Chapter 54

The second quarter of the game started quickly, with both teams making further adjustments to their lineups before kickoff.
Hornets: Jalen Jackson, Willie Green, Jason Smith, Emeka Okafor, Quincy Pondexter.
Pistons: Will Bynum, Zhou Yi, James Posey, Charlie Villanueva, Taylor Hansbrough.
Zhou Yi took control of the ball in the first half. Faced with Willie Green’s defense and a tightly packed front line, he moved around several times before tapping the ground with his left foot and executing a crossover. With his first step, he moved past Willie Green by half a body length, and on his second step, he accelerated even further under seemingly impossible circumstances, leaving him two body lengths behind.
Zhou Yi reached just inside the free-throw line, jumped to shoot, with Emeka Okafor the only player in front of him.
Emeka Okafor watched Zhou Yi shoot and quickly tried to jump up to block it. But as he lunged forward, Zhou Yi suddenly twisted his body and passed the ball from behind Emeka Okafor.
“Bang!”
A loud noise echoed through the New Orleans arena as Taylor Hansbrough grabbed the basket tightly before falling to the ground.
Zhou Yi gave a thumbs-up to Taylor Hansbrough before quickly retreating to defend.
For the fans in the arena, the dunk was absolutely stunning, especially Zhou Yi’s pass—perfectly executed.
It was an outstanding offensive play, likely one of the top five plays of the day.
With this assist, Zhou Yi showed the home crowd that he had what it took to challenge their “Queen Bee”—Chris Paul.
On the commentary booth, two older men continued their relentless debate: “See? I told you, Derek. That Chinese kid from the Pistons isn’t easy to handle. He’s going to cause trouble for the Hornets.”
“Uh…” Derek paused before retorting, “It’s just one assist! Is it that serious? Let’s keep watching the game!”
Zhou Yi glanced briefly at the Hornets’ bench and saw Chris Paul watching him with a smile, which made him feel a bit strange.
With Chris Paul out, the Hornets were a different team. Their main goal as substitutes was to hold their own under Emeka Okafor’s leadership, reducing pressure on Chris Paul until he returned to the court.

Willie Green drove to the front and passed to Jason Smith. Jason Smith drove past defenders before stopping abruptly to take a jump shot, only to be completely blocked by James Posey. Zhou Yi grabbed the defensive rebound and rushed with the ball toward the Hornets’ half-court. Zhou Yi quickly reached the Hornets’ basket, which was now empty. Instead of attempting a dunk, he went for a simple layup—the ball went in, earning 2 points. There was a reason for his choice: the Pistons’ morale wasn’t low, so he didn’t need to use a dunk to boost it. Moreover, the upcoming matchup against Chris Paul would be tough, so he needed to conserve his energy. With a score of 22–21, the Pistons scored 4 points at the start of the second quarter, reducing the Hornets’ 5-point lead to just 1 point. At that moment, the Hornets’ head coach, Monty Williams, called a timeout. After the timeout, Chris Paul replaced Willie Green, David Anderson replaced Karl Landry, and Chris Welker replaced Charlie Villanueva. David Anderson passed the ball to Chris Paul, and Will Bynum, who was closest to him, immediately closed in. Will Bynum was also determined not to let Chris Paul easily execute a fast break, as that would boost the Hornets’ morale. However, he had just realized the terrifying speed of Chris Paul—after crossing half-court, Chris Paul changed direction quickly, and Will Bynum was easily outmaneuvered. Then, Chris Paul stepped onto the free-throw line with his right foot and leaped high. Although he was only 183 cm tall, he jumped as high as he could, unleashing his terrifying jumping ability. With one hand on the line, he spun, causing the basket to creak in pain. “Oh, God… What did I just see? Is that move done by Chris? Shouldn’t that kind of dunk be done by Kobe or LeBron?” The commentator who had previously supported the Pistons realized he had now switched his allegiance to the Hornets after saying those words, having seen the triumphant smile on Derek’s face.

