Connie heard his teammates shouting and felt a jolt of alarm. Could someone really block his shot?
But then he remembered that when he'd received the ball, there hadn't been anyone within five meters. He couldn't believe anyone could catch up and block him under those circumstances.
So he quickly reached the three-point line, then took off from just inside the free-throw line.
Even so, he stayed a little cautious. Just in case, and in case his opponent really did catch up, he leaned forward as he went up for the dunk.
That let him dunk a little faster.
But just as his right hand came within inches of the rim, he suddenly felt it lighten.
His right hand hooked onto the rim, but the ball was gone.
He looked up and saw the ball flying high into the air.
At that moment, a figure flashed past him.
He went straight past the baseline and crashed into the basketball stanchion.
That figure was Wang Yi.
This time, he hadn't swatted the ball forward from behind. If he had, the ball would have hit the backboard and bounced straight back out.
And the players trailing him weren't Raptors players. They were Pistons players.
The rebound would inevitably have fallen to them, and they would have gone straight back up for an easy basket.
Instead, Wang Yi had gently tipped the ball upward while in the air.
But his momentum was so great that he couldn't stop himself. He went right past the baseline and crashed into the padding around the stanchion.
He didn't hit the stanchion head-on, though. He braced himself against the padding with both hands.
Using the rebound to his advantage, he shoved hard against the padding with his right hand and suddenly shot back onto the court.
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