George Shig covered his mouth with a towel and said to Charlie Hannum beside him, "He's got 28 points, and now he's starting to get cocky."
Charlie Hannum sneered, covered his mouth with a towel too, and leaned close to George Shig's ear.
"With the way he plays, nobody can keep it up for two quarters. Let's see how exhausted he looks after the second quarter."
Amir also covered his mouth, sneering as he said, "He'll burn through all his energy in the first two quarters. The Timberwolves will only need one run in the third to put the Raptors away, heh. Once they lose this game, let's see what he has to be so arrogant about."
Kim Tae-hyun covered his mouth with the collar of his jersey. "If we lose this game, the front office and coaching staff will definitely panic. They'll come negotiate with us for sure."
At the thought, the substitutes all wore smug expressions.
During the break between quarters, head coach Dako said to Pang Bo, "You'll rest for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Hachimura, you'll be back on the court."
There was no helping it. Other than Frank, none of the substitutes would play, so even though Hachimura was a veteran, he had to play more.
Pang Bo and Hachimura nodded at the same time.
Although they had little time to rest, they weren't tired at all.
That was because they'd done almost nothing on offense.
Pang Bo, the team's second star, had scored only four points in the first quarter. All four came after Wang Yi drew a double-team, leaving him with easy baskets that hadn't taken much energy.
They'd saved all their energy for defense.
That not only let them conserve some stamina, but also greatly improved their defensive efficiency.