Chapter 27

Three minutes into the second quarter, after Zhou Yi caused an offensive foul on Ellis, the Warriors’ last starting player, Monta Ellis, was finally substituted out by Stephen Curry. Zhou Yi took another free throw and made both. As he retreated to defend, he high-fived several of his teammates in excitement. Koostert’s smile grew even wider as he watched his team’s well-organized offense. Although Stephen Curry appeared youthful, he played with great stability, far from that of a young player. Zhou Yi had a deep understanding of this after facing Curry. Curry didn’t use any fancy dribbling moves, but they were very practical. After a crossover dribble, he used his teammates’ screens to charge straight toward the basket, heading straight for Monroe, who was already guarding the paint. With no choice, Monroe rushed forward. Curry jumped, seemingly aiming for a layup, but passed the ball to David Lee, who was cutting from the middle, just a second before making contact with Monroe. David Lee easily scored with a layup. “It seems another tough battle ahead!” Zhou Yi thought to himself. Zhou Yi and McGrady coordinated perfectly—Zhou Yi slowly dribbled outside the three-point line, looking for an opportunity. After Monroe set a screen for McGrady, McGrady rushed straight to the basket from the baseline, where there was hardly anyone. Zhou Yi quickly threw the ball, and McGrady caught it and scored with a smooth layup. “Ding!” David Lee’s layup resulted in a defensive foul on Monroe, marking Monroe’s second foul of the game. Koostert thought for a moment, then, while David Lee was taking his free throw, substituted Monroe out with Big Ben and Durham Porter with Hansbrough. McGrady, who had performed well, was also replaced by Bynum. Koostert made these decisions for two reasons: first, McGrady’s physical condition—he hadn’t fully recovered yet. The team doctor had checked him earlier, and there were still issues with his knee, but nothing serious. The second reason was that Monta Ellis had returned to the court. So, Koostert decided to have Zhou Yi and Bynum form a twin guard lineup to counter Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry’s twin guard lineup. David Lee made his first free throw, but missed the second. Big Ben grabbed the rebound and passed it to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi organized the attack. Seeing that Bynum had a good chance, he passed the ball to him without hesitation. “Thud” — another miss echoed in the air as David Lee grabbed the rebound in the backcourt.

Monta Ellis rushed down the court, passed by Bynum, and headed straight for the basket. He pushed off hard, leaping high in an attempt to dunk. “Swish” — the ball was blocked. Ellis looked up to see a towering figure standing in front of him: Ben Wallace.

After the ball was blocked by Ben, it fell into the hands of Andris Biedrins, who tried to drive to the basket. But once again, “Swish” — the ball was blocked again. Ben grabbed the rebound right after blocking it and passed it long to Bynum. Then, with a look of disdain in his eyes, Ben glanced at David Lee, as if warning him that this was no-fly zone.

After receiving Ben’s pass, Bynum charged straight to the basket and easily scored a dunk.

Ellis gloomily dribbled the ball, frustrated by being blocked by Ben earlier. “Old man, let’s see how many more days you can stay in the NBA!” Monta Ellis said angrily.

As Monta Ellis moved past the midcourt line, Bynum quickly closed in on him. “Kid, prove it by getting even closer,” Monta Ellis said scornfully to Bynum. “If you want me to block you like Ben Wallace did, I’d be happy to!” Bynum retorted triumphantly. “You… Hmph, I’ll show you how I block you!”

Monta Ellis accelerated suddenly, trying to slip past Bynum. But Bynum reacted quickly and followed closely. Unexpectedly, Monta Ellis made a quick change of direction and broke through from the other side. Bynum stumbled, almost falling. Monta Ellis felt proud and kept speeding toward the basket to dunk. Seeing Hansbrough reaching out to block him, Monta Ellis switched from his right hand to his left to shoot. But just as he released the ball, another “Swish” was heard by everyone.

“This is no-fly zone!” Ben’s deep, rough voice reached all the Warriors players.

Chapter 126: A Hot Pot Feast for Them

The fans in the arena cheered for Dabben as he delivered three blocks in less than 2 minutes. The loud cheers from the crowd were deafening, and Dabben seemed to enjoy the enthusiasm of the home fans, squinting as he glanced around at the stands.

The ball that went under the basket was caught by Zhou Yi, who then drove fast to set up a passing play with Daye in the air.

At this moment, the Warriors’ players looked extremely frustrated, especially Monta Ellis. On the other hand, the Pistons’ players were full of energy, especially Bynum, who had previously exchanged insults with Monta Ellis, now smiling wider than anyone else.

“What are you laughing about? Defend seriously!” Zhou Yi glanced at Bynum and reminded him.

“I know, haha. I’m really glad to see Monta Ellis get a block, even though it wasn’t me who did it,” Bynum said with glee.

Zhou Yi rolled his eyes and said irritably, “Then block him yourself—wouldn’t that be even better?”

“Hehe, that’s a good idea. I’ll block him!” Bynum looked serious, clearly determined to block Monta Ellis.

“Bang,” another miss. Ellis glared at the basket and muttered, “Why did my shooting suddenly go bad?”

Dabben grabbed a rebound in the backcourt and passed it to Bynum. Bynum shot from beyond the three-point line but also missed, and Bidlings grabbed the rebound.

