Beneath the setting sun, sea breezes blew in from the water, bringing the sound of waves and gulls.
Shaquille O'Neal and Wang Yi began their one-on-one game.
Aside from Duke Tango's rule that all scoring plays had to be completed inside the paint and Wang Yi had to dunk, the two would play to 21 points.
The rules were clearly very, very unfavorable to Wang Yi.
Against a guard, he could dunk over him on every possession. But his opponent was Shaquille O'Neal, who was several times stronger than he was and more than twenty centimeters taller.
Forget anything else. If O'Neal so much as gave him a little shove, he'd go flying. How was he supposed to dunk?
Of course, Wang Yi had the advantage in stamina and speed.
But if the scoring area was restricted to the paint, his speed advantage wouldn't be nearly as great, and neither would his stamina advantage.
"Will Shaq steamroll Wang Yi, or will Wang Yi blow Shaq out? Let's wait and see..."
With Duke Tango's highly dramatic commentary, the game began.
The referee they'd invited for the occasion was Crawford, a famous official in NBA history, known for his bald head.
He was the same referee who had once ejected Duncan for laughing on the sidelines.
Though he'd been retired for more than ten years, he was still in pretty good shape—and still bald.
O'Neal and Wang Yi faced off in the center circle for a jump ball to decide who would get the first possession.
There was no denying O'Neal's setup was brilliant.
O'Neal stood 2.16 meters tall and weighed 130 kilograms. Wang Yi was 1.92 meters tall and weighed just 100 kilograms.
The matchup was bound to be entertaining.
As the referee tossed the ball high into the air, Wang