Chapter 115

At the start of the third quarter, the Knicks players erupted in performance. First was Landry Fields, who used his height advantage to outmuscle Ben Gordon, who was a head shorter than him, and hit two consecutive three-pointers, instantly narrowing the score gap to 4 points.

Soon after, Zhou Yi passed the ball to Greg Monroe via a screen set by Spencer Hawes. Upon receiving the ball, Monroe immediately responded with a powerful dunk to stabilize the situation.

However, Ronnie Turiaf, who had been quiet for half the game, also stepped up. Instead of competing with Spencer Hawes for position inside, he opted to shoot threes. Receiving an assist from Raymond Felton at the left baseline, Turiaf easily hit a three-pointer, changing the score to 60:57 and allowing the Knicks to quickly close the gap.

At this point, the atmosphere in the Pistons’ bench became tense, even John Kuester frowned.

Zhou Yi dribbled past the half-court line again. By now, he was growing anxious as the Knicks’ sudden surge caught them off guard. After a few dribbles under his arm, Zhou Yi suddenly stepped back, shook off Raymond Felton, and headed toward the basket. Amare Stoudemire rushed to cover him, leaving Greg Monroe unguarded.

Zhou Yi then flipped his wrist, sending the ball to Greg Monroe’s hands. Monroe easily scored with a layup. Landry Fields’ three-point attempt missed, and Greg Monroe grabbed the rebound, passing it to Zhou Yi with a bounce pass. With no one defending him, Zhou Yi glanced at the three-point line, took a deep breath, and released the ball, which smoothly dropped through the net. His composure was evident—his mindset during the game was truly excellent; such open shots rarely missed.

Seeing the Pistons regain control of the game, the Knicks’ head coach Mike D’Antoni called a timeout.

After the timeout, play resumed. The players returned to the court, but John Kuester had already adjusted the Pistons’ lineup. He replaced Ben Gordon with Will Bynum as the point guard, while Zhou Yi was moved to the shooting guard position.

Zhou Yi as shooting guard? Seeing this lineup, a few Pistons fans became excited.

Since Zhou Yi plays as a shooting guard, it means he can shed the burden of organizing the offense and focus entirely on scoring. This way, Zhou Yi is very likely to repeat his impressive performance of scoring over 50 points against the Kings. Just thinking about Zhou Yi’s unstoppable scoring form makes fans excited involuntarily. His scoring prowess is as if the “God of Basketball,” Michael Jordan, has taken possession of his body. Zhou Yi as a shooting guard? What on earth is John Kuester thinking? Mike D’Antoni really doesn’t understand why John Kuester would abandon Zhou Yi’s excellent organizational skills and have him play as a shooting guard instead. Although Zhou Yi is a strong scorer, he is still a rookie and is bound to make mistakes. Using such a rookie as a shooting guard and Will Bynum, who has weaker organizational skills than Zhou Yi, as the point guard is like placing a time bomb on one’s own team. Mike D’Antoni has confidence in his players; he believes the Knicks can definitely contain Zhou Yi, who wants to score. John Kuester should know this too—so why did he assign Zhou Yi to play as a shooting guard? D’Antoni is puzzled by this, but he doesn’t have time to overthink it because the game has already started. He knows the answer he’s looking for will appear soon. After driving past half-court, Will Bynum immediately passed the ball to Zhou Yi. Upon receiving it, Zhou Yi held the ball close to his waist, his eyes fixed on Landry Fields ahead of him. How would he attack? This question crossed everyone’s mind. All those watching the game focused their attention on Zhou Yi, and the cameras from various media outlets were also aimed at him and Landry Fields. John Kuester watched Zhou Yi with an expressionless face, unusually calm, seemingly not worried at all about Zhou Yi making mistakes. His calm demeanor made Mike D’Antoni feel uneasy. What gave John Kuester such confidence? Could it be that Zhou Yi truly had some extraordinary ability? Concerned, Mike D’Antoni turned out to be right. Zhou Yi looked at Landry Fields with a strange smile, which made Landry Fields feel a chill involuntarily.

What on earth is this guy thinking? Could he be gay?
Landry Fields was filled with unease, every nerve in his body tense.
Zhou Yi’s smile vanished suddenly as he raised his hand abruptly, pretending to take a three-point shot.
Seeing this, Landry Fields, already on edge, instinctively raised his arms and jumped to try and block or disrupt Zhou Yi’s shot.
However, after jumping, he realized he had been tricked. Zhou Yi hadn’t actually jumped; he had used the fake shooting pose to lure Landry Fields into jumping.
Zhou Yi smiled slightly and jumped as well, but this time he moved forward and collided with Landry Fields.
“Ding~~~” As Zhou Yi’s arm touched Landry Fields’, the referee’s whistle blew.
Losing his balance, Zhou Yi didn’t let the ball and himself fall to the ground. Instead, after colliding with Landry Fields, he pushed hard with his right hand, sending the ball toward the basket.
“Bang, bang, bang, swish…”
The ball Zhou Yi shot bounced around the basket several times before reluctantly falling in.
After landing and stabilizing himself, Zhou Yi immediately turned his gaze to the referee. The referee didn’t disappoint him—raising three fingers, he signaled a foul by Landry Fields, counting the shot as valid and adding a free throw.
“Yay~~~” A few Pistons fans immediately erupted in excited and frantic cheers.
That three-point shot was absolutely stunning. Not only was it scored in a highly difficult manner, but it also resulted in a foul against the opponent, giving a 3+1 score. Such skill isn’t something everyone can achieve.
Mike D’Antoni frowned before turning his attention to John Kuster. Now he finally understood why John Kuster was so confident. Because Zhou Yi was a player so versatile that everyone could trust him completely.

“Zhou, you really haven’t disappointed me! Your abilities aren’t limited to organizing attacks; you’re just as strong when it comes to scoring individually. No, perhaps focusing entirely on scoring is where you can best showcase your talent. As for ball control, I’m sure Will Bynum can handle it perfectly. Now that Greg and Andre have been energized by your presence, if Tracy comes back too, then our Pistons’ strength… heh. I’m really looking forward to that moment.” A faint smile appeared on John Kuester’s lips; at this moment, he felt the championship was not far away.