On January 1st, Beijing time, on the first day of 2025, the CBA officially crafted a "New Year's Day Battle". Liaoning Flying Leopards, who had just won four consecutive victories, traveled to the away court to face Beijing Ducks, who had emerged this season. It is worth mentioning that on the journey of Liaoning Men's Basketball Team towards the third consecutive championship, they have repeatedly stepped on the shoulders of Beijing Ducks to successfully advance. However, when the two teams met for the first time this season, Liaoning Men's Basketball Team lost by one point at home to Beijing, and the main player Zhang Zhenlin was accidentally injured by Fan Ziming's collision on his waist, adding more highlights to this game.
Returning to this game, Justin Patton, the newly signed big foreign aid for Liaoning Men's Basketball Team, although he arrived in Beijing with the team yesterday, could only watch from the sidelines as he had not yet completed the registration process and was unable to play alongside his teammates. With no choice, Yang Ming continued to use the double foreign aid of Fergie and Wells, and tried to separate Han Dejun and Li Xiaoxu to give the two veterans more rest time.
Unfortunately, due to the previous high-intensity battles, many players in Liaoning Men's Basketball Team were exhausted, coupled with Li Xiaoxu being repeatedly penalized by the referee on the court, causing him to receive no playing time in the fourth quarter. Han Dejun, who was struggling to support the inside line, also showed signs of physical fatigue. In the end, in the fourth quarter, Beijing Ducks relied on Zhang Cairen's series of three-point shots to successfully kill the game, defeating Liaoning Team 105-90, a 15-point advantage, temporarily completing a double kill against Liaoning Men's Basketball Team.
Although Liaoning Men's Basketball Team lost the game, fans actually don't need to be disappointed because through this game, Liaoning Men's Basketball Team has many unexpected surprises, and Yang Ming has also acquired the key to restraining Beijing Ducks. It is believed that when the two teams meet again, Liaoning Men's Basketball Team will have a high probability of winning.
Looking at the whole game, the failure of Liaoning Men's Basketball Team mainly comes from two factors. One is the incomplete team lineup, lacking the three core players Zhao Jiwei, Zhang Zhenlin, and Patton, which greatly reduced the overall strength of Liaoning Men's Basketball Team. However, even so, Liaoning Men's Basketball Team only allowed Zhou Qi to score 10 points and 10 rebounds today, and Zeng Fanbo made only 1 of 7 shots, scoring 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists, proving that after Zhou Qi's injury, he is no longer the once invincible "Great Demon King". At least in the next encounter, when Liaoning Men's Basketball Team has Patton, there is no need to worry about Zhou Qi anymore.
Another reason for Liaoning Men's Basketball Team's loss is that Zhang Cairen of Beijing Ducks played exceptionally well today. Throughout the game, Zhang Cairen shot 10 out of 15, including 7 out of 12 three-pointers, scoring the highest 27 points in the game. This season, Zhang Cairen's average score is only 6.9 points, obviously his super normal performance cannot happen frequently. If there is no accurate Zhang Cairen in the next game, then Beijing Ducks may not have the chance to defeat Liaoning Men's Basketball Team.
Of course, Liaoning Men's Basketball Team also made many mistakes in today's game, including frequently forgetting the corner defense when using the joint defense strategy, and being repeatedly counterattacked quickly by Beijing Ducks due to slow retreat defense. More importantly, due to injury factors, many substitute players of Liaoning Men's Basketball Team were forced to join the starting lineup, leading to a significant discount in the offensive power of the second lineup. In this game, Liaoning Men's Basketball Team lost 32-51 to Beijing Team in substitute scoring, among which the scores of Zhang Chenzhifeng, Li Huyi, and Zhang Junhao were basically obtained in the last garbage time. If we only look at the performance of the starting lineup, Liaoning Men's Basketball Team is not much different from Beijing Ducks.
The victory or defeat of a game cannot explain anything. The road to defending the title of Liaoning Men's Basketball Team this season is destined not to be smooth sailing, but it is believed that the players will withstand the pressure and overcome difficulties. When other main players return, Liaoning Men's Basketball Team will once again present more wonderful performances to the fans.