The fans in the New Orleans arena went wild once again—Chris Paul’s dunk exceeded their visual limits; many even couldn’t bear to watch anymore and instead recalled that moment that proved humans could fly as well.
Zhou Yi carefully made his way to the top of the key. Chris Wilcox blocked him briefly, after which he rushed inside from the right and immediately launched a quick stop-and-shoot. Just as the basketball was about to leave his hand and trace a graceful parabolic path toward the net, the Pistons players, who had been waiting to hear the sound of the ball hitting the net, heard something entirely different—a loud, violent thud instead.
“Thud!” Chris Paul fell from above, gave Zhou Yi a gesture, then quickly headed toward the Pistons’ half-court.
“That terrifying guy—how fast he is,” Zhou Yi muttered in frustration.
The ball landed in Jason Smith’s hands. He quickly took control of it and passed it to the Hornets. Chris Paul drove toward the Pistons’ half-court with the ball.
The Pistons defended swiftly, showing their strong tactical skills. By the time Chris Paul reached their half-court, Zhou Yi was already ready to defend him.
At the top of the key, Chris Paul saw Emeka Okafor positioned well under the basket, so he threw the ball up.
Having been outdone by rookie Greg Monroe with layups and dunks earlier, Emeka Okafor felt his face was about to be completely lost. Now, with a chance to fight back, he was determined to make a big move. He dribbled while pushing hard against Tyler Hansbrough, eventually pushing him aside and dunking the ball with one hand.
“Whoa, that’s fucking awesome,” Emeka Okafor yelled excitedly.
Tyler Hansbrough gave Emeka Okafor a disdainful look, then passed the ball to Zhou Yi and quickly ran back toward the Hornets’ half-court.
“Clang”—a miss sound. Chris Wilcox’s mid-range shot missed. Zhou Yi leaped up, caught the flying ball, and secured the offensive rebound. Immediately afterward, he used a layup to put the ball back in the basket.
Chris Paul glanced at his teammates’ positions, then did two dribbles under his arm, stepped back, and shot a three-pointer from beyond the arc.

With a swish, the basketball went straight into the net.
“Really accurate,” Zhou Yi thought to himself.
Chris Paul gave Zhou Yi a meaningful look before stepping back to defend.
Zhou Yi wasn’t intimidated by Chris Paul’s performance. He caught the ball just inside the three-point line, aimed at the basket, and launched a reckless jump shot—the ball traced a beautiful arc before falling through the net.
Zhou Yi was fully determined to take on Chris Paul, and the two traded blows back and forth.
Chris Paul orchestrated the Hornets’ offense, broke through at the baseline, passed behind him to Jalen Jackson at the top of the key, who immediately shot a three-pointer.
With another swish, the ball went in.
This time, John Kuester remained extremely calm, looking like a meditating monk, showing no intention of calling a timeout.
The Pistons attacked, and James Posey received a brilliant pass from Zhou Yi and scored a beautiful three-pointer from zero angle.
Seeing this, John Kuester smiled.
Recently, both teams had been shooting at astonishing rates.
Chris Paul cut toward the basket from the middle, received a pass from Quincy Pondexter, and tried to drive straight in, but was disrupted by Zhou Yi, preventing the layup from going in.
Tyler Hansbrough grabbed his fifth rebound of the game and passed it to Zhou Yi.
After dribbling past half-court, Zhou Yi used James Posey as a screen to charge straight into the Hornets’ basket, drawing the attention of another defender. As expected, he passed the ball to the open Chris Wilcox, who took a big step and dunked successfully.
Monty Williams shook his head in disappointment as the Pistons scored another offensive run. In the second quarter, the Hornets’ defense was extremely poor, not even reaching half of what it was in the first quarter.
So, Monty Williams called a timeout to scold his players.
“I’m sure you all know why I called this timeout. Look at your defense—it’s full of holes. I don’t want to see this kind of defense anymore. If anyone continues to act like this, they’ll be benched. We’re not short of players,” Monty Williams yelled angrily at the Hornets’ players.
After the timeout, Zhou Yi of the Pistons was replaced by McGrady, James Posey by Tashawn Prince, and Chris Wilcox by Samuel Dalembert.
On the Hornets’ side, Trevor Ariza replaced Jason Smith, and Karl Landry replaced David Anderson.

