The game began, and Wang Yi was still sitting on the bench.
Although Wang Yi had performed impressively over the past few games, starting him would mean benching Schroder.
Schroder was an emotional player.
Benching him would likely set off a chain reaction.
So until Wang Yi had firmly established his place on the team, head coach Vogel had no plans to start him.
Before long, C.J. McCollum, one of the Trail Blazers' backcourt duo, began to heat up.
He kept using screens to get to the mid-range for jump shots.
With Drummond's slow feet in the paint, McCollum kept sinking mid-range shots right over him.
At the other end, the Trail Blazers' defense was slack when the Lakers attacked.
The Lakers scored again and again.
The Trail Blazers hadn't been a defensive team last year, either.
Their defense hadn't improved much since a new coach took over this year.
Against a team like that, the Lakers' offense flowed smoothly with James orchestrating it.
Kuzma, Pope, and Schroder all made consecutive layups.
Drummond also caught two alley-oops in the paint.
Schroder was playing pretty well today.
In just half a quarter, he'd scored 10 points with outside shots and drives to the basket.
Lillard hadn't done much yet.
He'd taken only three shots in the first quarter, made one, and scored two points.
So by the end of the first quarter, the Lakers were already ahead by eight.
Only then did Wang Yi take the floor.
As his feet touched the hardwood at Moda Center, the system's mechanical prompt rang out in his mind once more:
[Please check in.]
Wang Yi thought:
"Check in."
[Check-in successful!]
[Check-in reward: One Beginner Rebound Experience Card]
Wang Yi didn't use the Experience Card right away.
After what had happened last time, he knew