His style was so unpredictable that even opponents studying him found it hard to keep up. They never knew what kind of game he would bring to the court next.
Tonight, Wang Yi was clearly focusing more on help defense, looking to force turnovers through it.
Lisa Luo pondered for a moment, then said to the players who had just checked out:
"Wang Yi's help defense has been extremely effective over the last two games, so we need to watch out for it. Keep the ball as far away from him as possible."
"If he's on the left side of the court, send the ball to the right. If he's on the right, send it left. If he's outside the three-point line, get it inside. If he's in the paint, send it outside the arc!"
The coach spoke the last part of her instructions in a rush, spittle flying. She was clearly wary of Wang Yi.
The players were just as cautious, nodding one after another.
While Wang Yi rested, the Grizzlies' reserves cut the deficit to just three points.
There was no way around it. The Raptors simply didn't have many players on their bench.
The team wanted to give Zhang Yu more time to develop, so they played him longer tonight and gave their starting Small Forward, Locke, fewer minutes. Locke mostly played during the stretches between the starters' shifts.
Without Wang Yi and Zhang Yu, the lineup Locke led wasn't nearly as strong on defense. Its offense was even worse, since there was hardly anyone in it who could run the offense properly.
That was the Raptors' biggest problem this year.
So at the start of the second quarter, Raptors Head Coach Dako sent Zhang Jiacheng in to lead the team.
At least with him on the