At the start of the second quarter, Cole sent Durant and Thompson onto the court together.
His intention was obvious: he wanted to close the gap during the Bench Connection Segment.
But Stevens showed him no courtesy. He adjusted his rotation in the second quarter as well, sending Tang Tian and Butler in.
It was a blatant countermeasure.
And it was an extremely effective one.
Butler and Tang Tian were both renowned Stamina Monsters in the league.
The former had once led the league in average Playing Time under Thibodeau, while the latter had run Durant into vomiting twice.
Forget targeting them for one quarter—if necessary, Stevens could have both of them play the entire game.
More than five minutes into the quarter, the score was 49-29, with the gap still at 20 points.
Cole stood on the sidelines with a blank expression, looking like he was asking, "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?"
He had basically wasted Durant's energy for nothing during that stretch!
Both sides continued rotating. Durant and Thompson went to the bench to rest, while Green and Curry checked in.
The Pelicans also made substitutions, but Rose and Siakam came out, while Walker and Davis went in!
Tang Tian and Butler remained on the court!
Even Cole was dumbfounded by that substitution.
The camera lens then turned to Stevens, who wore an expression that said, "Yeah, I'm just this shameless."
It seemed Green's words had not only drawn a response from Tang Tian. Stevens had also written them down in his little notebook!
Cole did not dare play Durant and Thompson for too long. In terms of stamina, they were still inferior to Tang Tian and Butler.
As a result, the Warriors remained at a disadvantage during that stretch.
By halftime, it