More often than not, by the second half of the third quarter, the player guarding Hamilton would be completely worn out and have to be replaced by someone else to chase him around.
After a game against Hamilton, his opponents often said:
"I feel like I'm about to meet God."
"That guy's practically a robot. His stamina is endless, and his shooting percentage is sky-high. He's a merciless running-and-shooting machine."
The reason Hamilton had joined the team this year was that, after taking over, Billups had realized the starting lineup lacked offensive options and was short on shooters.
As it happened, Duke Jin had a decent two-point shooting percentage.
So they brought in Hamilton to train Duke Jin.
That was how Duke Jin developed a Hamilton-style game.
The difference between this Pistons team and the old Pistons Five Tigers, though, was that this team had a much more devastating fast break. So they usually relied on fast breaks whenever they could. Only when they couldn't score in transition did they bring Duke Jin into the offense to run around and move off screens.
This gave the team more variety on offense and also saved Duke Jin some energy.
After all, Duke Jin wasn't like Hamilton back in the day. He couldn't run forever.
The Raptors had studied Duke Jin before the game, but he had barely taken any shots in the first half and had been practically invisible. As the game went on, the players had gradually forgotten about him.
They hadn't expected him to suddenly start shooting now, sinking three consecutive midrange shots.
The Raptors immediately called a timeout.
As they came off the court, the coach continued to stress how they should guard Duke Jin.
"Don't let him catch the ball, understood?"
"Don't give him any chance to