After both teams came off the court, Timberwolves coach Finch stressed to his players:
"Defend the three! We have to defend Wang Yi's threes!"
"Do not lose track of him again!"
"When we're battling for rebounds inside, we need to keep someone on the perimeter focused on Wang Yi at all times!"
The players knew they'd made that mistake just moments ago, so they all answered:
"Yes, Coach!"
Coach Finch continued:
"On offense, we need to go after Dauding as much as possible! Carmen, Juan—whenever you get the ball, try to attack Dauding. He's already got five fouls. One more and we can foul him out!"
Juan and Carmen nodded together. "Understood!"
Over on the Raptors' side, as the players came off the court, the head coach came over to high-five Wang Yi, then gave him a thumbs-up.
There was no need to say more. Those three threes just now had been incredible!
Then the head coach encouraged and praised the other players one by one. Finally, he high-fived Dauding and said:
"Those three rebounds just now were incredible! People always call you a blue-collar player, but with those three rebounds, you showed everyone your rebounding ability!"
Dauding felt a surge of excitement at those words.
For years, people had criticized him, saying he was nothing but a role player, and that he wouldn't even make the starting lineup on other teams.
He'd endured a lot of criticism, and he wanted to prove himself.
But his talent and ability were limited. He only had a few good games now and then; most of the time, he was average, and sometimes he even played poorly.
That only brought him even more criticism.
But after those three rebounds, all that criticism would vanish.
Without those three rebounds, Wang Yi might have made