Chapter 119

At the start of the second quarter, the Bobcats’ Sean Livingston slowly drove into the Pistons’ half, then passed the ball to DJ Augustin. The player in front of DJ Augustin was naturally the Pistons’ Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi’s intense gaze was fixed on DJ Augustin, keeping track of every tiny movement, tightly guarding him and preventing him from getting a shot or making a breakthrough. After several failed attempts to break through and no chance to shoot, DJ Augustin passed the ball to Gerald Wallace. After catching it, he ignored the Pistons’ James Posey in front of him and jumped to shoot a three-pointer.

Perhaps due to a bit too much haste, Gerald Wallace’s three-pointer missed. But he seemed to have anticipated that it wouldn’t go in, so as soon as he shot, he moved first, darting toward the basket like a sharp knife.

“Clang”—the ball hit the rim and bounced out. At the same time, Gerald Wallace had already reached the basket and, before the big men inside could react, he jumped first, reaching for the ball in the air as if trying to grab a rebound.

“This shot is mine,” Gerald Wallace thought confidently. It surely seemed like it was already in his hands.

However, nothing is absolute. That saying might fit this moment well.

Because just as Gerald Wallace was about to catch the ball, a white figure suddenly appeared in front of him, snatching the ball with his right hand before him and holding it tightly against his chest. All Gerald Wallace could see was the large number “37” behind the white figure.

“Chinese Zhou Yi?”

Gerald Wallace fell to the ground along with Zhou Yi, who had stolen his rebound, his eyes filled with shock and anger.

After landing, Zhou Yi didn’t even look around. He casually threw the ball behind his head, and it flew straight to his teammate Jody Mikos, who was standing outside the three-point line.

“Nice pass,” Jody Mikos said excitedly, then immediately turned to launch a fast break with his teammates toward the Bobcats’ half.

“Quickly defend!” At Gerard Wallace’s command, the Bobcats players rushed back to the defense, arriving before the Pistons and getting ready to defend.
Seeing their fast break fail, Jody Mikos quickly slowed down and carefully guarded the ball, waiting patiently for his teammates to position themselves.
With everything ready, the Pistons launched their offensive play, with Zhou Yi taking the pass from a 45-degree angle outside the three-point line on the right wing.
Zhou Yi bent down, holding the ball with his right arm, extending it straight behind him to prevent DJ Augustin, his defender, from getting a chance to touch the ball. At the same time, the other Pistons players moved into position, clearing a path for Zhou Yi.
Those who knew Zhou Yi understood that he was aiming for a one-on-one situation.
“16, 15, 14, 13…”
Zhou Yi hesitated to attack and showed no intention of passing, leaving everyone puzzled about his intentions.
“8, 7, 6…”
It was almost time…
Just as the 24-second timeout was about to expire, Zhou Yi moved. He suddenly stood up straight, stopping all signs of an attack, leaving himself wide open as if inviting someone to steal the ball from him.
What was he doing?
DJ Augustin was filled with doubts. He was sure that a simple move would allow him to steal the ball from Zhou Yi, but he dared not act—out of fear that Zhou Yi might be setting a trap.
As DJ Augustin hesitated, a strange smile appeared on Zhou Yi’s lips, startling him.
But in that moment of confusion, he saw Zhou Yi suddenly dart forward and vanish from sight, leaving only a sudden gust of wind to his right.
“What?”
Those were the only words in DJ Augustin’s mind.
Zhou Yi used his top speed to break into the Bobcats’ penalty area in just three seconds, giving the Bobcats no chance to respond.
That was Zhou Yi’s speed.
Once again, people witnessed it—the simplest, most direct, and most breathtaking way to break through defense, using pure speed to overwhelm the opponent completely.
“Zhou Yi is going to score.”

Every fan who saw Zhou Yi’s speeding figure thought of these words. Because at that moment, there was no one in front of Zhou Yi anymore.
Was there really no one? No, there was still someone trying to stop him—Gerard Wallace.
Ever since Zhou Yi got the ball, Gerard Wallace had been watching his every move. So when Zhou Yi broke through DJ Augustin, he was the first to move, using all his strength to rush back to the basket and block Zhou Yi’s path first.
Zhou Yi remained calm, taking three big steps after catching the ball.
Zhou Yi and Gerard Wallace both leaped into the air; both of their faces were covered in sweat, and the air was filled with the scent of passion and intensity.
The two in the air caught everyone’s attention. All the cameras in the arena captured them from various angles, documenting every tiny movement they made.
If it had been in the past, Zhou Yi would have passed the ball to his teammate in such a situation. But this time, he didn’t intend to pass—it was his own turn to score.
“Ah!” With a loud shout, Zhou Yi pulled his hands back, bringing the basketball back down. Then he changed his movement, sidestepping Gerard Wallace mid-air while raising the basketball again.
With a smooth motion of his right wrist, Zhou Yi sent the basketball flying toward the basket.
Zhou Yi and Gerard Wallace faced each other, both with determined expressions on their faces. Neither of them instinctively checked whether the ball had gone in; they just listened to the sound of the basketball.
Gerard Wallace and Zhou Yi landed on the ground at the same time before turning to see if the ball had entered, ready to grab the rebound.
“Thud, thud, swish…” Two thuds came from the basket, followed by the familiar, crisp sound of the net brushing against the rim.
Gerard Wallace’s eyes flashed with dark anger, while Zhou Yi wore a relaxed smile.
A dodge-and-layup in mid-air!
Zhou Yi actually knew how to do this move too. But his version was too crude, so McGrady taught him several times until he finally mastered it.
The scoreboard now read 26:32—the Pistons were 6 points behind the Bobcats.

