Faced with the reporters' pointed questions, Coach Ham smiled wryly to himself.
He'd known the reporters wouldn't let him off the hook.
He nodded and said,
"That guy is definitely one of the toughest coaches to deal with. I've gone up against the wily Popovich, but even facing Popovich never left me feeling as helpless as this guy does."
"Against other coaches, even when you know you can't beat them, they still follow the usual coaching playbook. Even someone like Popovich only pulls out an odd trick now and then."
"But Wang Yi doesn't play by the usual rules at all. There's no pattern to what he does. You have no idea what he's thinking or what he's going to do."
"So if Wang Yi is still the acting head coach in the Finals, I'd warn Heat head coach Spoelstra to be very careful with that guy."
Meanwhile, far away on the South Coast,
the Heat players watching the game all felt a faint sense of unease.
They would rather face the stronger Lakers on paper than the Kings, who looked like they were short on players.
Especially in the Finals, when the Kings' star, Wang Yi, would return, making them even harder to deal with.
The good news, though, was that Wang Yi's attack on Doug in this game would earn him a suspension of at least two games.
That would indirectly do the Heat a huge favor.
At the thought, the Heat players felt a little more at ease.
Their head coach, Spoelstra, however, wasn't nearly so relaxed.
He knew that even if Wang Yi couldn't play, as long as he was with the Kings, beating them would be difficult.
It looked like he would have to sit down with the team's general manager, Pat Riley, and work