Chapter 1 The Real and the Fake

The referee's whistle blew, and Adams fought hard to tip the ball from Davis's head back to the Thunder's half.

As Westbrook's best partner, coupled with his role as a center, he was nicknamed Egg, Court-Protecting Divine Egg, and a series of other nicknames by Thunder fans.

Just like he showed when communicating with Westbrook in the locker room, he is now Westbrook's most trusted and reliable teammate.

Westbrook dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, Sabonis and Oladipo spread out on both sides, and Adams came up to the high post for a pick-and-roll.

After the pick-and-roll, Westbrook took the ball and charged directly inside.

This is the Thunder's typical style of play this season, the same simple and straightforward tactic as Tang Tian's last game.

However, Westbrook failed to break into the Pelicans' restricted area.

It's not that his speed wasn't fast enough, but the Pelicans were clearly prepared.

Jokic shrank to the basket, Holiday double-teamed from behind, and even Tang Tian surrounded him.

A triple team, only two people away from the Box-1 Tang Tian had enjoyed.

Westbrook had no chance and could only dribble the ball back to the three-point line.

After returning to the three-point line, he continued to call Adams for a pick-and-roll. This time he accelerated with all his strength, but still couldn't break through the defense.

He finally chose to shoot against the defense, almost getting blocked, and the ball slammed against the rim.

Jokic boxed out Westbrook after the shot, and Tang Tian took the defensive rebound.

Jokic's boxing-out technique is becoming more and more skilled.

The Thunder's first offense was unsuccessful, and the Pelicans used the same tactic in return.

Jokic came to the high post to give Tang Tian a pick-and-roll. After the screen, Jokic moved outward, and Tang Tian went inside.

The Thunder also collapsed to double-team, and it was a four-man double-team.

Tang Tian passed the ball back to Jokic at the high post, who shot from mid-range.

"Swish!"

Jokic's open mid-range shot hit steadily.

The Pelicans scored the first point.

The same tactics, different results.

This is the gap between the Thunder and the Pelicans in terms of roster and strength.

Roberson's defense is first-class, but his shooting is almost non-existent. Adams also doesn't have a mid-range shot, and Westbrook's own shooting is unstable.

To deal with double-teams, Westbrook has no choice but to give up the offense.

But Tang Tian has many choices. His passing awareness and ability allow him to pass the ball to the player with the best opportunity in the first time.

Back on the offensive end, the Thunder used the same tactic. This time Westbrook didn't force it, and he jumped up in the double-team and passed the ball back to Adams.

Adams took a step with the ball and was about to go up, but Jokic had already stood in position, and his shot was interfered with and missed.

However, he jumped up again to grab the offensive rebound, squeezed past Jokic, and put the ball into the basket.

The Thunder's overall strength is not as good as the Pelicans, but Adams has an advantage in offensive rebounds.

On the Pelicans' offense, Tang Tian also dribbled the ball and broke through again.

This time Roberson didn't double-team inside, and Tang Tian chose to stop suddenly and turn around for a fadeaway jumper when facing the double-team.

Adams couldn't react, and Westbrook's help defense was limited by his height.

"Swish!"

Tang Tian's signature fadeaway was beautiful as a picture and hit steadily.

Back on the offensive end, Westbrook also dribbled the ball and broke through again, then passed to Adams again. This time Adams' shot was off. He wanted to grab it again but was boxed out by Jokic.

Tang Tian jumped up and grabbed another defensive rebound.

Adams' offensive rebounds can't be available every round no matter how strong they are.

After Tang Tian took the defensive rebound, the Pelicans launched a fast break. Tang Tian made a long pass to Holiday in the backcourt, Holiday then passed to Davis who followed up, and Davis dunked with one hand to score.

There was a burst of commotion on the sidelines.

6 to 2.

The offenses of the two sides after the opening were like a mirror image. It really responded to the fans' words. This was using a mirror to distinguish who was the real and fake Monkey King.

But the result seemed to have already come out.

Westbrook's stats were all zero, while Tang Tian had already contributed 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist, and the other 2 points were also indirectly related to him.

These few rounds after the opening became the epitome of the first quarter.

At the end of the quarter, the Pelicans led the Thunder by a large score of 32 to 16.

Tang Tian made 5 of 7 shots in a single quarter, contributing 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists, while Westbrook made 1 of 6 shots, 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.

"Russell is an excellent player, but unfortunately, he is facing Tang. 'Excellent' is not enough to describe him, but 'great' should be used."

During the intermission, the commentary guest on the sidelines couldn't help but sigh.

In *Journey to the West*, the real and fake Monkey King went through Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Jade Emperor, Yama, and Ksitigarbha before the real and fake were distinguished until the Tathagata.

But Tang Tian and Westbrook, after this quarter, had only just arrived at Guanyin Bodhisattva's place, and the real and fake had already been distinguished!

The fans' discussions on social media also overwhelmingly sided at the end of the quarter.

As they expected, Westbrook was the fake Monkey King, and he was so fake that he was completely exposed in front of Tang Tian, the real one.

During the second quarter's break, both Tang Tian and Westbrook were resting off the court.

Westbrook looked at the court with a dazed expression.

Adams was also silent on the side.

The scene in front of them was obviously not what they wanted to see.

On the other end of the court, Davis and Tang Tian were talking and laughing.

"Everyone knows that you are the real one, and now everything has proven it."

As Tang Tian's Pippen, Davis was sincerely happy for Tang Tian at this time.

Although all of this was within his expectations.

Tang Tian smiled and said nothing.

He looked up at the scoreboard, then turned his head and looked at Westbrook next door.

He was familiar with Westbrook and knew that the latter's competitive spirit was no lower than Butler's.

It was definitely impossible for Westbrook to admit it tonight unless his touch had been so cold all along, otherwise there would definitely be an explosion.

Just then, the situation on the court suddenly changed.

The Thunder's Oladipo had a hot hand, scoring inside and out and passing the ball, leading the team to launch a 10-2 offensive, narrowing the point difference to single digits at once.

Stevens reached out and called a timeout.

When there is a gap in strength between the two teams, there needs to be a surprise soldier to come out to make up for this gap.

Last game's J.R. Smith, this game's Oladipo, these players who have performed generally this season, have all played such roles when facing the Pelicans.

And perhaps because the opponent is the Pelicans, they are particularly energetic.

After the timeout, Jokic and Brogdon pick-and-rolled and scored a goal after receiving the ball, stabilizing the situation on the court.

But Oladipo continued his hot state, breaking through to the basket and scoring an answerball.

On the Pelicans' side, Brogdon broke into the inside in the next round and was fouled, making two free throws.

After the Thunder narrowed the point difference to 8 points, the situation on the court between the two sides became deadlocked.

When this quarter had been played for more than four minutes, the score on the court between the two sides was 40 to 32, still an 8-point difference.

Both sides successively replaced their main players back on the court.

The on-site photographer once again gave a split-screen shot of Tang Tian and Westbrook.

Tang Tian's expression still looked calm, the same as before the game, but Westbrook's eyes showed a bit of determination, it seemed that he was going to fight desperately.