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As Durant continued his trash talk, he stretched out his arm, seemingly trying to snatch the basketball from Zhou Yi's hands.

Although Xiao Shuai has never played in a defensive lineup, he is definitely an underrated defender.

His terrifying size, coupled with his agile footwork and his aggressive defensive attitude towards Zhou Yi at this moment.

This put Zhou Yi under immense defensive pressure.

Using his body to create some space, Zhou Yi chose to dribble directly towards Durant's left side.

Durant was too close, and Zhou Yi managed to create some space for him.

Seeing that Zhou Yi had left him behind, Durant quickly followed.

However, with Mashburn's ball-handling skills, Zhou Yi's hands became incredibly agile, and the basketball in his hands was like a leaping sprite.

Facing Durant, Zhou Yi quickly pulled the ball back.

When Durant lunged at Zhou Yi again, Zhou Yi quickly changed direction and shook him off.

Durant, whose center of gravity was constantly shifted, was bewildered by the magic of Zhou Yi's ball control, and collapsed like a tall tower.

As Xiao Shuai fell, he turned his head to look at the inside, where he saw Zhou Yi performing the Euro step in front of Thunder center Nenad Krstic.

The clumsy Krstic was so disoriented by Zhou Yi's footwork that the basketball was slammed into the basket by Zhou Yi's long arms.

"OMG! Zhou's beautiful dribbling and crossover dribble has Durant completely outmaneuvered him!"

"Euro step! A straight dunk! The Clippers have got a monster!"

Zhou Yi's brilliant performance on the court instantly ignited Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, with the two old friends laughing exaggeratedly in the commentary booth.

After successfully dunking, Zhou Yi quickly ran back to the backcourt to defend.

Durant had already gotten up, and Zhou Yi ran past him.

"Hey Kevin, don't get down on the floor cleaning our home arena, bro."

Zhou Yi's trash talk made Xiao Shuai's dark face turn even more ashen, and the veins on his forehead throbbed faintly.

"Damn Zhou, he lied to everyone. He clearly knows how to control the ball, but he never showed it. He's a cunning and wicked guy."

The Book of Changes cannot hear Durant's innermost thoughts.

Possession returned to the Thunder, and Westbrook still tried to drive into the paint like he was carrying a bomb.

But Durant called him back this time.

"Bro, give me the ball."

The basketball was reluctantly passed to Durant by Westbrook. In this Thunder game, one of only two nationally televised games, Westbrook also wanted to dominate Baron Davis and show off his skills.

Facing Durant with the ball, Zhou Yi stood intently in front of him.

Durant's offense doesn't rely on flashy techniques; it's all about showcasing his talent.

After a dramatic change of direction, the basketball flew into the basket, seemingly flying right into Zhou Yi's hand.

Completely enraged, Xiao Shuai stopped spewing trash talk and his tall, thin figure displayed the power of the first Grim Reaper.

On the court, Zhou Yi and Durant entered a fierce, head-to-head battle.

In the previous possession, Zhou Yi had just scored against Durant, and in the next possession, Durant shook off Zhou Yi and dunked.

However, facing the youthful and energetic Thunder, the other Clippers players seemed a bit out of sorts on the court.

They were hesitant and timid on offense, and sluggish and prone to losing their man on defense.

The Clippers were still trailing by thirteen points at halftime.

Inside ESPN's halftime show studio, Smith is passionately delivering his commentary from behind the commentary box.

"Fuck, our wonderkid Zhou worked hard this summer to make up for his ball-handling shortcomings, but look at the rest of the Clippers."

"Baron Davis was out of breath after just one quarter, and Camby kept leaving Jeff Green open in his attempt to block shots."

Smith spoke with a serious expression, his eyes wide as he stared at the camera, his words filled with worry.

"The Clippers were sleepwalking the whole game. This team has no winning mentality. Our wonderkid Zhou may be about to suffer his first loss."

The Clippers players in the locker room didn't hear the ESPN halftime show.

Veteran coach Dunleavy is in a terrible predicament due to the recent coaching change controversy.

He's standing in the locker room now, furiously yelling at the players.

He tried to save the team this way, but the Clippers players, whose relationship with him had plummeted, even started chatting amongst themselves.

The veteran coach couldn't stand everyone ignoring him, so he stormed out of the locker room in anger.

Zhou Yi was sitting in a chair tending to his wounds. On the field, he and Xiao Shuai were locked in a fierce battle, and both of them had two bloody scratches on their arms.

Looking at his teammates who seemed to have lost their fighting spirit, Zhou Yi knew what he had to do to secure victory.

"Hey guys, hey!"

Zhou Yi spoke loudly, attracting the attention of all the players in the locker room.

"Brothers, I think there might be something we can do for this victory."

Zhou Yi's words caught the Clippers players off guard, and they looked at each other in bewilderment.

Baron Davis stood up. He felt that this rookie was challenging his leadership, but then he thought of Ricky Davis, who was still recovering at home.

"I'm not afraid, I'm just respecting this newbie and letting him finish what he has to say."

Byron Davis thought to himself, and then sat back down in his chair.

Zhou Yi certainly noticed Baron Davis's actions, looking at the Clippers' highest-paid player.

"Hey boss, do you know when I met you? It was during the 07 playoffs. I was watching on TV as you led the Warriors to a stunning upset against the Mavericks. It was an unparalleled miracle."

Zhou Yi's words brought a smile to Baron Davis's face; those were indeed his most dazzling and beautiful times.

Zhou Yi didn't stop talking; he turned to look at Camby, the runner-up in the 96 draft.

"Marcus, do you know when I hate the media the most?"

"Back then, you played defense like crazy with the Knicks, but you never made an All-Defensive Team. I hated the hypocritical media voting."

Zhou Yi's words instantly brought back memories of Camby's youth, when he replaced the aging Ewing on the Knicks, after 14 years in the NBA.

"Gordon..."

"Kaman..."

Zhou Yi called out the Clippers' starting lineup one by one. Unlike old Dunleavy, he didn't roar angrily; he just calmly chatted as if he were talking to a friend.

The Clippers players may be a bunch of jerks and trash now, but they all had their moments of glory in the past.

"You guys aren't the bastards the media portrays you as. Even though we've failed before, at least today we can try again."

As Zhou Yi spoke, he stood in the middle of the locker room and raised his hand.

Baron Davis hesitated; he could hardly remember what it felt like to win.

But Zhou Yi's words reminded him of the past, when he was once a hero of a city.

"Brothers, I will not keep the glory of victory to myself."

"If we fail, I will take the blame alone."

The words of the Book of Changes echoed in the changing room, resounding with conviction.

Baron Davis felt as if he had been transported back to the Golden State Gang, where the old man named Nelson had told him to be brave and do it.

Byron Davis's hand slammed down on Zhou Yi's hand, making a loud cracking sound.

"Fuck the rookie, I'm the boss of this team."

"Failure will be the boss's responsibility, brothers, kill Thunder!"

Camby, Kaman, Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, Blake... more and more hands were placed on Zhou Yi's hands.

They did not become a victorious army in an instant.

But at least for this moment, they want to win this damn game.

......

At halftime, another group of Clippers home fans left.

"With a ten-point deficit, if the Clippers continue playing like they did in the first half, victory will slip through their fingers..."

In the commentary booth, Mark Jackson said he saw the Clippers in the player tunnel.

"They came out of the player tunnel, Jeff, the Clippers seem different..."