Although Wemby was positioned farther up the floor this time and could defend in front of Wang Yi, the moment Wang Yi got the ball, he took off. He powered through Wemby and scored with a Mid-air Crossover Layup, putting China Team up by six.
Seeing this, France coach Tony Parker realized Antoine was struggling and decided to take him out.
But there hadn't been a dead ball, and he had just called a timeout, so he couldn't make the substitution right away.
Antoine stayed on the court for another two minutes, and accomplished nothing during that stretch.
Finally, with five minutes left in the first quarter, he found an opportunity to take Antoine out.
As Antoine left the court, his eyes were unfocused.
He had clearly been rattled.
He hadn't made any mistakes during those two minutes, but Wang Yi had relentlessly targeted him, scoring almost every time right in front of him.
The worst part was that sometimes there was no one guarding the basket, but Wang Yi wouldn't go straight for a dunk. Instead, he would seek out Antoine, either getting past him again or shooting right in front of him.
That was what hurt Antoine's confidence the most.
Tony Parker watched Antoine and let out a quiet sigh.
Wang Yi really knows how to play.
France's twin towers had been dazzling at this Basketball World Cup. No team had managed to break through them.
But Wang Yi's approach was to use his individual skill to keep attacking Antoine.
Antoine was too young and didn't have enough experience on the court. After getting scored on a few times, he was bound to start doubting himself.
Once that happened, Antoine's performance would suffer, and his usefulness on the court would be greatly diminished.
Parker had no choice but