On January 4th, Beijing time, Guangdong Hongyuan secured a crucial victory, defeating Shandong 98-93 at home. This win not only avenged their previous loss but also marked their second consecutive victory, sounding the charge for their return to the top eight. Guangdong's victory was accompanied by three pieces of good news! The first piece of good news is that Xu Jie played like Curry. In this game, Xu Jie played for 43 minutes, scoring 22 points, 11 assists, and 4 rebounds with 9 shots made out of 6 attempts. Notably, all 6 of his successful shots were three-pointers, with 8 attempts resulting in 6 successful shots, and most of these goals were from beyond the arc. Xu Jie has truly become the CBA's Curry! The second piece of good news is that Morand nearly achieved a "quadruple-double." Morand scored 8 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, dished out 10 assists, but had 7 turnovers. Although he had more turnovers, the 19 rebounds and 10 assists speak for themselves. The third piece of good news is the timely recovery of Du Runwang, who made 3 out of 5 three-pointers, dispelling the shadow of his previous game where he made only 2 out of 10 three-point attempts!
In the last 15 games, Xu Jie has only played over 40 minutes twice, which shows how tired he must be now. In this game, all 9 of Xu Jie's attempts were from beyond the three-point line, which was actually to save energy. However, as the game progressed, we discovered that Xu Jie had become the CBA's Curry. Xu Jie made 6 out of 9 three-point attempts, and it's worth noting that these 9 attempts were mostly from long-range or difficult shots. Despite being so exhausted, he still managed to make a series of high-difficulty three-pointers, demonstrating that Xu Jie's shooting skills have truly evolved. Using Xu Jie like Curry might only be something Du Feng would dare to do, considering that Xu Jie's physical attributes are far inferior to Curry's, and his height and strength are at a disadvantage in the CBA. This further highlights the solidity of Xu Jie's shooting fundamentals.
Morand changed his playing style in the second phase, with some joking about him and Xu Jie "switching roles," with Xu Jie playing center and Morand playing point guard. Indeed, it is often Morand who brings the ball up the court for Guangdong, and Du Feng has arranged many pick-and-roll and organizing tactics for him. As a big man, Morand did not fully display his organizational abilities during his time with Liaoning, but he has been unleashed since joining Guangdong. This season, Morand averages 4.8 assists per game, setting a new personal career high, and he is currently the CBA's tallest player with the most assists. In the match against Shandong, Morand nearly achieved a "quadruple-double," scoring 8 points, grabbing 19 rebounds, dishing out 10 assists, and having 7 turnovers.
Since his return from suspension, Du Runwang's three-point shooting has been off, with embarrassing records such as making only 2 out of 10, 0 out of 4, or 1 out of 3 in a single game. However, against Shandong, Du Runwang finally recovered, playing for 21 minutes, attempting 6 shots and making 4, including 3 out of 5 three-pointers, scoring 13 points and grabbing 1 rebound. When Du Runwang's three-point shooting is off, he drags the team down, but when he's on, he can really take out the opponent! We hope that Du can maintain this excellent shooting form, as Guangdong still has many tough battles ahead that will require him to step up.
