After the China Trident took the court, their scoring efficiency rose dramatically.
Wang Yi drew two defenders, and Pang Bo drew two more.
That gave Zhang Jiacheng plenty of chances to go one-on-one.
Though Zhang Jiacheng was very capable in one-on-one situations, he didn't try to beat his man every time.
With the China Trident drawing all the defenders' attention, Hachimura and Dauding were left open most of the time.
When Zhang Jiacheng passed them the ball, they had wide-open shots.
Hachimura's mid-range shots and three-pointers had been pretty reliable today.
Dauding, on the other hand, had made just one of his five open shots.
The Chinese fans finally understood why this guy had been stuck as a Water Boy. He had his chance, and he blew it.
By contrast, the five players on the other side had played together for a long time and knew each other well.
So even though Danny hadn't done much in the third quarter, the others had been scoring efficiently.
As a result, with four minutes left in the third quarter, the lead hadn't grown by much. The teams were still separated by twenty points.
By then, almost everyone thought the Raptors had it in the bag.
With Wang Yi's team still leading by twenty at this point in the game, saying they weren't safe would be ridiculous.
Led by the dragon mascot on the court, Raptors fans swayed their bodies and waved their arms.
Phoenix Legend also roused the crowd with their soaring, passionate voices.
Zeng Yi: "Everyone here, let's get hyped!"
Ling Hua: "You're the most beautiful cloud on my horizon. Let me hold you close with all my heart."
The Chinese-descended fans in the arena shouted in unison, "Stay!"
At first, the Canadian fans didn't understand what was going on and