Chapter 197: One Block for Each Player

The second half begins.

The Suns' lineup remains the same: Wade Dong, Curry, Thompson, Tucker, and Gortat.

The Thunder's lineup is also unchanged, with Westbrook returning to the court after sitting on the bench for three minutes.

As the game starts,

Harden shakes off Thompson and scores a layup at the basket.

Wade Dong brings the ball up the court.

Thompson finds an open spot in the corner, and Wade Dong passes the ball to him.

Thompson catches the ball and shoots a three-pointer!

"Clang!!!"

The shot is off and hits the rim, bouncing away.

Ibaka grabs the rebound and sees Durant already running towards the other end, so he passes the ball to Durant.

Durant receives the ball and sprints towards the basket with his long strides.

This is a perfect opportunity for a block... Wade Dong can't miss it, so he chases after Durant.

In terms of speed, Wade Dong is faster than Durant!

"Trying to block me?"

Durant sees Wade Dong rushing towards him and knows that Wade Dong is trying to block him from behind.

So, Durant reaches the basket and, instead of going for a layup, jumps from the free-throw line and raises the ball high with one hand.

At this moment, Wade Dong also rushes in from the side.

"Slam!!!"

Durant is tall and has long arms, but Wade Dong jumps even higher. His shoulder is almost above Durant's head. In the air, Wade Dong swats the ball out of Durant's hand.

Durant also falls to the ground due to losing his balance.

The entire arena falls silent for a moment. This block is too shocking. Wade Dong's feet were at least a meter off the ground, maybe even higher.

"Beep!!!"

At this moment, the referee's whistle blows, indicating a foul on Wade Dong.

Wade Dong sees his block being called a foul and immediately rushes to the referee, shouting, "Which eye of yours saw me foul?"

Just now, Wade Dong and Durant had no body contact, and when Wade Dong swatted the ball, he didn't even touch Durant's hand. Even saying Wade Dong invaded Durant's cylinder would be a stretch.

"Both of my eyes saw it."

The referee points to his eyes with his index and middle fingers.

"Idiot!"

Wade Dong curses and turns to leave.

However, the referee is not happy and chases after Wade Dong, asking, "What did you just say? Say it again in English!"

Wade Dong scoffs, "I was praising you."

"That's better."

The referee nods and walks away, not bothering Wade Dong anymore.

Wade Dong is angry because if it's a foul, this block doesn't count. He still needs to find a way to block Durant again.

Such a good opportunity... is wasted.

"Swish!!!"

"Swish!!!"

Durant makes both free throws, and the Thunder now lead the Suns by 8 points.

The Suns are on offense. Curry and Thompson are both well-defended, so Wade Dong decides to shoot a three-pointer himself. However, Wade Dong's shooting touch is not great tonight. He misses the three-pointer.

So far, Wade Dong is 3 for 7 from three-point range, a 42% success rate, which is far below his season average of 53%, the highest in the league.

But Durant is on fire. He scores two more mid-range shots in a row.

The lead has grown to 12 points, and the Suns' offense can't seem to get going. Coach Kidd still doesn't call a timeout or make any substitutions.

Time keeps ticking away, and the lead keeps growing.

"Slam!!!"

With 4 minutes left in the second quarter, Wade Dong blocks Durant again.

"Damn!"

A clean block, Wade Dong roars in frustration, venting his anger.

But the lead has grown to 21 points...

Coach Kidd finally calls a timeout. He substitutes McGrady for Thompson and Green for Tucker, but he keeps Curry, Wade Dong, and Gortat on the court.

The Suns players are all a bit off tonight, especially Thompson.

Bringing in McGrady is an attempt to boost the offense. The Suns are down by a lot and need to score more to catch up.

After setting up the strategy, Coach Kidd looks at Wade Dong with concern and asks, "Brother Dong, you seem a bit distracted today. Is something bothering you?"

"No!"

Wade Dong shakes his head, "We're only down by 21 points. We can definitely come back."

Coach Kidd smiles, "I believe in you. Back then, against Team USA, we were down by almost 40 points in the fourth quarter, and you still managed to come back and win. This 21-point deficit is nothing."

"That's not the same thing..."

Wade Dong mutters.

That game was for the honor of China. Wade Dong used over 30 bottles of "Lucky Potion" to barely win the game.

In a regular season game like this, Wade Dong doesn't even consider using the "Lucky Potion."

And Coach Kidd is right. Wade Dong is indeed a bit distracted. He keeps thinking about the one block he still needs. Collison hasn't returned to the game, and Wade Dong can't just run to the bench to block Collison.

So far in the game, the only players who haven't rested are Wade Dong and Durant.

After the timeout,

Durant finally sits on the bench, and Collison enters the game as a substitute.

Wade Dong breathes a sigh of relief. He needs to find a way to block Collison, and then he can focus on the game.

Stupid system!

Wade Dong decides to give the system a piece of his mind after the game.

Collison enters the game and receives the ball under the basket.

With a 21-point lead, Collison is very relaxed. He turns around under the basket, fakes a shot, then turns again without moving his pivot foot, and finally lifts the ball towards the rim.

This is a weak version of the dream shake!

Collison using this move against Wade Dong is like showing off in front of a master.

Apart from Olajuwon, Wade Dong hasn't seen anyone who understands the dream shake better than him. Of course, whether Olajuwon understands the dream shake as well as Wade Dong is debatable.

"Get out of here!"

Wade Dong isn't about to miss this opportunity. He blocks Collison's shot with one hand.

Collison, "..."

Collison thought that if he could successfully score against Wade Dong, he would have something to brag about when drinking. But what awaited him was Wade Dong's block.

"Finally done..."

Wade Dong completes the block on Collison, bringing his total blocks for the game to 8.

Varlick quickly draws a '○' next to Collison's name. Now, all the players who have entered the game have a '○' next to their names. Brother Dong has indeed blocked every Thunder player who has entered the game.

...

Chinese Live Broadcast:

Yu Jia, "Coach Zhang, have you noticed something?"

Coach Zhang, "What is it?"

Yu Jia, "Wade Dong has a total of 8 blocks, exactly one for each Thunder player who has entered the game."

Coach Zhang, "Oh, that's true. Wade Dong did that on purpose, right?"

Yu Jia, "Hahaha..."