On January 1st, Beijing time, the "New Year's Day Clash" of the CBA officially kicked off. It must be said that the arrangement of the CBA company for this New Year's Day Clash was quite successful. The three matches between Xinjiang and Shandong, Beijing and Liaoning, as well as Guangdong and Tianjin all went down to the wire, and each produced various "memorable moments." In the home game against Shandong, Xinjiang's Zhao Rui shouted at the referee for ignoring the opponent's foul, was penalized for a technical foul, and then directly pushed the referee with his hands. The referee ejected Zhao Rui from the game. That wasn't the end of it; after the game, Zhao Rui unleashed a barrage of criticism on Xinjiang fans on social media, which was astonishing to behold. Beijing completed a double-kill against Liaoning at home, with the crowd chanting "Yang Ming step down" and "Give me back Allen." Guangdong fought Tianjin until the last minute, and after the game, news broke that Hongyuan had decided to replace their small foreign player, cutting the current small foreign player Les.
Zhao Rui's explosive temper is something many Guangdong fans are familiar with. In the last two seasons with Guangdong, Zhao Rui often self-destructed, harming both himself and the team. In the match between Xinjiang and Shandong, Zhao Rui, dissatisfied with the referee's call, pushed the referee with his hands after the referee had already given him a technical foul warning. The referee immediately penalized Zhao Rui for disqualification and ejected him from the game. Zhao Rui really acted too impulsively; no matter what controversy arises in the game, physically assaulting the referee is an overstep. Referring to other cases, Zhao Rui should receive at least a five-game suspension after the game. After the game, Zhao Rui also indiscriminately criticized Xinjiang and Shandong fans on his personal social media, emphasizing equality among all beings.
After Liaoning defeated Guangdong, they traveled to Beijing's home court but were met with strong resistance from Beijing's men's basketball team, ultimately suffering a crushing defeat of 90-105, being double-killed by their opponents for the season. Objectively speaking, with the absence of two core players, Zhang Zhenlin and Zhao Jiwei, Liaoning's loss to Beijing, who had made multiple reinforcements this season, was normal and nothing to comment on. However, Beijing's home court was very lively; during the first half of the game, the audience chanted "Give me back Allen," while in the second half, there were calls of "Yang Ming step down." Setting aside these incidents, there were some interesting aspects to the game. For example, Chen Yingjun was suspected of being tripped by Wang Lanqin, but Zhang Cairen, who replaced Chen Yingjun, went on a shooting spree, helping Beijing secure the victory.
Tianjin's men's basketball team, known as "Guangdong's nemesis," almost pulled off another upset against Guangdong, rallying from a 20-point deficit to close the gap to just one point. Fortunately, Xu Jie, Du Runwang, and Ren Junfei stepped up in time to save the team, allowing Guangdong to stabilize the situation and eventually win the game. Ultimately, without a small foreign player, Guangdong still suffered in the fourth quarter. However, according to the latest news, Guangdong has parted ways with their previously signed small foreign player Les, and Zhu Fangyu is currently searching for a new small foreign player. However, finding a suitable small foreign player at this stage is too difficult, so Xu Jie may have to endure for a while longer.
