caught the ball and quickly swung it along to Chen Xi at the 45-degree angle.
Chen Xi caught the ball and made a shooting motion, getting Durant, who had come over to switch, to shift his weight. Then he pounded the ball and accelerated, driving into the lane.
He took off into his third step early, gathered the ball in midair, and floated it toward the Nets' big men.
A soft touch, an easy finish.
The two points dropped cleanly.
The deficit was back to two.
Then the Nets counterattacked.
Harden dribbled across half court, found Claxton's screen at the top of the key, took one dribble, and went straight into a three-pointer.
A confident shot—and it swished through the net!
"James!! Harden!! A clutch three-pointer!! This is Brooklyn!! This is why