“He’s back! Tang Tian is back!”

Yang Jian let out an excited shout from the commentary booth.

“I knew it, as long as Tang Tian plays, he’s still the Tang Tian we all know!”

Zhang Weiping, sitting next to him, grinned, his white teeth shining brighter than a doll's.

In the year or so that Tang Tian was away, he’d been awfully lonely in the commentary booth. Now that Tang Tian was back, his Weiping-Tang duo could finally reunite.

Mills drew a defensive foul on Ding Yanyuhang, finally giving the Australian team a chance to score.

But as soon as he got the ball, he was met with a chorus of boos from the crowd.

Tokyo was practically China’s home court!

“Clang!”

The fans’ heckling worked, and Mills’s first free throw bounced off the rim!

The crowd erupted in cheers, their excitement reaching fever pitch.

Mills took a breath and went for his second shot.

This one looked truer than the last, but perhaps due to the deafening noise, the ball spun around the rim and popped out!

Mills missed both free throws!

Lin Yi reached out to secure the defensive rebound, and the Australian team still hadn’t scored!

Li Chunjiang couldn’t hide the smile on his face.

It wasn’t just because Tang Tian was as formidable as ever, but also because of Lin Yi’s presence, which noticeably elevated the Chinese team’s interior defense.

If they could do this well against Australia, they might even have a shot against the American team’s three big men!

As he was thinking this, Tang Tian missed another long-range three-pointer at the other end, but Lin Yi used his height advantage to grab an offensive rebound!

After securing the rebound, Lin Yi turned and saw Tang Tian cutting towards the basket, so he passed the ball and boxed out Baynes.

Tang Tian caught the ball and took off.

“Boom!”

Although being away from the game for so long had affected his shooting consistency compared to his peak, his abilities had returned now that he was back in shape.

He soared into the air, throwing down a dunk right over Landale, who was trying to help defend.

“Boom!”

His explosive power was too much, and Landale didn’t even have time to make a subtle foul before being knocked off his feet, and the ball was slammed violently into the hoop!

The arena exploded.

It was an unreasonably brutal play!

At that moment, not only the game’s online forum but also American social media blew up.

Tang Tian was truly back!

Those who weren’t at the game couldn’t help but shout out loud along with the crowd.

An interesting thing happened: during the replay, Lin Yi could be seen standing to the side, his mouth wide open.

Clearly, he was shocked by Tang Tian’s savage dunk.

It wasn’t until Tang Tian actively sought him out for a high-five that Lin Yi snapped out of it.

In that instant, a fighting spirit ignited within him, not for the Olympics, but for the NBA arena. He truly wanted to challenge Tang Tian, the being who had surpassed even gods, in the future!

However, that thought was fleeting. He refocused on the game, turning around and swatting away a layup attempt by Ingles!

Australia had been playing for almost three minutes and still hadn’t scored!

It was insane!

The Australian fans in attendance felt like their world was collapsing.

What happened to us being the second-best team? What happened to Tang Tian not being at his best and China only being ranked fourth?

Damn the Japanese media, what kind of ranking is that?!

Thankfully, a baseline inbound pass allowed Mills to finally break Australia’s scoring drought with a driving layup, preventing them from completely losing hope.

2 to 7.

Although there was a gap, it was still early in the game, and five points wasn’t too much. There was still hope!

“Swish!”

But just as hope began to flicker in their hearts, Tang Tian suddenly pulled up from the logo and drained a three-pointer! It went in as soon as he released it!

That logo three was like a bucket of ice water poured from the sky, instantly extinguishing any remaining hope!

Damn it, is he even playing fair?!

Lemanis’s face turned green, and he immediately called a timeout.

He finally understood that Tang Tian couldn’t just suddenly find his form; the Chinese team must have been putting out a smokescreen!

As Tang Tian walked off the court, the Chinese team’s bench erupted in cheers.

Most of them had played in the World Cup, and this scene immediately reminded them of their championship victory a year ago, making it hard not to get excited.

Li Chunjiang finished giving out instructions, and the timeout was almost over. The players returned to the court.

“Tang Ge, I want to discuss something with you.”

At that moment, Lin Yi suddenly ran up to Tang Tian, acting very “sycophantic” as he spoke.

Tang Tian looked at him, puzzled.

“You’ve been having all the fun shooting, how about letting me have a turn too? We can take turns.”

Hearing Lin Yi’s words, Tang Tian really wanted to kick him in the butt.

No matter what he said, it always had some kind of suggestive undertone.

But he nodded anyway.

He’d scored 10 points straight at the start, and Australia was bound to make tactical adjustments during the timeout, most likely double-teaming him.

He hadn’t played professionally in over a year, and although his touch was good tonight, his efficiency in attacking the basket definitely wasn’t as high as during his peak. Passing the ball would be a better option then.

He’d seen Lin Yi shooting so accurately during warm-ups, and he actually wanted to give it a try himself.

“Bro, you’re really my own brother!”

Lin Yi’s expression made it seem like he was about to kiss Tang Tian.

Tang Tian was speechless. This guy must have been a goofball before he transmigrated. The Lin Yi he knew before was a diligent and steady guy.

When play resumed, Simmons drove into the lane off a pick and roll and scored with a dunk.

He was fast, and Lin Yi was a little slow to react. Even with his cheat-like abilities, he was still a rookie after all.

4 to 10. Australia still had hope!

“Go! Australia!”

Simmons’s dunk excited the Australian fans in attendance, and they shouted to cheer on their team.

Tang Tian dribbled the ball to the frontcourt again, and as expected, the Australian team immediately double-teamed him.

Lemanis was gambling that Tang Tian would continue to attack, given his hot hand.

Tang Tian did attack, somehow breaking through the double team.

Ennis, who was at the free throw line, immediately retreated towards the basket.

At that moment, Tang Tian made a no-look behind-the-back pass. The ball flew straight to the top of the arc, as if guided by a GPS.

Lin Yi was there.

He was a true stretch-five.

He caught the ball, his face lit up, and he released it.

His release was quick, not at all like a center.

“Swish!”

And the ball went in!

The cheers of the Australian fans came to an abrupt halt, replaced by the deafening cheers of the Chinese fans.

Tang Tian had scored 10 straight points with a combination of shots and dunks. Now that he was being double-teamed, Lin Yi had immediately stepped up!

13 to 4!

The gap was quickly approaching double digits!

“You’re not going to guard me?!”

The next second, Lin Yi didn’t immediately retreat on defense, but instead said this directly to Baynes, who was turning around.

The trash-talking king, never taking a break.

Baynes’s face darkened. Did he think he didn’t want to guard him? Tang Tian was in there!

Tang Tian couldn’t help but laugh at the scene. Lin Yi’s trash talk was actually pretty good.