On January 19th, Beijing time, the highlight of the CBA "Spring Festival Battle" kicked off first. The defending champion Liaoning men's basketball team fought hard for four quarters but ultimately lost to Zhejiang men's basketball team with a score of 88-101, suffering their 11th defeat of the season. So far this season, Liaoning's number of losses has set a new record over the past four seasons, causing concerns about their prospects for defending their title. It is worth noting that Liaoning recently faced top teams in the league ranking within the top six, such as Zhejiang, Qingdao, Guangsha, etc., with a poor record of 0 wins and 5 losses, and an astonishing "net loss" of 47 points. Many fans lamented that after Guo Ailun left, Liaoning didn't get much better, and it seems that winning this year's championship will be quite difficult!
This season's Liaoning team is indeed very challenging, even described as "troubled both internally and externally." Internally, the team's soul, Guo Ailun, was traded, and Zhao Jiwei officially took the reins. However, Guo Ailun's departure did not allow Zhao Jiwei to spread his wings more freely. Affected by injuries, his personal offensive state plummeted instead. In addition to Zhao Jiwei's decline in competitive level, Zhang Zhenlin's long-term absence also greatly reduced Liaoning's offensive and defensive threats. Coupled with the further increase in age of Li Xiaoxu and Han Dejun, Liaoning's domestic lineup strength has hit rock bottom.
Externally, the league has entered the era of four quarters and seven foreign players, with various clubs frantically engaging in a military competition for foreign players, such as Shanxi and other wealthy teams continuously stockpiling excellent foreign players. Liaoning let go of Morland, the meritorious big foreign player from their three consecutive championships, only retaining the small foreign player Fog. Although they later managed to acquire the excellent forward foreign player Wells for less money, they repeatedly stumbled in choosing a big foreign player. This season, Liaoning can only be considered mid-tier in terms of foreign player strength among the championship contenders.
All of these have greatly reduced Liaoning's overall combat effectiveness, making them seem powerless when facing strong teams in the league, especially the top six powerhouses. Against Zhejiang, Liaoning lost by 13 points; against Qingdao twice, they lost a total of 20 points; against Guangsha, they lost by 13 points; and against Shanxi, they performed slightly better, only losing by 1 point. Liaoning's record against strong teams in the league is far inferior to the other top eight teams. To put it bluntly, Liaoning is quite stable when playing against weaker opponents, but when it comes to strong teams, they really have no chance at all.
Of course, if Zhang Zhenlin returns from injury and Zhao Jiwei is fully recovered, and Liaoning can find a suitable big foreign player before the third stage, they still have a chance to win the fourth consecutive championship. But honestly, the current defending champions are no longer as powerful as during their three consecutive championship period, having lost their absolute dominance. Previously, some Liaoning fans complained that Guo Ailun was "hindering" Liaoning's progress, but now it seems that even after Guo Ailun's departure, Liaoning still finds it difficult to achieve a fourth consecutive championship.
