Antetokounmpo had trained hard over the summer. He had gotten even stronger, and his vertical seemed to have improved too.
So when he faced Wang Yi, he played with complete confidence. He had already mapped out his plan to attack Wang Yi: keep using his body to muscle his way to the basket, fake left and right with his shoulders to throw Wang Yi off, then spin around him and slam it home.
But dreams were sweet. Reality showed you what true cruelty looked like.
When he jumped, he found Wang Yi already standing in front of him with both arms stretched straight up.
So Antetokounmpo didn't shoot right away. He pulled the ball back and waited for Wang Yi to come down.
Antetokounmpo had an excellent vertical, and over the past two seasons he had also brought his hang time, flexibility, and other abilities to a very high level. He could use his time in the air to evade a block, and in the past, that move had usually worked.
After all, there was almost no one in the league who could jump higher than him.
But this time, he hung in the air for 0.5 seconds.
Wang Yi still hadn't come down.
Instead, Antetokounmpo himself began to descend.
Wang Yi's arms remained straight, blocking his way like a mountain.
Antetokounmpo started to panic. It was too late to pass, and he couldn't dunk, so he could only pull his arm back, then push the ball up again, trying to float it over Wang Yi's fingertips.
But before he could shoot after pulling his arm back, Wang Yi had already brought his palm down, right onto the basketball.
Antetokounmpo could no longer get the ball up.
And what he hadn't expected was how incredibly strong Wang Yi's upper body