Liaoning Men's Basketball Team suffered a crushing defeat to Zhejiang last night, losing 88-101. Although they once led by 12 points, Liaoning was overwhelmed by their opponents in the second half, scoring only 39 points in the third and fourth quarters while Zhejiang scored 54 points in the second half. More frightening than the loss itself was Yang Ming's post-game comments, which seemed to indicate that the team had lost its spirit.
Before the game, Liaoning was ahead of Zhejiang by one win. This match was a crucial battle for positioning, with Zhejiang's main player Liu Zeyi and foreign aid Simons returning early from injury to challenge Liaoning for revenge! Liaoning started off cold, relying on Ferg's scoring to barely keep up with the score difference, with Zhejiang leading by 2 points at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Webber and Wells performed strongly, allowing Liaoning to overtake Zhejiang by 2 points at halftime. However, in the second half, Liaoning's inside and outside defense became weak, coupled with their own offensive struggles, resulting in a 13-point defeat.
In this game, Liaoning lost mainly in two aspects. First, their shooting accuracy was poor, with only 9 out of 34 shots made from beyond the arc, a meager 26% accuracy rate. In contrast, Zhejiang made 17 out of 34 three-pointers, giving them a 24-point advantage over Liaoning in three-point shooting alone. The second aspect was the turnovers at the start of the game, with Zhao Jiwei committing three consecutive turnovers after starting, which led to him being substituted. Liaoning then managed to stabilize the situation and even overtake at halftime. However, when Zhao Jiwei was put back into the game in the second half, the result was constant pressure from the opposition, with Zhao Jiwei committing the most turnovers in the game with 6!
As the team's star player and the brain of Liaoning's backcourt, Zhao Jiwei not only failed to make significant contributions on the offensive end but also only scored 6 points, with only 1 rebound and 2 assists, coupled with numerous personal turnovers. This was the fundamental reason for the collapse of Liaoning's offensive and defensive system. After his return, Zhao Jiwei played 8 games, but his personal form has never been restored, aside from the need to recover his offensive touch. Recently, Zhao Jiwei's organization and linkage have indeed been problematic, with a total of 24 turnovers in 8 games, an average of 3 turnovers per game, which is quite absurd.
After the game, Liaoning head coach Yang Ming said: "This game was very exciting. The key problem lies in the second half, especially in terms of the offense. We only scored 39 points in the second half, and throughout the game, our assists were fewer than our turnovers. It felt like the team gave up on offense and organization in the second half, which is the responsibility of the perimeter players. In this game, apart from Yan Shouqi, there were problems with other domestic players, especially the perimeter players. Zhejiang also thoroughly studied the characteristics of our players. Today, including our own state changes and age structure, are all worth summarizing. Now, wins and losses in games are normal, and the team is preparing step by step, aiming for the next game."
Yang Ming's post-game remarks cleverly avoided mentioning Zhao Jiwei's slump, instead saying that apart from Yan Shouqi, there were problems with other domestic players. Clearly, the biggest problem was the top-paid player's abnormal performance, but Yang Ming dared not mention it. This is far more terrifying than the loss itself and could even affect the team's morale, as the players on the court all knew what happened during the game.