The pass came in fast.
It skimmed past the faces of several Spurs players, but none of them could react in time. Charlie Hannum got the ball.
Charlie Hannum had matured quite a bit by now, and he had also learned a thing or two from watching Pang Bo play and practice.
After catching the ball, he didn't bring it down. He went straight up.
Wang Yi had made a perfect pass. It arrived right at Charlie's chest, and he caught it with both hands before smoothly pushing it upward.
The bank shot went in.
When he turned back, Wang Yi looked toward Popovich on the sideline.
Then he shook his head at Popovich.
His expression seemed to say, "That's it?"
As it turned out, the reason Wang Yi had lost the ball twice while dribbling in that spot was that there was something wrong with the floor.
The floor there seemed a little softer than the surrounding areas, so the ball didn't bounce as high as it normally would.
That was why Wang Yi had lost control of the ball the first time he dribbled there.
Although it was Wang Yi's first turnover there, the Raptors had actually had about four dribbling turnovers in that spot during the game.
Wang Yi had suspected something was wrong with the floor as soon as he lost the ball there the first time.
The second time he dribbled there with his back to the basket, he kept probing with his left hand to see if there really was a problem.
He was also testing how large the affected area was.
Then he confirmed that there really was something wrong with the floor.
That was the real underhanded tactic Popovich had prepared.
No wonder the Spurs players had been tightly guarding Wang Yi's