Wang Yi leaned his head back against the chair and glanced toward the scoreboard.
They were now down by five.
But it was clear he still hadn't caught his breath.
So Wang Yi held up one finger to head coach Wang Jianhua and the two other coaches beside him.
"Give me one more minute."
The coaches all nodded.
Wang Yi leaned back against the chair again and rested with his eyes closed.
At that point, the only thing Wang Jianhua could do was have the team use as few possessions as possible over the next minute, so the deficit wouldn't grow too much.
He shouted to the players on the court, "Slow it down, slow it down! Use all 24 seconds on every possession!"
The players nodded.
Phil Jackson watched China Team's possession and saw them wait until there were only four seconds left before taking a shot. He understood what they were doing, so he said to the assistant coach on the sideline,
"Tell them to play as fast as they can!"
The assistant coach nodded and immediately shouted to the players on the court,
"Pick up the pace! As fast as you can!"
The American players all nodded.
When Team America got the ball, they raced up the court as fast as they could and attacked the basket at full speed. When one attempt didn't work, they tried again, then took the shot after the second try.
But sometimes, speeding up the offense for its own sake only backfired.
Team America tried to push the pace and took a shot despite not having a very good opportunity. In the end, they missed.
After China Team got the ball, they once again tried to advance slowly. But this time, Team America pressed them full court.
Aleksandar kept using his