On January 19th, Beijing time, in the 33rd round of the CBA regular season, Zhejiang defeated Liaoning 101-88 at home, successfully avenging their opponents. In this game, Liaoning took the lead in the first half, but Zhejiang relied on their defensive performance to limit Liaoning's offense, making it difficult for them to score. The team gradually established a double-digit lead, and in the final quarter, Liaoning continued to miss shots while Zhejiang maintained their advantage until the end, successfully winning the game at home.
In this game, Zhejiang's two foreign players, York and Jones, were in hot form. Jones scored a comprehensive 25 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 assists, while York scored 31 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists, sinking 8 three-pointers from outside the line. Among them, in the second quarter, York went crazy, shooting 9-for-7 and scoring 23 points, including 7-for-6 from beyond the arc. Thanks to York's excellent performance from outside the line, the team was able to keep up with the score in the first half. Entering the second half, although York's shooting touch declined, he was still able to hit key three-pointers. His performance was crucial to the team's victory in this game.
Other players, Wu Qian missed this game, but Cheng Shaipeng stepped up, coming off the bench to score 22 points, including 12 in the final quarter, and also sinking a key three-pointer to help the team secure the win. His performance in this game was equally outstanding. Yu Jiaho had 7 points and 10 rebounds, Lu Wenbo had 5 points, and Wang Yibo had 7 points. The team's overall performance was quite good. Compared to Liaoning, they had players who could score in critical moments, which was also the key to their victory.
On the Liaoning side, the offensive success rate was very low, especially in the critical moments of the final quarter. When Zhejiang missed consecutive shots, the team was unable to seize the opportunity. Neither Wells nor Ferg could score, and other players' contributions on the offensive end were limited. This led to the team always trailing behind and ultimately losing. The inability to score in critical moments has been an old problem for Liaoning this season. Previously, when they lost to Qingdao, the team actually scored 0 points in a span of 4 minutes, with Ferg's physical decline leading to continuous misses and other players making consecutive mistakes, which resulted in their loss to Qingdao. Obviously, for the defending champions, they still need to find a way to score in decisive moments. If they cannot respond to their opponents in critical moments, the game will be very difficult.
In this game, Liaoning had 5 players scoring in double figures, with Ferg scoring 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. However, apart from Ferg in the starting lineup, Li Xiaoxu only had 5 points and 6 rebounds, Zhao Jiwei had 6 points and 6 turnovers, with the team being outscored by 16 points on the court, and their state still not found. Yu Zechen and Patton both scored 0 points. On the contrary, the team's bench played better, with Yan Shouqi scoring 14 points, Han Dejun scoring 10 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, Weber scoring 10 points and grabbing 8 rebounds, and Wells scoring 18 points. It is clear that there were problems with the team's starting lineup in this game, as all five starters had a positive-negative value of -10 or more. Starting Patton and Yu Zechen together did not have the desired effect, and head coach Yang Ming might want to consider changing the lineup.