Zhou Yi chuckled at Gerard Wallace, then turned and ran back to the backcourt with his teammates. Gerard Wallace watched Zhou Yi’s retreating figure, his fighting spirit growing stronger by the moment.

The Bobcats’ attack failed, and the Pistons secured the defensive rebound before passing it to Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi drove with the ball, using James Posey as a screen, then stopped abruptly and scored again with a jump shot.

The offense and defense switched, and it was the Bobcats’ turn to attack again. Gerard Wallace took the ball from DJ Augustin and shot from beyond the three-point line. Unfortunately, all he heard was the sound of a miss.

Zhou Yi fought for the defensive rebound and then passed the ball long to Jody Mikos. Jody Mikos and James Posey launched a fast break, with Jody Mikos finishing with a layup. Seeing the Pistons narrow the score to 2 points, the Bobcats’ head coach, Paul Silas, quickly called a timeout. If they didn’t call a timeout now, the Pistons could easily take the lead.

Chapter 308: Crushing the Bobcats

After the timeout, the game resumed. The Pistons’ Ben Gordon replaced Jody Mikos, McGrady replaced James Posey, and Spencer Hawes replaced Samuel Dalembert.

“Ball!” Gerard Wallace said, signaling to Boris Özcan, who was standing by the sideline ready to inbound the ball. Boris smiled and handed the ball to Gerard Wallace. Since Gerard Wallace wanted to attack, he would give him the ball.

Gerard Wallace dribbled into the Pistons’ half, and McGrady rushed ahead to guard him. But rather than worrying about McGrady’s defense, Gerard Wallace glanced at another Pistons player—Zhou Yi.

Gerard Wallace gave a subtle signal to the Bobcats’ interior center, the “draft bust” Kwame Brown. Understanding the signal, Kwame Brown immediately rushed out to set a screen for him, blocking McGrady’s defense.

With McGrady blocked, how could Gerard Wallace waste this opportunity? So, as Kwame Brown set the screen for him, he suddenly broke free, using his speed to break into the Pistons’ paint. Now, he had to face Spencer Hawes’ counterdefense.

Spencer Hawes guarding Gerard Wallace? No one thought Spencer Hawes could stop him. Some Bobcats fans at the game watched with amusement as they waited for the rookie center to suffer a defeat.

And Gerald Wallace didn’t disappoint his Hornets fans who loved him—he rushed into the Pistons’ penalty area, took three quick steps from the baseline to the basket, broke through Spencer Hawes’s defense, and dunked with both hands.
It was the Pistons’ turn. McGrady drove past half the court and passed to Zhou Yi. The latter immediately shot a long-distance three-pointer, which went straight through the net.
29:34.
It was the Hornets’ turn. Gerald Wallace responded right away, using a screen set up by teammate Stephen Jackson to hit a three-pointer.
29:37.
Zhou Yi drove to the basket, tricked Boris Diaw into jumping, and then passed skillfully to Tyler Hansbrough. The latter caught the ball and dunked decisively.
……
34:39.
Gerald Wallace drove and passed to teammate Boris Diaw, who took a free-throw line shot and made a two-point shot.
……
39:43.
After Ben Gordon’s mid-range shot missed, Zhou Yi grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a putback.
In the rest of the game, the Pistons and Hornets engaged in a back-and-forth battle, led by Zhou Yi and Gerald Wallace respectively. The Pistons’ tactics were clearly very different from before—they no longer relied on the traditional inside-out approach centered around Greg Monroe, but instead gave most of the ball-handling responsibility to Zhou Yi.
Zhou Yi, as the focal point, could play both inside and outside, making it hard for opponents to defend him. In a sense, the Pistons’ tactics resembled an alternative form of triangle offense, with Zhou Yi as the core who could operate freely without restrictions.
On the Hornets’ side, although Gerald Wallace performed well and his teammates also played well, their overall defensive ability was clearly weaker than that of the well-trained Pistons. As a result, they couldn’t defend effectively against the Pistons, allowing the gap between the two teams to narrow gradually.
By the end of the third quarter, the score was 65:66, with the Pistons only one point behind the Hornets.
In the first three quarters, Zhou Yi had already scored 19 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and provided 8 assists; Gerald Wallace wasn’t far behind, with 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists of his own.
“Ding”—as the bell rang to start the fourth quarter, the final showdown between the Pistons and Hornets began.

In the fourth quarter, John Kuester made a few more adjustments to the strategy, once again designating Greg Monroe as the tactical core, with the others acting as his assistants in executing set plays. Zhou Yi had already been taken off the court by him to rest, replaced by Will Bynum. John Kuester did this because Zhou Yi’s stamina was running low. Having just returned from China, he hadn’t fully adjusted to the time difference, so his energy levels were naturally low. In a previous game, Zhou Yi collapsed on the ground right after the match ended. This time, John Kuester absolutely wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen again. Therefore, in the earlier quarters, he had let Zhou Yi serve as the tactical core, using his new strategy to help Greg Monroe conserve energy so he could give his all during the critical moments of the fourth quarter. And for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, John Kuester definitely wouldn’t send Zhou Yi back on the court. Zhou Yi needed rest; he had to get some breathing room. Only then could he give his all in the final six minutes and help lead the Pistons to victory alongside Greg Monroe. In the first half of the fourth quarter, Gerald Wallace, who had been constantly battling against Zhou Yi, was also taken off the court by the Bobcats’ head coach, Paul Silas, to rest. In this way, both core players began to save their energy for the final decisive period. Now, it was up to the teammates to carry on the fight on the court!