The Grizzlies settled on a strategy: the moment Wang Yi tried to shoot, they would foul him. So, from then on, Grizzlies players kept fouling Wang Yi.
On the first possession, Wang Yi caught the ball, and the Grizzlies' shooting guard, Misilia, saw that he couldn't stop him. All he could do was tug on the hem of Wang Yi's jersey from behind.
That foul also sent him off the court with six fouls.
Then, with five minutes left in the game, the Grizzlies' power forward, Saylor, picked up his sixth foul of the quarter and fouled out.
With three minutes left in the game, the Grizzlies' small forward, Three-Point Ryan, fouled out with six fouls as well. At that point, only Morant and Gobert remained among the Grizzlies' starters without six fouls.
But this actually let Jenkins loosen the reins. After bringing in three bench players, he had them keep fouling Wang Yi, one after another.
After all, each of those bench players had only two fouls to give.
But Wang Yi was incredibly accurate from the free-throw line.
He took 32 free throws in this game and missed only three.
As Wang Yi kept sinking his free throws, the Kings gradually clawed their way back into the game.
With 40 seconds left in the game, Wang Yi's free throws tied the score at 113.
By then, Wang Yi had scored 59 points.
Grizzlies head coach Jenkins used their last timeout. His expression was extremely serious.
He had originally said that Wang Yi could either score 60 points or win the game—he could only do one.
But now, it looked like the guy wanted both.
Jenkins glanced at Morant and said, "Ja, the last possession is yours. You have to run the clock down to 24 seconds and shoot