Some people said Wang Yi was always on the court and never got to rest, so how could this count as slacking off?
Actually, when Wang Yi stood in the corner, he saved the energy he would've spent running around screens, as well as the energy he'd have used to receive the ball and initiate the offense.
Even just a few possessions like that could help Wang Yi recover.
Tonight, on defense, Wang Yi had been assigned to guard Brown, holding him to just one make on six attempts in the first quarter.
Although the Celtics had been very efficient on offense in the first quarter, Brown was incredibly frustrated.
It looked like everyone on the Celtics was showing off in the first quarter, while Brown was the only one getting beaten up.
On offense, they were relying entirely on Wang Yi.
Little Carter could pass the ball, but his limited talent meant he wasn't very sharp when initiating the offense. He couldn't shake his defender, so he couldn't deliver many quality passes.
So most of the time, after dribbling across half court, he passed the ball to Wang Yi and let him initiate the offense.
And tonight, because Wang Yi was pursuing shots from negative angles, he often passed up chances to shoot a three from the top of the arc.
Instead, he expended more energy getting past his defender and going to the corner to shoot a three.
Even when he got a rebound under the basket, he wouldn't shoot right away. He'd expend more energy heading to the corner to shoot a three.
What's more, even when he didn't have the ball, he had to work hard to get open, create space, and break up the opposing team's double-team.
As a result, he'd expended far more energy