Morant Was Completely Broken
Facing Morant, who had never respected him, Wang Yi used his signature moves to completely overpower him on both offense and defense.
But that wasn't even the most terrifying part.
The most terrifying part was that for the next three straight minutes, Wang Yi copied James's lethal defense in crunch time. Don't let James's age fool you—these days, he often defended with his hands on his hips or by throwing them up in exasperation.
But when he was younger, he played hard on defense. Even now, in the crucial defensive possessions of an important game, he could still show tremendous defensive dominance.
And during those three minutes, Wang Yi brought James's dominance in clutch defense to its absolute peak.
He blocked Morant once, stole the ball from him once, and forced a 24-second violation.
On offense, Morant's vaunted physical gifts seemed utterly useless against Wang Yi.
Whether it was dunking over Morant, backing him down, or bulldozing his way to the basket for a layup...
In short, Morant was getting absolutely demolished.
What?
You say Team America had Ayton protecting the rim?
Sorry, but in those eight minutes, Wang Yi had already dunked over Ayton three times.
The rest of the time, he either toyed with Ayton using his footwork;
or drew fouls on him.
In short, Ayton was having a miserable time.
The once-blazing Morant felt dejected and helpless for the first time.
No matter how strong his opponent had been in the past, he'd always believed that as long as he gave it everything he had, he could beat them. Plenty of times, he'd even been able to overpower them outright.
But facing Wang Yi, who seemed capable of anything, he felt small for the first time. Against Wang Yi, he was practically useless.