An 81-Point Bloodbath: Japan Team Routed!
The second half began, with the teams switching ends.
Japan had been hoping the Chinese players' hot hands would cool off in the second half.
They could then rely on their hard-nosed defense to close the gap.
But they never expected the Chinese players to come back out just as hot as before.
Every player was shooting threes like a machine;
Every player was hitting midrange shots like a machine.
Japan had no way to fight back.
Japan's head coach, Crazy Tom, had always favored gambling with his coaching decisions.
And more often than not, he won those gambles.
But today, he'd gambled that the Chinese players' hot hands would cool off in the second half, and he'd guessed wrong.
It wasn't just the starters who were scorching hot.
Even the substitutes came off the bench with hands as hot as sweet potatoes fresh from the oven.
By the end of the third quarter, the lead had ballooned to 63 points.
Seeing that a comeback was out of reach, Crazy Tom could only call off the attack.
He pulled all his starters from the game.
Everyone assumed that, under the circumstances, China Team would let all its starters call it a night in the fourth quarter.
But to everyone's surprise, all of China Team's starters were still on the court when the fourth quarter began.
The Japanese players were dumbfounded.
We've already pulled our starters. Why haven't you?
Have you no shame?
Can't you give us a chance?
Every member of China Team: No!
And so, the more than ten thousand spectators in the arena watched helplessly as China Team spent another quarter crushing Japan.
Of course, Japan's head coach had considered putting his starters back in.
But then he thought better of it.