The fourth quarter was three minutes old when Wang Yi returned to the game.
It wasn't just Wang Yi returning. Big Lock Rock and Mad Tiger Tagore, who had played the entire third quarter, had rested for only three minutes before heading back onto the court.
In fact, with the defense this intense today, both of them had burned through a lot of energy.
But there was no time left for them to rest.
The Timberwolves had all their starters on the floor, too.
Both teams had shortened their rotations today.
They were each using only seven players.
They had also cut the reserves' playing time further, keeping their starters on the floor longer.
This was the substitution strategy almost every coach used in a game of this caliber.
It could be summed up in just four words: run the starters ragged!
Wang Yi already had a plan in mind.
He had been off the court for nearly eight minutes since leaving in the third quarter.
He had recovered a little energy.
So while he still had some gas in the tank, he would take a few more shots.
He would build a lead in one fell swoop.
Otherwise, if the game stayed this close, he might be out of energy by the final moments—and then either team could win.
As he stepped onto the court, he turned to Mad Tiger Tagore and the others behind him and said,
"Get me the ball!"
The others all nodded.
The Timberwolves got the first possession after the substitution.
At a moment like this, they naturally wanted to get the ball to the player they trusted most.
Their guard, Carmen, dribbled around, looking for Juan, while Juan fought hard to get into position.
Meanwhile, the Raptors switched things up, putting Locke on Juan.