In the end, with Wang Yi leading the way, the Kings beat the Lakers 145–105, winning by a whopping 40 points.
That turned the Lakers' pregame boast about bloodbathing the Kings into a joke.
They'd failed to wash the Kings away—and wound up getting washed instead.
The Kings' stats tonight were strange.
Wang Yi, who had averaged the most points over the previous four games, didn't score a single point tonight—but he dished out 32 assists.
Meanwhile, Tures, who normally wasn't much of a scorer, put up 27 points.
Dennis scored 42;
Rose scored 35.
Even Bond, who'd never seemed particularly useful, recorded a triple-double with 35 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 blocks.
It was his first triple-double since entering the NBA.
And it was an especially rare triple-double with double-digit blocks.
Those were some impressive numbers.
In her apartment in Sacramento, Jane watched the postgame stats on the screen. The tears that had been welling in her eyes for a long time finally spilled over.
Bond really had changed.
He'd played aggressively all game, relentlessly attacking, and even after picking up five fouls, he hadn't shown the slightest intention of holding back.
Though he eventually fouled out, he'd still fulfilled his mission in the game perfectly.
This was the man she loved.
There were far too many people available for postgame interviews, so the Kings decided to give this opportunity to Bond.
The ESPN interviewer assigned to Bond was the beautiful Harris Bieber.
Harris asked Bond, "We saw you play incredibly well tonight, as if you had divine help. Does that have anything to do with your fight with Wang Yi?"
Danny had been excited at first, but when the woman brought up Wang Yi, his expression darkened. He gave a cold snort and said, "It had nothing to