On January 3 at 19:35, in the 26th round of the 2024/2025 CBA regular season, Beijing BAIC will continue to host Zhejiang Chouzhou Bank at home for a key matchup.
During this season's regular season, the two teams will face each other four times, and this is their first encounter. Before the game, Beijing team has a record of 17 wins and 7 losses, accumulating 41 points, ranking 7th; while Zhejiang team has 18 wins and 7 losses, accumulating 43 points, ranking 4th. It can be seen that the two sides are only one win apart, so this is still a crucial battle for positioning. Looking at last season's rankings, Beijing team has made significant progress, while Zhejiang team has remained roughly the same. Last season, the two teams met twice, and Zhejiang team won both home and away against Beijing team (116-79, 112-100).
Recently, Beijing team has faced three tough battles in a row, first losing 97-108 to Xinjiang Yili, then beating the defending champion Liaoning Bensteel 105-90 at home. This time against Zhejiang team, they must have set their sights on a winning streak.
Zhejiang team, after a strong 10-game winning streak, lost at home by a narrow margin of 3 points (102-105) to Shenzhen Marco Polo in the last round. In this round, they will challenge Beijing team away from home, and they are sure to hope to return to the winning track.
In terms of lineup, Beijing team's Zhou Qi finally returned and easily scored 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks in the double-double performance in the victory over Liaoning team in the last round. It is worth noting that Beijing team's head coach Xu Limin arranged for Zhou Qi to play conservatively for 28 minutes in the last round, which is obviously in preparation for the upcoming match against Zhejiang team. On the other hand, after adapting and regaining his rhythm, Zhou Qi's competitive state is expected to continue to improve.
In addition to Zhou Qi, Zhang Cairen, who scored 27 points with 7 out of 10 three-pointers in the last round against Liaoning team and set a new high on his birthday night, is also worth looking forward to. If he continues his heroic form, it will be difficult for Zhejiang team to escape unscathed.
Furthermore, whether the three foreign players, Jerman, Solomon, and Omore, can perform steadily, as well as Chen Yingjun, who was unexpectedly injured in the last game, will also affect the trend of this game.
On the Zhejiang side, they just lost at home to Shenzhen team by a narrow margin of 3 points in the New Year's Eve battle, which will inevitably affect their morale. More worryingly, after the absolute main player Wu Qian was injured, center Yu Jiaxuan was also injured in the game against Shenzhen team. After testing, he suffered two strains on the lateral side of his calf and is expected to be out for two weeks, definitely missing this game. As a result, Zhejiang team's interior will be somewhat weak, and others will find it hard to compete with Beijing team's Zhou Qi. With the absence of two main players, Zhejiang team is also lacking in lineup depth.
In this situation, foreign players York, Jones, Simmons, as well as local players Wang Yibo, Lu Wenbo, Liu Zeyi, etc., need to take on more offensive and defensive responsibilities.
What sparks will be created in the first confrontation between the two teams this season? Let's wait and see.