Chantelle seized the opportunity to blast some upbeat music, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. The fans' excitement had reached a fever pitch, and so had the Raptors' momentum.
Seeing this, Pistons head coach Billups tried to call a timeout.
But then he remembered Wang Yi was still on the court. A timeout probably wouldn't do much good, so in the end, he held back.
For one thing, there were only so many timeouts left in the second half. The more he used in this quarter, the fewer they'd have in the fourth, and that could be fatal.
For another, with Wang Yi on the court, a timeout didn't seem to be worth much.
It would be better to wait until Wang Yi came out and both teams sent in their bench players. Then he could draw up a few good plays.
That would be the time to call a timeout.
It wasn't that he couldn't afford to use one. Waiting until Wang Yi came out was simply better value.
Wang Yi played two more possessions.
He led the Raptors' starters in extending their lead to 15 points.
Only then did he come out to rest.
The moment Billups saw the Raptors' starters leave the game, he perked up.
This time, he didn't take out his starters. He kept them on the court until the end of the third quarter.
He also told them, "Wang's coming out. Their bench is pretty weak. This is our chance. We have to cut the lead to five or fewer in the three minutes left in the third. Keep playing the fast break—we're good at that!"
"Remember, our core system is defense and transition offense! Got it?"
The players all nodded.
And so, back on the court, the Pistons' starters stopped the Raptors again