Wang Yi was lying on the floor.
When his teammates came over to ask if he was okay,
Wang Yi shook his head.
After they helped him up,
he rubbed his forehead with his right hand.
In fact, when Wang Yi had made contact with Victor Wembanyama just now,
he had been moving backward.
That had taken most of the force out of Wembanyama's blow.
It had looked like Wembanyama's elbow had struck Wang Yi in the forehead,
but in reality, the two had only made light contact.
And the part that had made contact was the hardest part of Wang Yi's face: his forehead.
So Wang Yi was fine.
Phil Jackson, watching from the sideline, was also a little surprised by what he had seen.
Wang Yi's dunk hadn't surprised him.
Neither had Wang Yi's various unbelievable shots.
He knew Wang Yi could pull off things like that.
But now, seeing Wang Yi draw a foul on Wembanyama so easily,
he was surprised.
Wang Yi had been moving backward just then.
It was usually difficult to defend someone while moving backward.
Yet Wang Yi hadn't just managed to defend him.
He had also picked the perfect moment,
making contact with the other man's elbow.
And he himself seemed completely unharmed.
That took exceptional reflexes and body coordination.
If your reflexes were exceptional
but your coordination wasn't good enough,
then even if you reacted in time,
you still couldn't move your body quickly enough to block the other player's elbow.
Conversely, if your coordination was exceptional
but your mind couldn't react fast enough,
that would be no help either.
Wembanyama had already picked up a foul in the first quarter.
This was his second.
The Spurs still hadn't realized how serious the problem was,
but Wembanyama, who had been benched