Perhaps Monty Williams’ scolding worked, as the Hornets indeed stepped up their defense in the following games, leaving the Pistons’ offense at a loss. Chris Paul effortlessly drove past half-court, made a bounce pass that quickly reached Karl Landry, who turned and hit a jump shot. Tyreke Evans’ three-point attempt missed, and Samuel Dalembert grabbed an offensive rebound and passed it to McGrady. McGrady went one-on-one with Trevor Ariza and attempted a backdoor jump shot, which also missed. Emeka Okafor grabbed a defensive rebound and quickly passed it to Chris Paul. Chris Paul hit another three-pointer with no one guarding him, and McGrady responded in just eight seconds by breaking through to beyond the Hornets’ three-point line and shooting a three-pointer himself, which also landed. But then Chris Paul struck back again. After halftime, Chris Paul threw the ball high, and Trevor Ariza cut to the basket from the side and leaped high to dunk with both hands. Just over a minute and a half after the timeout, Chris Paul had already scored 3 points and given 2 assists; his performance was so outstanding that it drew screams from the fans in the arena. With 3 minutes left in the first half, Zhou Yi entered the game once more, but he didn’t have an advantage in facing Chris Paul. Zhou Yi quickly drove past half-court and, seeing Greg Monroe blocking for the ball inside, threw a high pass that quickly reached Greg Monroe. The pass was very clever—it arrived just as Greg Monroe turned to hold his ground. He used his shoulders to push Karl Landry away, gaining a little space to jump under the basket. Greg Monroe was like a tiger descending from the mountains; he roared under the basket, his massive body soaring into the air. Emeka Okafor, who was covering him, couldn’t stop him at all and instead was called for a blocking foul because he had stepped into the legal contact area. Greg Monroe made his first free throw, but his second missed the rim. Samuel Dalembert grabbed an offensive rebound and passed the ball to Zhou Yi on the perimeter. After receiving the ball, Zhou Yi quickly broke through, but as soon as he took his first step, the ball disappeared from his hands. Looking at his watch, Zhou Yi realized that Chris Paul had stolen the ball.

“Swish,” Chris Paul’s three-pointer from the baseline hit—this was his 17th point in the first half and his fourth three-pointer of the period. Monty Williams was very satisfied with the Hornets’ performance, nodding repeatedly. Meanwhile, John Kuester, sitting on the Pistons’ bench, looked displeased. With a 10-point deficit, the Pistons appeared anxious, the game was chaotic, with no coherent offense, and their defense was completely ineffective. Added to this was the Hornets’ fierce attacks orchestrated by Chris Paul, making it extremely difficult for the Pistons to catch up. In the end, led by “The Queen Bee” Chris Paul, the Hornets took a 9-point lead into halftime, finishing 48–39 over their opponents. In the first half, Chris Paul was 6 of 9 from the field, 3 of 4 from three-point range, scoring 17 points, along with 9 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals—a truly outstanding performance. He only committed 1 error and 1 foul throughout the half. In contrast, Zhou Yi’s stats weren’t far behind Chris Paul’s: 4 of 8 from the field, 11 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block. However, Zhou Yi’s negative stats were concerning—4 errors and 3 fouls, all caused by Chris Paul, which explained why Zhou Yi played only 14 minutes in the first half. “The sting of The Queen Bee is truly extraordinary!” Zhou Yi murmured to himself. Chapter 212: Soaring High in the Sky “Chris dribbles under pressure—the Chinese kid didn’t fall for it, but Chris also doesn’t break through; he passes to Trevor… Trevor shoots a mid-range shot—perfect! Another score! This is Chris’s 11th assist! Good heavens! The third quarter has just begun, and Chris has already added 2 more assists, bringing his total to 11. Combined with his 17 points, he’s already achieved a double-double. Wow, and look at his rebounds and steals—6 and 5 respectively. Is Chris aiming for a quadruple-double in this game?” The DJ at the scene exclaimed loudly as the score gap between the two teams continued to widen. And it was all because of New Orleans’ king, “The Queen Bee” Chris Paul. “Is this the gap between me and the league’s top point guard? A quadruple-double—he wants to achieve one in front of me?” Zhou Yi asked himself.

After seeing Chris Paul’s outstanding performance, Zhou Yi’s fighting spirit was completely ignited, and two sharp glints flashed in his dark eyes.