On the next possession, Wang Yi failed to get another steal, and the other team launched a fast break and hit a three.
With the lead about to grow again, Wang Jianhua was furious. He nearly called a timeout to take Wang Yi out and give him a thorough tongue-lashing.
But Wang Yi had the ball and was pushing up the court to start a fast break. He couldn't interrupt it.
Wang Yi finished the fast break with a flying, gliding layup dunk.
After scoring, Wang Yi let out a roar, venting his frustration.
Then he turned around and headed back on defense.
But as he retreated, Wang Yi anticipated that Serbia would pass the ball to their point guard, so he suddenly turned around.
Sure enough.
Serbia inbounded the ball to their point guard, Trifunovic.
Wang Yi spun around and suddenly burst a big step toward Trifunovic.
And in that quarter alone, he had eight steals, nearly as many as his total across the first two quarters.
This time, because Wang Yi had hit the ball with so much force, Jovic was sent tumbling forward.
Then Jokic thought for a moment and said:
When Zhang Yu came off the court, he glanced at Trifunovic. He thought Trifunovic might have a few choice words for him, but when he saw that Trifunovic had no intention of saying anything, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines, two NBA scouts wrote the following in their notebooks: Excellent ability to hit key threes; could become a clutch player.
The lead shrank to three points.
[Steals: 10. Steal success rate increased to 22%.]
He dribbled toward the frontcourt.
Seeing the lead shrink to three points again in the final moments of the third quarter, Trifunovic finally put aside