Wang Yi said,
"No matter what happens, all of you need to take it easy. If you can't get a rebound, don't force it. If you can't defend someone, don't push yourself too hard. And there's no need to risk getting hurt to save a ball that's going out of bounds."
Then Wang Yi looked around at all the players.
"Above all, make sure you protect yourselves."
Everyone was baffled by what Wang Yi had said.
Normally, the stronger the opponent, the more fired up Wang Yi became. He would rally his teammates, urging them to give it everything they had and win the game.
But today, the Trail Blazers didn't seem to be playing all that hard. It was just an ordinary Regular Season game.
In fact, the Trail Blazers seemed to have already realized they were going to be the backdrop to someone else's triumph. They'd looked a little lackluster during the first five minutes, as if they'd accepted their fate.
Under the circumstances, Wang Yi's words made no sense at all.
But Wang Yi didn't seem inclined to explain, so nobody asked any more questions.
When they returned to the court, Wang Yi continued to shoulder both the offense and the defense.
No matter which teammate had the ball, he called for it right away.
His teammates could watch him put on a show from the perimeter, but if they wanted to drive inside with the ball, he gave them no chance.
After returning to the court, the Trail Blazers were fired up, spurred on by Billups.
Wang Yi found it harder to score than he had before.
The opposing team threw multiple defenders at him on offense, and they also committed an obvious foul.
But with the score so lopsided, the referees wanted to keep the