McMillan nodded. "The NBA's game has become pretty simple these days. You come down and shoot a three, then I come down and shoot a three. It makes the game pretty monotonous and boring."
"Once those two make it to the NBA, I'm sure they'll make it a lot more exciting."
The first quarter ended.
China led Brazil 30–24, by six points.
Where had those six points come from?
Wang Yi's two three-pointers.
The other players on both China and Brazil had performed about the same. The difference was at point guard: Wang Yi had completely shut down Brazil's point guard, while knocking down two threes himself.
In the China livestream chat, as fans marveled at the showdown between Pang Bo and Juan in the paint, some viewers also commented:
"See that? Those two big men battled it out under the basket for ages, and then Brother Yi casually sank two threes to put China up by six."
"That was back when I kept my hands in my pockets. I didn't even know what a rival was!"
"Yeah, those two seemed to have the ball and attack nonstop. It felt like the whole first quarter belonged to them. But in the end, they only scored 12 and 14 points, while Brother Yi barely seemed to touch the ball and still put up six."
"What does that tell you? It tells you that Brother Yi's level of play is now a whole dimension above everyone else's."
In Brazil's resting area,
their head coach, Carlos, patted Juan on the shoulder, encouraging him and the other players and rallying the team. But beneath it all, he couldn't help feeling worried.
In their previous games, Juan had been able to completely overpower the opposing big men on both ends of the court, allowing Brazil