Under Doug's verbal threat to "watch your step," Arthur didn't dare attack the paint again for the rest of the game.
At most, he ventured inside the three-point line.
Whenever Doug came up to guard him, Arthur either shot early or avoided him.
As long as Arthur stayed out of the paint, his effectiveness dropped by at least thirty percent.
So the lead continued to grow.
Arthur played the entire third quarter, and so did Wang Yi.
By the end of the third, the lead had ballooned to 17 points.
As Arthur left the court, he looked at Doug, not Wang Yi.
Only then did he finally understand what Wang Yi had said to him in the third quarter, after he drew Bond's fourth foul.
You made a serious mistake.
At the time, he'd thought Wang Yi was just trash-talking him, meaning that he'd provoked Arthur and Arthur would keep attacking his basket.
But now, putting the pieces together, he finally understood what Wang Yi had really meant.
Wang Yi meant that Arthur shouldn't have kept drawing fouls on Bond, because once Bond fouled out, Doug would take his place.
And Doug was a hundred times more difficult to deal with than Bond.
At the end of the third quarter, Wang Yi had scored 23 points all by himself.
Arthur had scored only 13 in the quarter.
In just one quarter, Wang Yi had brought his total up to 39 points.
Arthur was exactly one point behind him, with 38.
On offense, Wang Yi had displayed the full range of his abilities.
On defense, especially after Doug came in, it was as if a shackle had locked away Arthur's ability to score inside.
When both teams returned for the fourth quarter, Wang Yi's attack showed no sign of slowing.
Whether