Irving was old, but dealing with Zhang Jiacheng wasn't difficult for him.
Even if the Raptors put Wang Yi in front of Irving, Irving could just pass the ball to Aleksandar and have him go after Zhang Jiacheng. That would be easy enough.
That was the so-called hunt-the-mismatch strategy.
But they hadn't accounted for the other team opening with a five-defender lineup.
Now rookie Tagore was sticking to Irving like glue.
Irving was having a rough time.
And with Wang Yi guarding Aleksandar, Aleksandar was having an even rougher time.
Sure enough, the moment Aleksandar got the ball, Wang Yi rushed over. As soon as Aleksandar crossed half court, Wang Yi was all over him with a Deathly Embrace.
Faced with Wang Yi's Deathly Embrace, Aleksandar nearly lost the ball. In the end, he could only pass it to King Arthur.
King Arthur passed to Sabonis.
Sabonis was matched up with Dauding.
Sabonis was slower than Dauding and couldn't jump as high. After trying to take him one-on-one twice without success, he could only pass to Jokic.
Jokic caught the ball on the right wing, at a forty-five-degree angle, with Pang Bo in front of him. He chose to post up.
That wasn't really what Jokic had wanted to do.
He didn't want to start the game by posting up. It took too much energy.
But when he saw that all his teammates except King Arthur were struggling, he decided to start by making something happen himself.
Once he got going, he could pass the ball around and activate the whole team.
Jokic first leaned his back against Pang Bo, feeling out his position, then suddenly faked a move to the right.
Then he spun forward to the left.
He immediately drove toward the basket.
Though Pang Bo hadn't managed