Dauding had made three consecutive midrange shots, forcing Hornets head coach Clifford to immediately call a timeout.
Dauding was just a role player. On a good night, he might score a dozen points.
Let him shoot. It wasn't as if he could shoot you out of the game, right?
But these were the Playoffs. In a lot of crucial moments, coaches broke the game down into tiny pieces and played it one possession at a time.
In situations like this, any mistake could be fatal. Once you made one, the other team would exploit it with targeted offense or defense, magnifying it until it cost you the game.
During the timeout, Clifford said to Magic Hand Jack, "You're guarding Dauding. He's got his touch back, so under normal circumstances, you need to stick to him and not give him a chance to shoot."
Magic Hand Jack thought it over briefly, then asked, "What if Wang Yi runs around a screen and comes near me? Should I help double-team him?"
It was clearly a difficult choice.
Wang Yi was too clever. With Dauding shooting so well, he would surely keep coming over near Magic Hand Jack, forcing him to double-team Wang Yi and leaving Dauding room to catch the ball.
After a moment's thought, head coach Clifford said, "When you double-team Wang Yi, you can fake the double. You can also judge the situation as it unfolds. I'll leave that up to you."
Meanwhile, on the Raptors' side,
as Dauding came off the court, he heard the crowd cheering.
That was the kind of reaction a role player was sure to get after making several shots in a row.
For a player of Wang Yi's caliber, even making three shots in a row wouldn't guarantee that kind of applause when he