Prince complained to the referee, indicating he hadn't fouled, but the referee remained unmoved.
If it were a normal physical contest, a whistle wouldn't have been blown.
But Prince had clearly used a subtle trick in mid-air, pulling Li Feng’s arm.
The referee, with his sharp eyes, still saw it.
Li Feng stood at the free-throw line and made the shot. 32:21, China was still trailing by 11 points.
Only 58 seconds into the second quarter, China had already scored 6 unanswered points.
This put pressure on the Dream Eight team. The spectators were also incredibly excited, finally seeing a glimmer of hope.
Losing to the world's strongest Dream Eight team was acceptable, but the performance couldn't be too poor, as the fans wouldn't be able to accept that.
Wade gestured to his teammates, telling them not to panic, that the advantage was still theirs!
Kidd dribbled the ball past half-court again. This time, Wade received the pass, with Li Feng standing in front of him, arms spread wide.
Seeing the bloodthirsty look in Li Feng's eyes, Wade was greatly alarmed.
He hadn't noticed Li Feng change like this from the sidelines earlier.
Wade sneered inwardly, *Can you defend against my drives?*
So, he suddenly picked up speed, intending to drive past Li Feng on his left.
Unexpectedly, Li Feng moved his feet rapidly, blocking Wade's driving lane!
Even in the NBA, Wade's drives were considered unstoppable, yet he was actually being defended by Li Feng.
Wade became a bit anxious and immediately performed a behind-the-back dribble.
Many players favored behind-the-back dribbles, but Wade’s were particularly exaggerated due to their wide arc.
Wade’s drives made you feel like you were flying close to the ground.
As expected, Li Feng was instantly left behind. Wade, feeling smug, drove to the basket.
Just as Wade was about to attempt a layup, Li Feng suddenly flew up, delivering a thunderous block right in Wade's face!
This…
Wade felt his vision go black; the space for his layup was completely sealed off.
It was too late to pass the ball now.
*Swish!*
Li Feng swatted Wade’s sure-fire shot out of bounds!
"Holy cow! Li Feng is amazing!"
"Wade actually got schooled, my goodness!"
"That's the Flash, unbelievable!"
"Li Feng is on fire in the second quarter, this game is getting interesting!"
…
The fans were ecstatic, and Li Feng's Chinese teammates were further inspired. They all ran over to high-five Li Feng, cheering loudly!
Wade shook his head, very annoyed. He had been a bit too overconfident.
The US team took the ball out of bounds to reorganize their offense.
With only 5 seconds left on the shot clock, Kidd received the ball and passed it to Bosh in the paint.
Although Bosh wasn't as tall as Yao Ming, he was agile and tough.
Facing Yao Ming, Bosh powerfully drove towards the basket, intending to force his way past Yao Ming.
Although Yao Ming's upper body strength wasn't top-tier, his lower body was very stable. He held his ground with all his might. After a few pushes, Yao Ming remained completely still.
With the shot clock about to expire, Bosh had to take a hurried shot, but Yao Ming reached out and caught the ball.
This was pure humiliation!
There were many types of blocks, such as front-of-the-rim blocks, posterizing blocks, and chase-down blocks.
A standing block like Yao Ming's was the most humiliating.
And to directly catch the ball was truly rare.
Yao Ming, being tall and having good court vision, threw the ball directly to Sun Dasheng at the top of the arc after catching it.
Sun Dasheng initiated a fast break, with Kidd closely pursuing him.
Kidd's hands were incredibly quick, and Sun Dasheng, not being careful, had his ball stolen by Kidd.
Just as Kidd stole the ball and prepared to counter-attack, Li Feng appeared again, stealing the ball back!
The Chinese fans in the arena erupted in cheers again, applauding Li Feng's steal.
After stealing the ball, Li Feng drove to the basket again and slammed home a powerful dunk!
32:23!
The deficit was back to 9 points!
The Chinese team had gone on an 8:0 run!
The Dream Eight coach, Coach K, quickly called a timeout. He was starting to panic.
Li Feng roared at the crowd again, signaling them to get hyped up and amplify the home-court atmosphere.
Earlier, when China was trailing, the crowd had been silent.
Yao Ming felt pleasantly surprised.
Although he trusted Li Feng and knew he would eventually explode, he hadn't expected the explosion to happen so quickly.
Younas, on the sidelines, excitedly high-fived every player. He had no great expectations for this game, only hoping the players would execute their strategy and the performance wouldn't be too bad.
"Li Feng, great job, keep playing like that!" Younas gave Li Feng a big hug.
These few plays greatly boosted morale; the substitute players on the bench were shouting along.
In the TNT broadcast booth, Barkley was silent…
Shaquille O'Neal provocatively said with a wicked grin, "Barkley, what do you say now? Li Feng actually dominated Wade and Kidd. Do you still think Li Feng won't adapt to the NBA?"
Barkley, with his usual stubbornness, retorted, "Wade must have been careless, otherwise, when has Wade ever suffered like this!"
Smith said, "After the timeout, Kobe will definitely be subbed in. Let's see then if Kobe can still lock down Li Feng!"
"Yeah, let's see later. If Li Feng can dominate Kobe, then he'll have a future."
"Aren't you stating the obvious? Who can dominate Kobe?"
Only Kobe could "save" Barkley now.
…
Indeed, after the timeout, Coach K subbed Kobe in.
The fans were also anticipating another showdown between Kobe and Li Feng.
Kobe’s expression was solemn as he re-entered the game. He knew how formidable Wade was, and if Li Feng was at least equal to Wade, the upcoming matchups wouldn't be easy.
The US team went on offense. Kobe had the ball at the top of the arc. Facing Li Feng's defense, he turned and drove towards the baseline.
In the first quarter, he had used a similar move to get away from Li Feng.
So, he intended to use the same trick against Li Feng.
But Li Feng had already adapted. He moved his feet quickly, once again blocking Kobe’s path.
Kobe tried to use his body to push Li Feng aside, but Li Feng was too strong. After two attempts, Kobe couldn't budge him!
"This kid… what's going on? He's different from before?"
Kobe muttered to himself, but his competitive spirit made him forgo passing and instead attempt a fadeaway jumper!
This was Kobe's signature move, the fadeaway jumper, not only highly accurate but also aesthetically pleasing.
Beautiful!
Li Feng immediately lunged forward, but unfortunately, Kobe’s fadeaway was too extreme. Li Feng, lacking the same height and wingspan, couldn't block it.
He could only resort to trying to block Kobe's vision, similar to Battier.
*Clang!*
Kobe was still affected, and the jump shot missed!
Yao Ming secured his position, boxing out Howard, and Yi Jianlian protected the rebound.
This was Chinese team basketball. Yao Ming's positioning didn't show up much in the stats,
but it allowed his teammates to easily grab rebounds.
The Chinese team launched a counter-attack, with Yi Jianlian passing the ball to Li Feng.
Kobe, annoyed at not scoring, had to regain his composure and quickly caught up to Li Feng with a few large strides.
Li Feng noticed Kobe had caught up and dared not be careless, driving towards the paint.
The spectators all stood up, eager to witness the duel between Li Feng and Kobe!