"You have to understand, King Arthur might not be the best player in the league right now, but he's definitely among the top three. Yet in front of Wang Yi, he was like a withered sapling, trampled and demolished at will by Wang Yi, without the slightest ability to fight back."
But this was only the beginning.
For the rest of the first quarter, Wang Yi completely transformed into the Number 0 Thug.
He kept mercilessly attacking the basket at the other end. Even though the Lakers had stepped up their protection of the paint and kept sending double-teams at Wang Yi, nobody could stop him.
And under the basket, anyone who dared to protect the rim would only get posterized by Wang Yi, becoming another part of his highlight reel.
What's more, every shot Wang Yi took in the first quarter came from inside the paint. He didn't shoot from long range or from mid-range. He drove straight to the basket, either posterizing defenders or drawing fouls to score.
Clearly, Wang Yi meant to break the Lakers' spirit this way.
Of course, this wasn't enough to completely destroy the team's morale. Many of them were veterans, after all.
But what truly drove them to despair was Wang Yi's constant steals in the first quarter.
It seemed that no matter where they passed the ball, Wang Yi would steal it.
Wang Yi alone had five steals in the first quarter, and all five led to points.
In other words, just in the first quarter, the Lakers lost at least ten points from turnovers, while the Raptors gained ten. That made for a twenty-point swing.
So, even though Doncic had played pretty well in the first quarter, and Little Rivers had done all right too, the Raptors ended the quarter leading