There were not many fans left inside Toyota Center. Vast stretches of empty seats reminded viewers who had just switched over—if they had tuned in only for the final clutch moments, they were going to be disappointed.
Many fans who had timed their channel switch to catch the fourth-quarter showdown stared wide-eyed at the score on their television screens, unable to believe it.
With five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Rockets were already down by 32!
Then the camera cut to a close-up of Link. The stats from his game immediately appeared at the bottom of the screen.
53 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. This was Link's second 50-plus-point game of the season. The last time he had scored 50-plus was also against the Rockets. On December 13 last year, Link had put up an unprecedented 50+15+15 stat line against Houston.
And today, Link's brutal offensive output still had not stopped.
Though his numbers today were not as astonishing as 50+15+15, Link had scored those 50 points in only three quarters!
"What is going on?" Every fan who had switched over specifically to watch the fourth quarter was stunned.
What on earth had Link done over the first three quarters?
Fifty points in three quarters? Listen to that—was that even humanly possible?
"Unbelievable. Before the game, no one could have imagined it would end up like this. Their previous three meetings had all been fiercely contested. The largest margin of victory had been only four points, yet today, Link took down his old rival in just three quarters."
Even Mike Breen found it unbelievable when he recalled Link's performance over the previous three quarters.
After scoring 20 straight points in the first quarter and hitting the Rockets with a 20-0 run, the Rockets had been completely dumbfounded.