Facing Second Ball and LaMelo Ball as they both leaped to defend him, Wang Yi passed the ball behind his back to Zhang Yu, who was trailing the play.
Zhang Yu didn't care about anything else. No matter what the situation on the court was, no matter how his touch was, if he got a chance, he'd shoot decisively and without hesitation.
The basketball shot off like an arrow loosed from a bow.
It went straight through the net.
A three-pointer to start the game!
Seeing that, Wang Yi turned and slapped Zhang Yu's hand hard, while quietly making up his mind.
Looks like Octopus has a good touch today. I'll have to feed him the ball more.
And when Zhang Yu's shot was falling, Wang Yi could devote more of his energy to defense.
With that thought, he looked back at LaMelo Ball.
A mischievous smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Seeing Wang Yi's grin, LaMelo felt that things didn't look good.
The Hornets had possession now.
They inbounded the ball to LaMelo, and as soon as he got it, Wang Yi started hounding him in the backcourt.
He kept reaching in to disrupt LaMelo's dribble, using his body to crowd him and making plenty of legal contact. It threw LaMelo off his dribble and wore him down.
LaMelo finally made it to the frontcourt in a stumbling fashion. He didn't dare dribble any longer and hurriedly passed the ball to Second Ball.
Today's commentators at courtside were Stephen Curry and Pierce.
Watching the play, Curry said, "Here we go again! Wang Yi's already hounding LaMelo! I can practically see how many points LaMelo will score tonight."
Pierce shrugged.
"You mean Wang Yi's going to hold LaMelo to zero again? How's that possible? Wang Yi's another year