Wang Yi swept the Western Conference Player of the Month awards in both January and February.
He also reclaimed the top spot in the MVP rankings.
During those two months, the Lakers struggled without Arthur, managing only a 50% win rate and gradually slipping to fifth place in the Western Conference.
After Arthur returned, he wasn't nearly as dominant in his first few games as he had been before.
So although the Lakers showed signs of getting back on track, their momentum wasn't especially strong.
The Kings, by contrast, were surging.
Wang Yi's explosive scoring continued.
By March, he was averaging 48 points per game.
No team in the league had any answer for Wang Yi.
And it wasn't just that his deep three-point percentage was 50%. That alone left opposing teams with no way to stop him.
In many of the Kings' games now, the other players would cluster on one side of the court, leaving the other side empty so Wang Yi could go one-on-one.
That allowed him to take his isolation game to its absolute limit.
The league had already tried to curb Wang Yi's outrageous scoring by banning backcourt three-pointers except during the final 24 seconds of each quarter and the last two minutes of the game.
But Wang Yi's three-point range covered the entire half court, stretching the offense out enormously. His opponents had no choice but to rush all the way out to the midcourt line to defend his logo threes.
With the defense pressing so far out, the interior was bound to be wide open. For Wang Yi, whose ability to drive was practically freakish, getting to the basket was ridiculously easy.
And now they were clearing one side of the court so he could go one-on-one.
There was basically no one who