Court Enforcer

At Halftime Break, the commentators were extremely excited.

"This game looked like it was going to repeat the script of last year's G6 at the start. But once Wang came on, he completely changed the course of the game."

"The Lakers are now up by twenty points. Wang didn't just change the momentum—he completely turned the game around."

"Let's look forward to the Second Half and see whether Wang can put on an even better performance."

At courtside, in VIP seat number 124 in the first row.

Behind Movie Emperor Jack Nicholson's crimson glasses, his eyes were filled with gratification.

So far, this Eastern player had kept bringing surprises to the Lakers.

Perhaps... the hope of the Lakers' revival lay with him.

Meanwhile, in the visiting team's Locker Room.

The Suns Players were all somewhat dejected.

They had been down by twenty points before, and more than once.

Logically, they should not have been this discouraged.

But today's game was different.

Ever since that Lakers player wearing number 1 had come on, they had been sinking deeper and deeper into an abyss.

They could not see the slightest chance of cutting into the deficit.

They could not score, and they could not defend.

How were they supposed to play like this?

Even the team's Star Player, Devin Booker, had his head lowered.

With a towel draped over his head, he did not say a word.

Seeing this, Paul clapped his hands hard.

"You're giving up already? Do you want people to call us soft?"

"Get your heads in the game!"

"Do you remember how we eliminated them last year? They were the defending champions!"

"We turned the defending champions into losers. Are we really going to back down in front of those losers now?"

Paul was undoubtedly one of the most competitive and fiercely driven Players in the NBA.

His words gradually lifted the Players' spirits.

But they were down a full twenty points now. His speech alone was far from enough.

So Head Coach Williams looked at Crowder once again.

"Crowder, shut that Eastern player down in the Third Quarter!"

By "shut him down," he did not mean simple defense. He meant constantly provoking and enraging his opponent.

He did not even rule out using some unsportsmanlike moves.

Back in the Heat's Finals run, Crowder, who had still been a Heat player at the time, had made plenty of opposing Players suffer.

Fans did not like villains like that, and Players hated them even more.

But if a team wanted results, it needed someone like that on the roster.

Bruce Bowen of the Spurs back in the day;

Green, who kicked and poked eyes, Zha Zha Pachulia, and Bogut of the Warriors;

Crowder during the Heat's Big Three era.

They were all that kind of player.

Crowder understood his assignment as well. He made an OK gesture.

"That Eastern player is mine. Don't worry."

When the Third Quarter began, the Starting Lineup remained the same as in the First Quarter.

But Schroder seemed somewhat distracted.

In just Three Minutes, he committed two turnovers and was taken out by the coach.

Wang Yi suited up and returned to the court.

By now, he had truly entered the rotation.

On the bench, Tucker felt somewhat disappointed.

Originally, he should have been the one playing in the rotation.

But because Wang Yi had performed so well, his playing time had been greatly reduced.

But that was the cruelty of competitive sports.

Whoever could play, played.

If he couldn't make it, he'd be eliminated.

All he could do was train hard. As long as he got a chance to play, he had to seize it and prove himself.

Not sit on the bench like a resentful housewife, blaming heaven and earth.

By contrast, Schroder's gaze seemed to be drifting off the court.

Who knew what he was thinking.

After Wang Yi took the court, although his three-point shooting wasn't as explosive as it had been in the previous two games, his 45% Shooting Percentage provided a solid floor, and he still shot threes better than most people.

That forced the Suns to change their defensive strategy.

They no longer dared to use a zone defense and could only extend their coverage.

That gave the Lakers room to drive.

James drove three times in a row.

Caruso drove once as well.

They were scoring inside and out.

Meanwhile, the Suns had Wang Yi block them twice more.

On top of that, Booker had lost his touch, and Wang Yi shut down his drives.

The others weren't shooting as hot as before either.

Although Paul hit two mid-range shots, he was ultimately unable to hold things together alone against the Lakers' tide-like offense.

The Point Difference was closing in on thirty.

At that moment, the Lakers were on offense.

As usual, Wang Yi kept running around screens, looking to receive the ball Outside the Three-point Line.

Just then, while the Referee's attention was focused on the ball handler on the perimeter, Crowder discreetly grabbed Wang Yi's arm and gave it a vicious yank.

Wang Yi's heart jolted.

He went down with the pull.

His whole body slammed heavily onto the floor.

Fortunately, he had gone down with the motion.

Otherwise, with Crowder's strength, his right arm might have been dislocated.

Crowder was pulled off balance by Wang Yi and stumbled two steps before falling to the floor as well.

He kept complaining to the Referee. "He fouled! He pulled me down! That was such a dirty move!"

The villain had the nerve to accuse first.

But with nearly everyone's attention on the Top Line, the Referee hadn't seen what happened between them.

The Baseline Referee signaled for play to continue.

Wang Yi got up, moved his arm around, and continued running.

As Crowder chased Wang Yi on defense, he occasionally slipped in little cheap shots.

The most covert one was pinching at the waist.

Like Nanny Rong, he would occasionally give Wang Yi's waist a hard twist.

Wang Yi had studied Crowder and knew he hadn't used moves like this before.

Throughout the NBA, Paul was the one who used waist-pinching most often.

Because Paul wasn't tall, he often used this kind of subtle dirty move while defending.

It hurt badly and made opponents wary.

And in the heat of a fierce game, it was difficult for the Referee to catch.

Now Crowder had learned the trick too.

Wang Yi sneered inwardly at the sight.

Isn't it just pinching someone's waist?

Who doesn't know how to do that?

So whenever Crowder pressed him too tightly, or whenever the two got tangled up, Wang Yi secretly reached out and pinched Crowder's waist too.

"Fuck!"

Crowder cursed under his breath.

After another two minutes of entangling, Wang Yi's waist was already covered in bruises.

Crowder wasn't having an easy time either.

As a Black man, the injuries on his skin were not that obvious.

But in reality, there were already many purple bruises.

This was Wang Yi's method for dealing with dirty players—using their own tactics against them.

Don't talk about violating the spirit of sports or the ethics of the court.

Subtle little moves like Crowder's were difficult for the Referee to catch.

Complaining to the Referee was utterly useless.

In a situation like this, was Wang Yi supposed to make no response and just let Crowder keep pinching him?

At that moment, Crowder came over to defend him closely again.

As the two tangled together, Wang Yi suddenly gave Crowder another hard pinch at the waist.

While Crowder was distracted by the pain, Wang Yi quickly ran Outside the Three-point Line.

After receiving the pass, he launched a three-pointer.

Crowder clutched his waist and viciously cursed in his heart:

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Then he caught up to Wang Yi and said:

"Easterner, just wait. You'll regret this!"