Jenkins thought their center, Gobert, had gotten so rattled by being blocked that the best thing to do was take him out for a while, let him calm down, and give him some counseling.
That would be the best choice for the team.
But if Gobert came out, who would play center?
Clark?
Wang Yi had already dominated Gobert. If Clark played center, Wang Yi would absolutely torment him.
What?
You say they should rely on their perimeter players?
But they'd already seen how that was going today.
Their three perimeter players weren't shooting threes very well.
Of course, they had another lineup: the small-ball lineup, which would let them put Jones, a better three-point shooter, on the floor.
But the small-ball lineup wasn't a conventional lineup.
It could work wonders when used in desperate situations, but if they treated it as their regular lineup, its weakness on the boards would be exposed completely.
So Jenkins still decided to keep Gobert on the floor to secure the rebounds. After all, controlling the boards meant controlling the game.
After a timeout that lasted just over a minute, both teams returned to the court.
Neither team had made any changes to its lineup.
The first two possessions looked completely normal.
Wang Yi didn't shoot. He only set screens for his teammates, while Gobert continued to guard him on defense.
But Gobert didn't get the ball on either possession.
Bane hit a three for the Grizzlies.
But starting with the third possession, things got weird again.
This time, Xiao Qiao brought the ball up for the Kings and passed it to James on the perimeter.
James decided to go one-on-one.
Of course, at his age, he couldn't drive to the basket every time.
So his idea of going one-on-one was to dribble sideways