Players like this often didn't win the fans' affection so much as earn their heartfelt respect.
In Wang Jianhua's eyes, Zhang Yu was exactly that kind of player.
In the Asian competitions he'd played in before, Zhang Yu tended to keep a low profile when his team had the upper hand.
But whenever they fell behind, he toughened up—and the more critical the moment, the tougher he became.
He'd hit clutch three-pointers in the final five minutes of crucial games many times, helping China Team win.
At this year's Basketball World Cup, their group-stage opponents hadn't been very strong. Most of the games had been easy wins.
Zhang Yu hadn't done much in those games, and he'd been quiet in the first half against Australia, too.
Now, in the second half, after the so-called prodigy on the opposing team had suddenly hit three three-pointers in a row, Zhang Yu was finally stepping up.
The other team attacked next.
Zhang Yu continued to guard Noah.
Just imagine how exciting this game was going to get.
But that also meant the defense on Zhang Yu would naturally slacken a little.
And Zhang Yu had helped the team shore up its defense, keeping Australia from making up the 12-point gap.
So the two scouts quickly jotted down a few lines in their notebooks:
Without one of those sudden scoring bursts now and then, it was hard to close the gap.
He played 22 minutes in this game.
If Zhang Yu's defense improved further, he could become a top-tier 3-and-D player.
Zhang Yu had been glued to Noah, but two consecutive screens from the opposing team had blocked him.
Their attention had initially been fixed entirely on Noah. But when they saw how well China Team's Wang Yi was playing, they shifted their focus