After Wang Yi finished laying out the play, both teams took the court.
Following their coach's instructions, the Celtics players locked their eyes on Wang Yi as soon as they stepped onto the floor.
At least two of them stuck to him like glue.
Two more players hovered nearby, ready to cut off any path he might take.
But Wang Yi didn't follow the usual playbook. He went straight out of bounds.
He was going to inbound the ball!
The three Celtics players who had been chasing Wang Yi—Jaylen Brown, Benjamin, and Tatum—all looked confused.
Wang Yi was the Raptors' only initiator on offense in this lineup, the only player who could handle the ball.
Normally, a player like that would be on the court to receive the inbound pass, while his teammates set screens to give him a chance to get open.
But Wang Yi wasn't going to receive the ball. He was inbounding it instead.
No one had expected that.
Even Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was frowning. Clearly, he hadn't expected it either.
They hadn't just failed to anticipate Wang Yi going out of bounds to inbound the ball. They also hadn't expected the Raptors' Star Burst Tactic to be arranged vertically.
They'd seen plenty of horizontal Star Burst Tactics, but almost no one had ever seen a vertical one.
What were the Raptors trying to do?
While the Celtics were still trying to make sense of it, Wang Yi took a big step backward out of bounds to create space for the pass.
Then he lobbed the ball straight toward the basket.
With at least three or four Celtics players focused on Wang Yi, the area under the basket was lightly defended.
Charlie Hannum had been standing in the circle just below the free-throw line when