Losing to Liaoning's weakened lineup, which was missing Zhao Jiwei and Zhang Zhenlin with their big foreign player yet to arrive, the hundredth round of the Liaoning-Guangdong showdown ended with Guangdong's defeat in Shenyang. Throughout the game, Guangdong seemed to be constantly on the defensive, at a clear disadvantage. Facing Yang Ming's tactics that alternated between zone defense and man-to-man defense, Du Feng appeared to have no effective countermeasures, resulting in Guangdong being "technically knocked out" by Liaoning. Some basketball commentators analyzed that the fundamental reason for Guangdong's loss was the lack of a scoring small forward who could handle the ball, especially in the crucial fourth quarter when no one could score. Guangdong did have a small forward; the previously announced signing of the small foreign player Les had also made it onto the game roster. However, oddly enough, he did not play, leaving Xu Jie once again in a desperate situation. After the game, Guangdong's team reporter Guan Xin revealed that Les had a falling out with the team and didn't even show up at the arena that night, let alone play in the game!
Guan Xin disclosed during a live broadcast that Les had shown a rather obvious attitude problem in both training and matches. Despite Du Feng registering him for the Liaoning-Guangdong battle, Les claimed he had something urgent right before the game and did not appear at the venue. Guangdong is well-known in the CBA for its strict management of foreign players, never allowing troublemakers to disrupt team discipline. Previously, some high-profile foreign players like Beasley and Boozer became model players after joining Guangdong, demonstrating that Du Feng and Zhu Fangyu indeed have a way with foreign players. Yet, Les dared to find an excuse to shirk his responsibility and refuse to play. If this is true, there is no doubt that Guangdong will immediately terminate their contract with Les. After all, Les was only a temporary worker, and Guangdong had only signed him to a short-term contract of one month. Even if they release him now, the loss would not be significant. However, Zhu Fangyu is truly reaping what he sowed; initially trying to save money by hiring Les, who had no CBA experience as a temporary worker, not only did it fail to work out, but it also disrupted the team's atmosphere.
Of course, there are fans who support Les' actions. After arriving in Dongguan, Les spent more than a week training with the team before finally signing a contract. After joining the team, he only played two games, accumulating less than six minutes of playing time, shooting twice and missing both times, scoring zero points while grabbing only one rebound and one steal. Having traveled so far to Guangdong, the head coach did not trust him; a week of trial training was one thing, but his playing time was minimal. As a foreign player, even the status and time of marginal local players were more than his own. Who would be convinced by this? Many Guangdong fans felt that Du Feng was somewhat stubborn; even if Les was not very skilled, he was still better than local players like Zhang Wenyi, so why not give him a chance to relieve some pressure for Xu Jie? Now that Les has exposed himself, Du Feng undoubtedly bears a significant responsibility!
