The referees are always the main characters, and a wonderful match was blown apart by them, with obvious home court bias!
Zhao Rui was dissatisfied with the refereeing and angrily bumped into the referee, resulting in his ejection from the game, which was an uncontroversial call. However, the home fans were not satisfied, causing a commotion throughout the stadium and exerting pressure on the referees. Subsequently, the referees' decisions completely changed, clearly favoring the Xinjiang side in an attempt to appease the emotions of the fans.
There were a total of 60 fouls in the game, with Shandong committing 35 and Xinjiang 25. There were 64 free throws in total, with Shandong only having 25 while Xinjiang had 39. Three players from Shandong—Chris, Gaili, and Guo Kai—were ejected, while Xinjiang, aside from Zhao Rui who was ejected for angrily hitting the referee, had no other players ejected. Let's look at some typical refereeing decisions!
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Chris took the ball and accidentally hit Aizimaiti's face, for which the referee called an offensive foul. Then Aizimaiti clapped provocatively, but the referee turned a blind eye and did not even issue a warning. In the next round, Aizimaiti continued to provoke Chris fearlessly, and when Chris retaliated, the referee gave him a second technical foul, ejecting him from the game, while Aizimaiti remained on the court.
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Xierzati dribbled the ball and was double-teamed by Guo Kai and Yu Dehao, jumping to pass and falling to the ground. Yu Dehao picked up the ball to attack, but the referee blew the whistle on Guo Kai for a foul! Guo Kai was confused as he indeed did not commit a foul, but the referee persisted in their incorrect call.
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Tao Hanlin was pushed out of bounds by Aizimaiti and Lawson, falling to the ground. It was clearly Aizimaiti's foul, but the referee ruled that Tao Hanlin had carried the ball out of bounds, giving Xinjiang the opportunity to level the score.
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Even more bizarrely, after a timeout, Qiu Biao requested to substitute Moore for Kumajie, but the referee did not allow it! Since Kumajie had a low free throw shooting percentage, Xinjiang could intentionally foul him, increasing the difficulty for Shandong to win and thus providing Xinjiang with a chance to win. This was truly a calculated move.
Despite the referees giving Xinjiang great consideration, in the end, Tao Hanlin delivered a powerful dunk, securing victory for Shandong!
It's no wonder Coach Pan Jiang said that no one can win a game at Xinjiang's home court. Xinjiang's home court is indeed tough, with a record of 14 consecutive home victories. However, when they met the Shandong giants, their undefeated streak was finally broken by the Shandong team!
Shandong's away victory over Xinjiang was not easy, but this is also a good phenomenon, a process that every strong team must go through. To become a strong team, one must be brave enough to face various difficulties, dare to compete against various strong teams, not only know how to play in favorable conditions but also learn to play under adverse circumstances. Only after being tempered by various difficulties can one become a competitive strong team. The Shandong team still has a long way to go!