Chapter 87

By the 5-minute mark of the second quarter, the Pistons switched to Zhou Yi and Will Bynum as their twin point guards. Once Zhou Yi entered the game, he was extremely active. He broke through from the middle, with De’Aunte Zeglin, who had replaced Tyreke Evans, defending him. After several dribbles under his body, Zhou Yi suddenly accelerated and feigned a breakthrough. As Zeglin stepped back, Zhou Yi jumped for a shot, extending the Pistons’ lead to 10 points.

On the Kings’ side, DeMarcus Cousins was the main offensive force. Right after Zhou Yi scored with a jump shot, he immediately caught a pass from Beno Udrih and scored inside. With the ball in their possession, Will Bynum quickly drove across half-court. He had performed well in this game, making several clever passes with solid skill.

At that moment, Beno Udrih’s defensive stance seemed more focused on following Zhou Yi rather than watching the ball. From the start of the game, he stuck closely to Zhou Yi, never relaxing no matter where he went. Since the court was relatively small, he couldn’t keep up in speed, but with the help of his teammates, Zhou Yi never got a clear shooting opportunity.

After several failed attempts to break through, Will Bynum had no choice but to pass the ball to Greg Monroe. Zhou Yi continued to move without the ball, using his outstanding play to keep the Kings’ defenders occupied. Although he didn’t have the ball, he at least drew the attention of at least two defenders, giving other players more opportunities.

DeMarcus Cousins tightly contained Greg Monroe’s positioning. Monroe’s signature turnaround jump shots required space to turn, but DeMarcus Cousins wouldn’t give him that chance. After several physical confrontations, Monroe quickly passed the ball. His pass was sudden—while he was still locked up with DeMarcus Cousins, the ball had already been passed from inside the paint.

At that moment, Zhou Yi was at the baseline. After catching the ball, he didn’t shoot right away. Beno Udrih’s reckless defense posed a problem for him, and De’Aunte Zeglin was also rushing over. If they formed a double team, he would be in real trouble.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi’s eyes lit up. With a quick wrist motion, he sent the ball toward the other side. James Posey caught the ball and scored from beyond the three-point line.

The Kings made a substitution, with Tyreke Evans replacing De’Aunte Zeglin.

After the Kings’ offensive attempts failed, Zhou Yi grabbed a defensive rebound. Holding the ball, Zhou Yi launched an attack and stopped just outside the Kings’ three-point line. Before Tyreke Evans could realize what was happening, Zhou Yi’s brilliant pass was shown once again to the fans in the arena. The ball was passed beneath his body to Will Bynum, who was standing alone at a 45-degree angle on the right wing, with no defenders around him—their attention was focused on Zhou Yi. Despite facing several dangerous situations, Zhou Yi managed to resolve them time and time again, especially with that incredible pass to Tyreke Evans. The ball reached Will Bynum’s hands, who promptly shot it, and it went straight into the basket. Zhou Yi was in good form that day, scoring 16 points by the end of the first half, along with 6 assists, helping the Pistons take a 45-37 lead. The Kings played well defensively that day, but their offense was in disarray. Under the Pistons’ tight defense, the Kings scored only 37 points in the first half. Their two star players, DeMarcus Cousins and Greg Monroe, were already struggling in their matchups. As for their key guard, Tyreke Evans, he ran out of energy under Zhou Yi’s relentless pressure; before even half time was over, he was already pale with exhaustion and sat down on the bench early. Chapter 264: Another Stalemate. After the second half began, the entire Kings’ starting lineup was almost completely overwhelmed by the Pistons, performing poorly both inside and outside the paint. Even Tyreke Evans, who had been performing well earlier, joined the ranks of those shooting blanks in the third quarter. During the few minutes Zhou Yi faced Tyreke Evans in that quarter, Tyreke missed three shots. The Kings’ main players, Omi Cassby and Jason Thompson, although they had done well in the first two quarters, now looked quite desperate. Fortunately, their backups held their own—Karl Landry and Eugene Jeter performed fairly well.

Terryck Evans carried the ball at the top of the key, looking for an opportunity. Given his skill in controlling the ball, he wasn’t worried about it being taken away easily. However, his constant movements posed a problem. When deciding on defensive tactics, John Kuster opted for a tight defense throughout the game. The Kings were best at fast breaks, and a prerequisite for these breaks was getting the ball across the half-court quickly and handing it to a player in a favorable position as soon as possible. An attack could be completed in just about ten seconds, and the longer the attack took, the lower the chances of success for the Kings.

Zhou Yi’s disruptions were deliberate. His aim wasn’t to steal the ball from Terryck Evans. With Terryck’s steady control, even Zhou Yi couldn’t easily take it away. He always kept a two-step distance from Terryck, preventing him from having enough time to get moving.

It took Terryck Evans about 6 seconds to get the ball across the half-court. Around the other Kings players, Pistons players stood by. Terryck Evans sighed inwardly—the Pistons’ defense was frustrating.