Sure enough, after that dunk, the Timberwolves' movements on the court looked disorganized for the next minute, let alone their shooting.
They didn't score a single point in that minute.
Meanwhile, the Raptors' morale was soaring. Their players moved much faster than before and threw themselves into their defensive effort.
As a result, the lead stretched to 10 points.
In a game at this level, once the lead reached more than five points, it was hard to come back. Ten points was even tougher.
So the Timberwolves used another timeout.
Coach Finch called the timeout partly to let his players catch their breath. After Wang Yi's dunk, they needed a chance to regroup.
He also wanted to emphasize their defense against the Raptors.
"Wang Yi has been much more active over the last few minutes than he was in the first half. So our defensive focus from here on should be shutting him down completely. Stay in front of him on defense and don't give him a chance to get the ball. If he gets it, immediately double-team him—or even triple-team him!"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
At the same time, the coach knew the team's morale was low, so he needed to draw up a good play to get them a basket. Ideally, Juan would score it himself, preferably with a powerful dunk right at the rim.
The play Coach Finch designed was indeed quite clever.
First, he had the other players draw Dako and Locke away from the paint. Then they set screens for Juan, giving him a clear path to the basket for an alley-oop dunk.
Juan put everything he had into that dunk.
He knew that to lift his team's spirits, he had to deliver something explosive. Even if he couldn't match Wang Yi's free-throw-line dunk, he