On January 2nd, Beijing time, Zhao Rui finally made an official apology for his collision with the referee during the CBA "New Year's Day Battle" between Xinjiang and Shandong, which caused significant trouble. Zhao Rui stated that due to poor personal emotional management, he engaged in an uncalm behavior of colliding with the referee. Here, he solemnly offers his deepest apologies to everyone affected. Despite Zhao Rui's timely apology, the CBA officials will still impose additional penalties on him. Referring to past experiences and relevant regulations, the CBA company is likely to issue a heavy penalty of a six-game suspension plus a fine of over 200,000 yuan. On the other hand, the first week of CBA All-Star voting results have been released, with Hu Jinqiu and Zhao Rui becoming the top vote-getters for the South and North respectively. Notably, Xu Jie received 294,315 votes, surpassing Zhao Rui to become the All-Star guard vote king. On the Liaoning side, Zhao Jiwei, who had been absent from several games due to injury, officially joined the team for their trip to Jilin and is expected to make an early return.
Everyone has watched basketball for so many years, but this is the first time they've seen a player dare to directly confront a referee. Zhao Rui has previously engaged in "self-destruction," but never had unnecessary physical contact with a referee. After the incident, Zhao Rui was also very regretful, as it was just a momentary lapse of reason where he "lost his head" and pushed the referee. "After calming down, I deeply reflected. As a professional basketball player, I bear the responsibility of representing my team, the CBA league, and the image of Chinese basketball. However, at that moment, I failed to fulfill my duties and did not play a leading role in transmitting positive energy for Chinese basketball, for which I feel deeply guilty and self-reproachful." Although Zhao Rui is very remorseful, in order to maintain the order and dignity of the league, the CBA company will definitely impose severe punishment on him. According to relevant regulations, Zhao Rui is likely to receive a heavy penalty of a six-game suspension plus a 200,000 yuan fine.
The first week of CBA All-Star voting results are out, and Xu Jie received 294,315 votes, ranking second among all players in both the North and South regions, only behind Hu Jinqiu, and surpassing Zhao Rui with 290,015 votes to become the CBA All-Star guard vote king! In the second phase of the CBA, Xu Jie averaged 19.1 points, 4 rebounds, 8.2 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. During this period, Xu Jie was considered the strongest point guard in the CBA, and many fans were convinced by his performance. It should be noted that last year, Xu Jie didn't even make the All-Star starting lineup or the bench, and the media showed little respect for Xu Jie. Now, Xu Jie's hard power and soft power are both at their peak, and his All-Star voting has directly reached the second place in the league. This year's All-Star starting position should be quite stable.
Zhao Jiwei, who had been sidelined due to vocal cord damage and other physical injuries, did not stay in Liaoning to recover but traveled with the team to Jilin. Some fans believe that Zhao Jiwei is unlikely to make a comeback in the game against Jilin, but his trip may be to practice with the team's new big foreign aid, which at least proves that he should make an early return. The consecutive injuries of Zhang Zhenlin and Zhao Jiwei have severely damaged Liaoning's morale and greatly affected their performance. However, everyone hopes that Zhao Jiwei can fully recover before making a comeback, as the championship is a long-term goal and does not depend on a single moment.
