Pachulia Ejected

The fans cheered for Stevens, while Stevens turned his gaze toward Tang Tian, who had just left the court.

Only he knew that Tang Tian was the true behind-the-scenes hero.

Seeing Stevens's expression, Tang Tian smiled and reached out to high-five him.

His expression was natural. He did not care about such things.

Both teams gradually went into their rotations.

For the Pelicans, Stevens replaced Jokic with McGee early at the seven-minute mark.

Once they fully entered the rotation, he put Jokic back in alongside Dinwiddie, Stephenson, Bojan, and Aminu.

The Mavericks had Butler leading the unit, along with Jennings, Devin Harris, David Lee, and Pachulia.

Butler drove in and hit a stop-and-pop jumper for two, cutting the gap to 13 points.

But on the next possession, Jokic made plays from the high post and assisted Bojan on an outside three-pointer.

Jennings's driving layup was disrupted by Aminu. On the other end, Jokic continued organizing the offense, and Dinwiddie's cutting layup drew a shooting foul from Lee.

What Tang Tian and Stevens had discussed earlier had been correct.

After Tang Tian increased his share of ball-handling duties, Jokic's organization ability in the starting lineup was inevitably weakened.

That was somewhat wasteful.

But by adjusting his rotation time and having him lead the bench lineup, they made up for all of that wasted value.

During this stretch, the Pelicans' reserves played with ease.

On the final possession of the first quarter, the Mavericks locked down the Pelicans' other players. Seeing that, Jokic turned and went straight to the basket.

After a series of post moves left Pachulia dizzy, he calmly banked in a buzzer-beater.

40–20, a one-quarter blowout.

The on-site fans were incredibly excited.

This was what first seed versus eighth seed was supposed to look like!

The last game had