After his pained wailing, Doug merely tightened his shoelaces, stamped his feet, and returned to the court.
The spectators all stood up and applauded him.
Doug walked up to Wemby and looked at him with a sly grin.
"I'm done setting picks for you. How about you set one for me?"
Wemby was furious.
"You're the most despicable, shameless rat in the sewer!"
He gritted his teeth as he spoke.
Doug chuckled. "If you can't even handle the most despicable, shameless rat in the sewer, that just shows how useless you are."
Trash talk had never been Wemby's strong suit. Though he was furious, he could only keep his mouth shut.
After that foul, Wemby had already racked up three fouls in the first quarter.
The head coach had no choice but to take him out.
As Wemby came off the court, the coach patted his shoulder and comforted him. "That was my mistake. I shouldn't have put you back in just now."
A substitute handed Wemby a towel. He took it, wiped off his sweat, then dejectedly hurled it onto the seat beside him.
Finally, he dropped heavily into his seat.
He cursed, "Damn rat. Filthy rat! Fuck!"
Meanwhile, Wang Yi and Doug both came off the court for the Kings.
They'd achieved their goal of drawing three fouls on Wemby in the first quarter.
The Hornets had called a timeout, so the Kings could rest too.
During the break, Wang Yi addressed all the players directly:
"The Hornets' bench is much stronger than ours. But they've won the bench minutes in each of their last five games, which will make them complacent. We're going to take advantage of that and crank up the defensive intensity when we get out there!"
"Bring the same level of physicality you showed