CBA regular season game No. 24 continues, and according to the schedule, at 19:35 Beijing time on December 30th, the defending champion Liaoning men's basketball team will face off against Guangdong men's basketball team at home. This highly anticipated match is also the first encounter between the two teams this season. Looking back at their last six encounters, Liaoning men's basketball team has a record of 3 wins and 3 losses against Guangdong men's basketball team, indicating that both teams are evenly matched in terms of strength.
Liaoning men's basketball team won a big victory over Xinjiang men's basketball team in the 23rd round of the regular season, which is also one of the favorites to win the championship this season. Guangdong men's basketball team also had a resounding victory over Jilin men's basketball team by 41 points in the 23rd round of the regular season. Therefore, both teams have been in good form recently, so the outcome of this match mainly depends on two factors. The first is how Guangdong men's basketball team can maximize its advantage in the frontcourt. This season, Guangdong men's basketball team has recruited three powerful foreign players for the frontcourt. Jilunwater, who is still in his prime, is an offensive all-rounder. If given sufficient ball possession, he can easily score more than 40 points in a single game.
Morland is a master at protecting the basket and grabbing rebounds, and he also has excellent playmaking abilities. His "15 pick-and-roll" with Xu Jie has become the most stable scoring tactic. As long as Morland plays happily and gets into a rhythm, Liaoning men's basketball team's frontcourt will be thrown into chaos.
Secondly, Bazley, who was re-signed by Guangdong men's basketball team, is also a formidable force on the wing. In the game against Jilin men's basketball team, he played for 18 minutes, made 7 out of 11 shots, and easily scored 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. Bazley has strong ball-carrying ability, decent three-point shooting accuracy, and excellent defensive skills, capable of guarding from position 1 to position 5. Therefore, Guangdong men's basketball team has a huge advantage in the frontcourt.
When it comes to comparing the frontcourt of Guangdong men's basketball team with Liaoning men's basketball team, a sudden event caught Yang Ming off guard. It was reported by the media that NBA foreign aid Patton, who had reached a verbal agreement with Liaoning men's basketball team, suddenly raised his price and demanded new signing conditions from Liaoning men's basketball club, insisting on a $500,000 increase before agreeing to sign, otherwise Patton's team would join a club offering a higher price.
It should be noted that Liaoning men's basketball team is currently facing great difficulties in the frontcourt. Big foreign aid Ture has been included in the layoff list, so Yang Ming could only use two small foreign aids in recent games, relying heavily on the "Xuanming Two Elders" in the frontcourt. These two veterans not only have to engage in high-intensity running back and forth but also compete for rebounds with the opposing big foreign aid. They also repeatedly fall hard on the court during offense, leading to an increase in new injuries for Han Dejun and Li Xiaoxu.
If this high-intensity consumption continues, it is possible that these two veterans may suffer serious injuries before the playoffs even begin. This is also a headache for Yang Ming. Therefore, it is likely that former NBA center Patton will be intercepted by other teams like Morland, and Yang Ming's troubles have just begun. Du Feng is also happy because Guangdong men's basketball team has experience in intercepting players this season, and the acquired Morland has performed exceptionally well after the price increase.
The second point is that Liaoning men's basketball team needs to maximize the advantage of the guard line. With the shortage of personnel in the frontcourt, Yang Ming can only make more use of Fu Hao and Zhang Chenzhi Feng. The advantage of the guard line is obvious, as Wells exploded for 50 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals in the last game, leading Liaoning to a big victory. Additionally, Wang Lanyan, acquired this season in exchange for Guo Ailun, has proven himself. He started for 33 minutes and delivered a perfect performance of 20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals, which makes Yang Ming very pleased.
Therefore, under the circumstances where Zhao Jiwei and Hu Mingxuan are injured, the new "Wei Feng" combination of Liaoning will be the key to victory in this Liaoning-Guangdong battle. It is expected that Yang Ming will continue to deploy a three-guard system, with Foge focusing on shutting down Xu Jie defensively. Moreover, Yang Ming will also consider arranging a 2-3 zone defense. Because Coach Du struggled to break through the 2-3 zone defense in the previous loss to Zhejiang men's basketball team. Therefore, both teams have their advantages and weaknesses in this focus match, and we will have to wait and see who will come out on top.