Mr. Provost wisely compared a story to a basketball game, in which the players have an overall goal-to win the game. To reach that goal, they must face the challenge of several smaller goals, traveling from one end of the court to another in order to score baskets and, of course, to prevent the opposing team from scoring. All during the game, the two teams have conflicting goals and will do anything they can to stop the other from succeeding. Mr. Provost was, I believe, trying to describe the nature of conflict in storytelling, and he did it in a way that not only tells us about conflict, but about structure as well. The two are so closely intertwined that it would be difficult not to discuss them both in the same breath.
Structure is a series of goals that lead to an overall goal .
You can't have your players wandering around for no reason. They have to have a purpose in life. While not a perfect action-thriller, it comes pretty close, especially in terms of structure. It opens with a woman being killed. Her husband, a prominent doctor, is arrested and convicted for her murder, but he's an innocent man.