Last night, Beijing BAIC hosted Guangsha team at home. Just as they saw victory approaching, they "dropped the ball" at a critical moment. Fan Ziming's unnecessary foul allowed Sun Minghui to get three free throws and overtake the score. In the final seconds, Fang Shuo threw the sideline ball into the hands of a Guangsha player, going from leading by 4 points to trailing by 3 points, ultimately losing the game and suffering their third consecutive defeat...
Despite an unfavorable start for Beijing, falling behind by 15 points at one point, they managed to level the score in the third quarter and overtake Guangsha in the fourth. They had a chance to win this game. However, the operation of head coach Xu Limin was puzzling. At the last moment, he replaced the struggling Fang Shuo with the hot-handed Zeng Fanbo. This adjustment by Xu Limin was immediately questioned by the commentator. How could you withdraw Zeng Fanbo, who can shoot threes and protect the rim, during an offensive play? Xu Limin's move was truly perplexing, and the coach's substitution finally bore bitter fruit. Fang Shuo, responsible for throwing the sideline ball, actually passed it to a Guangsha player, allowing them to counterattack. Then Fang Shuo missed the crucial equalizing three-pointer, ultimately handing the almost certain victory to Guangsha.
In addition to Fang Shuo's key mistakes, there was another reason for Beijing's defeat. Despite having four major frontcourt players, they lost the rebound battle to Guangsha, whose frontcourt is not particularly strong. Beijing grabbed a total of 39 rebounds, while Guangsha grabbed 47, losing by 8 rebounds. They lost even more on the offensive rebounds, with Guangsha grabbing a total of 19 offensive rebounds, while Beijing only had 10. The failure to secure rebounds by Beijing's top-paid frontcourt players is inexcusable. Zhou Qi, standing at 2 meters 16, scored 15 points but was seriously lacking in rebound protection, managing only 3 rebounds, fewer than Hu Jinqiu, who is shorter than him. Fan Ziming is also a softie; at 2 meters 11, he also only grabbed 3 rebounds. These two tall frontcourt players were as soft as noodles.
It's worth noting that Xu Jie, the 1 meter 78 small guy from Guangdong, also grabbed 6 rebounds in the game against Tongxi, along with 23 points and 13 assists. His number of rebounds matched the combined total of Zhou Qi and Fan Ziming, which must have made the two softies from Beijing feel ashamed and humiliated. Not only did Xu Jie grab 6 rebounds last night, but he also grabbed 7 and 10 rebounds in recent games against Guangzhou and Beikong. His ability to snatch rebounds from towering centers is truly astonishing and breathtaking.
Xu Jie is short in stature and earns a modest salary of only 700,000 yuan per year. On the other hand, Zhou Qi and Fan Ziming earn a top salary of 6 million yuan, almost ten times that of Xu Jie. It's not too much to say that these three, Zhou Qi, Fan Ziming, and Fang Shuo, are the culprits of Beijing's loss. What do you think?