The new year of 2025 has begun, and on the night of January 1st, Beijing time, the 25th round of the CBA regular season featured five major battles, including three focus matches that are worth mentioning: the Tianjin-Guangdong battle, the Beijing-Liaoning battle, and the fiery Shandong-Xinjiang battle. These three games produced three records, with some players achieving legendary status in one game, others breaking through mental barriers, some receiving technical fouls and being ejected, and even someone committing an offense by colliding with the referee, becoming a hot topic of discussion during the New Year's Day battles.
In the Beijing-Liaoning battle, the person who was ejected was Omoregie, while the one who achieved legendary status is Zhang Cairen. In this game where Beijing defeated Liaoning 105-90, Zhang Cairen shone brightly, becoming the X factor that determined the outcome of the game. The Beijing-Liaoning battle was intense, with Liaoning's score being suppressed by Beijing throughout the game. However, the suspense of the game remained, especially during the critical third quarter when Chen Yingjun landed on Wang Lanqin's foot after shooting, spraining his ankle and had to withdraw from the game. Beijing, which was originally leading Liaoning by 7 points, subsequently fell into a passive situation and was chased down to a difference of only 1 point by Liaoning at the end of the third quarter.
Just as the fans thought Beijing was about to be overturned by Liaoning, Chen Yingjun's substitute, Zhang Cairen, stood up. When Beijing was about to be tied by Liaoning in the third quarter, Cairen hit a corner three-pointer to stabilize the situation. In the fourth quarter, Zhang Cairen unleashed his firepower, hitting four consecutive three-pointers within six minutes and scoring a whopping 14 points in half a quarter. It can be said that he single-handedly eliminated the suspense of the game. After Zhang Cairen hit his fourth three-pointer in the fourth quarter, Beijing already led Liaoning 98-78, causing Yang Ming to despair and concede defeat early.
In this game, Zhang Cairen played for 28 minutes and 54 seconds, shooting 10 out of 15 and 7 out of 12 from beyond the arc, scoring a career-high 27 points and saving the team from a tough spot. He was undoubtedly a super ace. Moreover, this game also marked Zhang Cairen's 30th birthday. After the hard-fought victory over Liaoning, Beijing also broke a record that had been sealed for 13 years - after 13 years, Beijing finally completed a home-and-away double kill against Liaoning, which is something to celebrate.
In the Tianjin-Guangdong battle, the person who broke through mental barriers is Du Feng, because he finally defeated Tianjin, who had won 4 out of 5 games against Guangdong in the past year and was known as Guangdong's nemesis. Guangdong won 110-103 at home, giving themselves a good start to their New Year's regular season journey and allowing Du Feng to express New Year greetings to a wide audience, including basketball practitioners, referees, media friends, and sponsors during the post-game interview as the winning coach.
Of course, Guangdong did not win easily in this game. Firstly, they were once leading by 21 points in the first half but were twice reduced to a difference of only 1 point by Tianjin in the second half. Guangdong played with a sense of urgency in the fourth quarter, always at risk of being reversed and collapsing. Secondly, Xu Jie and Jilunwalt played beyond their limits again. Xu Jie played for 46 minutes, scoring 16 points and 12 assists, while Jilunwalt played for 40 minutes, scoring 41 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. Fortunately, this time their efforts were not in vain.
The key factors for Guangdong's victory were twofold: 1) They limited James' scoring to 20 points, with veterans Jilunwalt and Ren Junfei deserving praise; 2) Du Feng believed in Du Runwang and Zhang Haojia throughout the game. Guangdong rotated eight main players throughout the game. Despite Du Runwang and Zhang Haojia only making 1 out of 9 three-pointers in the first three and a half quarters, Du Feng still chose to keep them on the court. Du Runwang and Zhang Haojia did not disappoint Du Feng's trust. In the fourth quarter, when Guangdong only led Tianjin by 1 point, they stepped up and hit three consecutive three-pointers, becoming the decisive X factor in the game.
