Unexpectedly, a rare strong confrontation between two talented Chinese basketball centers was overshadowed by the referees. In the 32nd round of the CBA regular season, Beijing and Qingdao engaged in a highly anticipated match. Yang Hanshen joined Rich Paul's team and is about to participate in the NBA draft, while Zhou Qi chose to return to the court despite illness to challenge Yang Hanshen with his weakened state. Ultimately, this showdown between two talented CBA centers ended with Zhou Qi being ejected and Yang Hanshen losing the battle but not the game.
In this match, Zhou Qi was hastily ejected after playing for just over two quarters. In the third quarter, at the start of the game, Zhou Qi was allegedly fouled by Yang Hanshen during an offensive matchup and knocked down, but the referee did not call a foul at first. Zhou Qi was somewhat dissatisfied but did not lose his temper until Zhang Cairen created a foul and went to the free-throw line, entering a dead-ball situation. During Zhang Cairen's two free throws, Zhou Qi argued with referee Huang Diankui about what had just happened.
Initially, Zhou Qi's emotions were relatively stable, and he only questioned referee Huang Diankui with his hands outstretched. However, Huang Diankui did not pay attention to Zhou Qi and blew a technical foul before walking away. This made Zhou Qi very angry, and he chased after Huang Diankui again to challenge him. Zhou Qi became emotionally agitated and began to scold Huang Diankui, who did not hesitate to make the disqualification ejection gesture. At this point, Zhou Qi became even more furious, and if it weren't for assistant referee Xu Jian holding him back, Zhou Qi might have really rushed to collide with the referee like Zhao Rui.
Zhou Qi's temper has actually been quite stable, and he rarely gets into disputes with referees. In his CBA career, direct disqualification is relatively rare (the most recent time was last season's playoffs when Zhou Qi was disqualified for elbowing Li Jinjiao). This scene also became the most controversial moment of the game.
Why was Zhou Qi so agitated? Guest commentator Zeng Lingxu gave his opinion, believing that Yang Hanshen had just exerted some hidden force, causing Zhou Qi to fall to the ground after the collision. He (Zhou Qi) felt it was a foul, but the referee did not blow the whistle. There were many instances of hidden force in this game, about 4 to 5 times, such as turning and thrusting hips, hand movements, waist movements, and the referees did not sound the whistle.
With Zhou Qi's departure, his personal statistics were fixed at 17 minutes, 4 out of 10 shots for 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks, with a plus-minus value of +1. When Zhou Qi was ejected, Beijing Auto trailed Qingdao by 12 points, which shows the importance of Zhou Qi within the Beijing team.
Yang Hanshen played 31 minutes and scored 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Statistically, Yang Hanshen had a slight advantage, but in the first half, Zhou Qi's individual performance was clearly better than Yang Hanshen (Zhou Qi was in a weakened state in this game), with Zhou Qi scoring 10 points and 2 rebounds in the first half, while Yang Hanshen only had 4 points and 2 boards, failing to score multiple times against Zhou Qi. After Zhou Qi was ejected in the second half, Yang Hanshen increased his personal offense but still managed to get a double-double with a not-so-high shooting percentage, scoring 8 points and 8 rebounds, which may have disappointed the NBA scouts watching the game.
In the end, Qingdao took advantage of Zhou Qi's ejection at home and eventually defeated Beijing Auto 99-89, securing a three-game winning streak while also giving Beijing a two-game losing streak. In the last five games, Beijing has only won one and lost four, with their ranking plummeting. They are currently ranked seventh in the standings. After Xinjiang and Guangdong finish their matches this round, Beijing's ranking will drop to ninth, which can be described as a dire situation. It cannot be said that the reason for the loss was Zhou Qi's ejection; rather, Beijing Auto's problems are multifaceted.
But to be fair, this deputy referee, Huang Diankui, who directly disqualified Zhou Qi and influenced the course of the game, is indeed ruthless. His refereeing standards may be even harsher than Yang Hongfeng and Cui Zhehong. Although these two referees often blow unnecessary technical fouls and flagrant fouls, they are less likely to directly disqualify players after being scolded a few times; they usually use two technical fouls for ejection. For example, in last year's controversial match between Xinjiang and Beikong, Cui Zhehong controlled the last minute of the game, leading to Xinjiang's wrongful loss. Qi Lin was very dissatisfied and angrily chased after Cui Zhehong, scolding him. Cui, the old hero, had a guilty conscience and showed mercy, only giving Qi Lin two technical fouls for ejection without directly disqualifying him.
Interestingly, in the game that happened at the same time last night, Han Dejun of Liaoning also loudly scolded the referee due to dissatisfaction with the refereeing in the fourth quarter of the game against Ningbo, but unlike Zhou Qi, Han Dejun was not directly ejected, and he didn't even receive a technical foul. It must be said that Zhou Qi was indeed unlucky to encounter such an unyielding tough guy.
It is no coincidence that last season's Shandong team also experienced Huang Diankui's ruthlessness in a game and even lost the game due to the referee's mistaken calls. In the second-to-last round of the 23-24 regular season, in the third quarter of the game between Shandong and Shenzhen, there was a scene that angered Shandong fans, and even head coach Ding Wei was scared to speak loudly.
At 3 minutes and 27 seconds in the third quarter, Sha Yuek held the ball and attacked the basket but was mistakenly called for traveling by referee Yang Peng, which greatly dissatisfied the Shandong team. Subsequently, an assistant coach on the Shandong bench complained about the referee, and deputy referee Huang Diankui saw this and immediately blew two technical fouls plus disqualification, ejecting an assistant coach from the Shandong team. This scene directly stunned Ding Wei, and in the end, Shandong lost to Shenzhen 106-95.