Stephen Curry drove with the ball, passed it to Ellis, who tried to shoot despite Bynum’s defense. He missed all three attempts, and Hansbruegge grabbed the rebound.

The Pistons launched a fast break, which succeeded thanks to the clever coordination between Zhou Yi and Bynum.

“Do you know why Monta Ellis missed all three shots just now?” Bynum asked Zhou Yi while retreating, smiling.

“You’re not saying it was because you blocked him, are you?”

“Huh, how smart of you,” Bynum asked curiously.

“Tch, defend properly! Monta Ellis is coming!” Zhou Yi warned.

“You don’t believe it, do you? I really blocked him. There might not have been a sound, but my middle and index fingers definitely touched his ball,” Bynum hurriedly defended himself when he saw Zhou Yi’s skeptical expression.

“Be careful of your man!” Zhou Yi warned loudly.

By now, Monta Ellis had reached beyond the three-point line. Fortunately, Zhou Yi warned him in time; otherwise, Bynum would definitely have failed to defend him.

But even though Bynum realized what was happening at that moment, it was still too late. Monta Ellis used a crossover to break past Bynum’s left side and then launched a jump shot. With a snap, the basketball was sent flying to the Warriors’ half. Monta Ellis stared in disbelief at Zhou Yi standing in front of him, his mouth slightly open. Bynum rushed to the Warriors’ half, grabbed the ball, and dived toward the basket, scoring with a powerful dunk. “Kid, not bad—you’ve got my style from back then! Haha…” Big Ben patted Zhou Yi’s shoulder and laughed as he retreated to defend. Zhou Yi quickly moved back to defend as well. After returning to his side, Bynum gave Zhou Yi a thumbs up and said with a silly smile, “Zhou, I’m really impressed by you!” Zhou Yi gave Bynum a glare before smiling and saying, “Be more careful—don’t leave anyone unguarded again. I won’t cover for you next time!” Bynum smiled sheepishly and focused on Monta Ellis, who was carrying the ball toward him. Monta Ellis already had three blocks; including the one Bynum had touched earlier, that made four blocks in total. And it was less than half of the game yet, so Monta Ellis was extremely annoyed. But his anger didn’t make him lose his composure. After half a period, Monta Ellis passed the ball to Stephen Curry. Curry drove with the ball, and Zhou Yi reached out to steal it. But at that moment, the referee blew his whistle. “Pistons No. 37, defensive foul—Warriors get the ball,” the referee signaled to the scoreboard. Zhou Yi shook his head in frustration, thinking to himself, “The calling is completely absurd.” Right after Zhou Yi’s foul, Kuster asked for a timeout and substituted Zhou Yi out with Prince, while Austin Daye was replaced by Villanueva. After the timeout, the game resumed. There were 4 minutes and 55 seconds left in the first half, and the score was 44–37, with the Pistons leading the Warriors by 7 points. The Pistons, who had rested for most of the first half, suddenly erupted in the remaining nearly 5 minutes, scoring a 10–2 run to widen the lead to double digits. At the end of the first half, the score was 54–39. Under the Pistons’ tight defense, the Warriors scored only 14 points in the second half, leaving the Pistons with a 15-point lead going into the second half.

“Guys, you played great. That’s how to defend—give them a feast of shots, hehe… In the second half, keep it up and try to secure the win in the third quarter. If we win this game, I’ll treat everyone to a meal, okay?” Koost said with a smile to the Pistons players.
“Okay,” the Pistons players replied in unison.
“Hmm, then everyone should rest well and get ready for the second half. By the way, the opponent’s David Lee has already accumulated four fouls, so in the second half we need to focus on the inside. Ben Wallace, Chris Wilcox, and Samuel Dalembert will handle defense, while Tyler Hansbrough and Greg Monroe will take care of offense. As for the outside, we’ll play just like in the first half. Is that clear?” Koost asked loudly.
“Clear!”
“Good, everyone, rest well!”
After saying that, Koost headed toward the player’s tunnel, and the rest of the Pistons players also went to the locker room. As they headed there, the crowd gave them the warmest applause and cheers.
“Hehe, it’s still great playing at home!” Bynum sighed involuntarily.
…
Soon, the halftime break ended. The Pistons players all headed back onto the court. The moment Zhou Yi stepped out of the player’s tunnel, he seemed to see a familiar figure in a corner of the stands. His gaze lingered on that graceful figure for a while before Zhou Yi smiled and headed toward his team’s bench.
At the referee’s signal, the players for both teams stepped onto the court for the second half. Zhou Yi remained seated on the bench, his eyes fixed on a corner of the stands.
Suddenly, that figure turned her head to meet Zhou Yi’s gaze. Zhou Yi smiled slightly before turning his attention back to the court. The figure also raised the corners of her mouth and murmured, “Hehe, I still can’t forget him!”
With a “ding,” the second half of the game began!
Chapter 127: Conflict
In the second half, the starting lineups for both teams were as follows: Pistons—Ben Wallace, Greg Monroe, Prince, James Posey, and Bynum; Warriors—David Lee, Andris Biedrins, Dorell Wright, Monta Ellis, and Stephen Curry.