728: This Time It's a Complete Victory

At the end of the first quarter, the Thunder trailed by 11 points.

For the Thunder, this was undoubtedly a very unfavorable situation. But from another perspective, they were also fortunate.

At least they still had three full quarters to cut into the deficit. Spread an 11-point gap across three quarters, and it did not seem quite so frightening.

Durant thought so too. After being battered all over by Link in the first quarter, he hoped he could turn things around over the remaining three quarters.

He told himself it was not over yet. He still had a chance to redefine this game.

Plenty of time always gave people all kinds of fantasies.

My next exam score will be better. I definitely will not mess up my next date. I will definitely work harder tomorrow.

Yet when time went from abundant to tight, things often became: There is only one day until the exam, and I am still reviewing. There is only an hour left before the date, yet I cannot find a clean pair of pants.

Durant now faced the same predicament. When the game reached the fifth minute of the fourth quarter and the Thunder still trailed by 12, every one of his beautiful fantasies shattered.

At this point, he could no longer comfort himself much. He could no longer pin his hopes on the next quarter.

If the Thunder could have tied the score today, they would have done it already. Since they had failed to do so over the previous three quarters, how could they expect to turn things around in the final five minutes?

Tight time constraints were the quickest way to shatter fantasies.

"Kevin, Kevin!"

Scott Brooks's two shouts pulled Durant back into the scorching FedExForum.

Before Durant stood his furrow-browed coach. Beside him