Chapter 71
In the fourth quarter, Zhou Yi remained on the court. Seeing Zhou Yi still there, Rajon Rondo on the opposing team had no choice but to enter the court with a grim expression—he certainly didn’t want to face Zhou Yi, at least not today.
Right at the start of the quarter, Zhou Yi intercepted Rondo’s pass. It was actually a surprise—this was the first play of the fourth quarter. Celtics’ Glen Davis missed a hook shot inside, and James Posey secured the defensive rebound, passing it to Zhou Yi, who then passed it to Greg Monroe. Unfortunately, Monroe’s jump shot missed, and Rondo grabbed the defensive rebound.
Everything was going normally up to that point—Rondo held the rebound and launched a fast break. But just as he reached Zhou Yi, his foot slipped suddenly, and he fell to the ground. Thus, Zhou Yi immediately intercepted the ball and raced toward the opposing half, assisting Taishan Prince to score a layup.
Rondo finally understood what it meant to have even a small setback cause trouble—he slipped while carrying the ball.
“Sigh…” Rondo sighed and took the pass from Glen Davis. He broke through down the baseline and made a clever pass to Ray Allen. Unfortunately, Allen’s shot missed, and Greg Monroe grabbed the defensive rebound.
“Fast break!” Greg Monroe shouted after grabbing the backcourt rebound. Zhou Yi was already racing toward the front court, and Greg Monroe hesitated only briefly before passing the ball to him.
After receiving the ball, Zhou Yi turned smoothly, dodging Paul Pierce who was trying to contest the shot, and found himself in a spot where he could shoot freely. Zhou Yi had three-point shooting skills—he had already made two shots that day—so Jermaine O’Neal inside didn’t dare take chances and immediately defended him. But Zhou Yi performed a hand swap in mid-air, passing the ball to Ben Wallace, who was now alone inside. Ben Wallace dunked with both hands!
The score gap between the two teams widened again. After Ben Wallace scored 2 points inside, the gap reached 15 points.
“Time out! Time out!” Seeing the score gap growing larger, Doug Rivers couldn’t sit still anymore and shouted loudly in his hoarse accent.
As soon as Rondo carried the ball past the half-court line, they called a time out—they needed to make substitutions.
Kevin Garnett came in to replace Glen Davis, while Kendrick Perkins entered to replace Jermaine O’Neal.
Today, Kevin Garnett was in terrible form; not only could he not show his usual offensive prowess, but he also failed to deliver in defense, allowing rookie Greg Monroe to score points after points in front of him. Zhou Yi passed to Ben Gordon, who then passed to Teyshawn Prince for a reverse layup that added 2 more points. Immediately afterward, Kevin Garnett received a pass from Rajon Rondo and tried to drive to the basket, but was called for a traveling violation by the referee. Everything was going as Zhou Yi and the Pistons wanted—the Pistons had control of the game from the start.