In fact, the reason Wang Yi had told Popo the truth so early wasn't to show off.
It was also a form of psychological warfare.
He wanted Popo to feel that, mentally, Wang Yi had already made an enormous number of preparations specifically to counter him.
He wanted to instill fear in him.
That way, Popo might misjudge the situation when making certain decisions.
That misjudgment might never happen, but in a showdown between masters like this, you had to do everything to the utmost.
You couldn't afford to miss even the slightest chance to affect your opponent.
That was how Wang Yi had changed after carefully studying psychology.
In his view, a game against an opponent didn't just last the forty-eight minutes on the court.
It began days before the game.
To take it even further, it had begun during the previous round of the series.
He understood that Popovich certainly knew this, too.
Old Master Bo had even been concealing things for the Playoffs before the preseason had begun.
In other words, before the Playoffs had even started, the battle had already begun in Old Master Bo's eyes.
That was what it meant to be a true master.
Facing a master like Old Master Bo, Wang Yi couldn't afford to let his guard down for even a moment.
In the end, Wang Yi scored 25 points in the first quarter alone.
He led his team to a 27-point lead over the Spurs in a single quarter.
Watching from the sidelines, James saw that Old Master Bo seemed both frustrated and helpless. He sighed:
"Clearly, Old Master Bo's feeling a little helpless today. His players got rattled right from the start, and their Defensive Player of the Year was completely shut down by Wang Yi—zero points, zero rebounds, and