112 to 81, Shanghai Jiusi men's basketball team continued their winning streak with a resounding victory at home, which is already their fifteenth consecutive win this season. However, despite the seemingly wide margin in the score, the game itself was not as easy as the final result suggests. A Guangzhou team that is clearly inferior in overall strength to the Shanghai men's basketball team managed to cause enough trouble in the first half, even taking the lead at one point. This has led the outside world to re-examine whether this winning streak of the Great White Shark is really unbeatable?
On paper, Guangzhou is obviously not comparable to Shanghai men's basketball team. Guangzhou not only has limited lineup depth but also lacks key players like Jiao Boqiao. However, in this game, Guangzhou used their defensive strategy to make the Great White Shark hit a brick wall in the first half. Especially in restricting Lofton, Guangzhou adopted a highly targeted double-teaming strategy, which prevented Lofton from easily scoring or organizing attacks. For other Shanghai men's basketball players, Guangzhou's defense also expanded, almost not giving three-point opportunities. Such a defensive setup made the Great White Shark's perimeter offense extremely inefficient in the first half, with only 4 out of 19 three-point attempts, a hit rate that obviously could not allow the team to establish an advantage.
In fact, this is not the first time Guangzhou has given the Great White Shark a hard time this season. In previous encounters between the two teams, Shanghai men's basketball team had to go through two overtimes to barely win. At that time, the team's three-point shooting percentage was only a pitiful 18%, and there were 24 turnovers. Although Shanghai eventually won that game, it also exposed the opponent's ability to find certain targets on the defensive end. In the first half of this game, such a defensive strategy worked again, and Shanghai men's basketball team was actually suppressed by the opponent in their own home court, which undoubtedly gave other teams more inspiration.
However, the gap in strength cannot be ignored after all. In the second half, as the problem of insufficient rotation depth in Guangzhou became apparent, coupled with tactical adjustments made by the home team during the halftime break, Shanghai men's basketball team began to gradually control the rhythm of the game. They used more inside attacks, exploiting Wang Zhelin's physical advantage to tear apart the opponent's defense. Eventually, Guangzhou's defensive quality could not be maintained throughout the game, and Shanghai seized the opportunity to complete a reversal of more than 30 points. However, this does not mean that the problem has been solved. The game exposed that Shanghai men's basketball team still has certain shortcomings when facing high-intensity targeted defense. Once the opponent is stronger and the defensive execution is higher, whether Shanghai men's basketball team can still easily adjust and complete a reversal like this game remains a question mark.
After the game, Guangzhou coach Michel was satisfied with his defensive strategy, believing that the first half performance proved the feasibility of this tactic. Although the team eventually lost by more than 30 points, his words were clearly not just affirmation of his own team, but also a "demonstration" that might be borrowed by other opponents. On the other hand, Shanghai men's basketball team's interim head coach Lu Wei frankly admitted after the game that the team's mentality was indeed somewhat lax, especially when facing opponents with weaker paper strength, the players seemed to always have difficulty maintaining sufficient focus. He frankly stated that this game made the team realize that they can never underestimate their opponents at any time, otherwise they are very likely to pay a price at a critical moment.
For the Great White Shark currently on a winning streak, how to continuously optimize their response capabilities is the next issue that needs to be addressed. Although Lu Wei said that there is no need to worry too much about Lofton being targeted because the team does not completely rely on him to score but wins through team basketball, judging from recent games, Lofton's performance still has an important impact on the outcome of the Great White Shark. Once the opponent strictly executes targeted defense throughout the game, whether Shanghai men's basketball team can continue to open up the situation through other scoring points still needs to be verified in more games.
Winning streaks are certainly joyful, but they also become a motivation for other teams to study you. Guangzhou has already provided a template for the league, and the upcoming opponents may replicate or even upgrade their strategies. As a team aiming to achieve higher goals, Shanghai men's basketball team cannot simply be content with current victories but needs to constantly improve details in the game, especially finding more flexible ways to adjust when facing adversity. The fifteen-game winning streak is indeed an achievement to be proud of, but what cannot be overlooked is that every victory lays the groundwork for the challenges ahead.