In the Shandong-Xinjiang battle, the previous encounter between Shandong and Xinjiang ended with a loss for Shandong, but the players and coaches from both sides remained quite amicable, with Qiu Biao and Liu Wei complimenting each other after the game. Unexpectedly, 12 days later in their second match, the game turned out to be quite fiery. Xinjiang and Shandong started at 8 o'clock and fought until 10:30, battling for 152 minutes before finally determining the winner. Shandong narrowly defeated Xinjiang 111-107, ending their opponents' 14-game home winning streak and barely escaping death. Throughout the game, two players from Shandong committed six fouls and left the court, two players reached five fouls, one player from Xinjiang was ejected, and the two teams combined for seven technical fouls, one unsportsmanlike foul, and one disqualification.
The players who received technical fouls were Yu Dehao, Chris (ejected with 2Ts), Liu Wei, Aizimaiti, the Shandong coaching staff, and Zhao Rui. The one who received the disqualification was Zhao Rui, and Xinjiang's loss was closely related to Zhao Rui. At 5 minutes and 3 seconds into the first quarter, Hegenes stole the ball and created a counterattack. Zhao Rui followed up with a layup, scoring 2 points but was unhappy that the referee did not award a 2+1. An angry Zhao Rui pointed at the referee and scolded him. After receiving one T, he did not calm down and directly collided with the referee, resulting in a disqualification.
Zhao Rui's incident had a significant impact, not only within the field but also outside. After Zhao Rui was ejected, Xinjiang did not lose their composure and continued to compete with Shandong in terms of score. Subsequently, the tension on the court escalated, with many players from both sides receiving technical fouls. Chris was also ejected with two technical fouls. As the game entered the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, the referees also went crazy, severely targeting the visiting team Shandong and making several unfavorable calls against Shandong. Even the commentators of this game, Li Tianyu and Zhang Zhaowu, couldn't stand it anymore and repeatedly stated, "The referees are stealing the show too much."
Fortunately, Shandong managed to hold on in the end, relying on three three-pointers from Yu Dehao in the final quarter and the crucial 2+1 and miraculous three-pointer from the small foreign aid Moore in the final stages. Ultimately, Tao Hanlin, who was severely targeted by the referees, ended the game with an uncontested dunk, eliminating all doubts.
In the other two games, Qingdao defeated Sichuan 126-108 without Samner, with six players scoring in double figures. Weatherspoon scored 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists, Yang Hanshen scored 12 points and 12 rebounds, Mickey scored 25 points and 9 rebounds, and Zhao Jiayi scored 21 points. Although the main players still played for a considerable amount of time, Qingdao still won quite easily.
Guangsha was even more relaxed. Facing Guangzhou Longshi, a team with decent strength among the mid-to-lower ranked teams, Guangsha achieved a crushing 39-point victory of 114-75. They might have won too fiercely, which could be traced back to the stage when there were 4 minutes and 30 seconds left in the second quarter. Hu Jinqiu was extremely dissatisfied with the referee's decision and angrily pointed at the referee, shouting, "There was definitely no foul on this ball!" Due to his dissatisfaction with the referee's call, Daxiu rarely lost his temper and received a technical foul. Fortunately, his teammates stopped him in time; otherwise, Daxiu might have been disqualified like Zhao Rui.
After this technical foul, the entire Guangsha team, in order to help their captain Hu Jinqiu regain his composure, went all out in the subsequent games. Players such as Sun Minghui, Zhu Junlong, Brown, and Carton surrounded Longshi and launched a fierce offensive. Guangsha led by 18 points after three quarters and continued to attack even in garbage time in the fourth quarter. In the final quarter, when Longshi had already surrendered, Guangsha scored another 30-9 (Longshi scored 0 points in the last 8 minutes of the fourth quarter).
Analysis of the top 6 championship contenders' rankings:
Currently, the league schedule has passed the halfway point. After the 25th round of 8 thrilling battles, the latest rankings have undergone changes. The top 6 championship contenders remain unchanged: Guangsha
