Shanghai Men's Basketball Team defeated Guangdong Men's Basketball Team with a score of 115-81, ending Guangdong's nine-game winning streak and achieving a double kill for the season. The two games resulted in a combined victory margin of 77 points, demonstrating a clear dominance. There isn't much to say about this match; Shanghai comprehensively overwhelmed Guangdong, leaving them with no ability to fight back. It was like the script of Chang Wei beating Lai Fu. Guangdong only managed to resist at the beginning with a 9-0 run but collapsed after being overtaken. Shanghai remained calm when trailing and stable when leading, showing the qualities of a champion. Let's listen to what media experts have to say after the game.
Cantonese media: "It's a pity that the nine-game winning streak came to an abrupt end, just one win short of reaching double digits. However, there are still obvious shortcomings in the current Guangdong team. They lack a good small foreign aid, limiting their competitiveness. Bazley wasted too many opportunities; his individual play simply doesn't work! It's inexplicable why Jilunwater didn't play, and they ended up losing by a large margin to the strong Shanghai team, which was completely reasonable! Don't worry too much about the data; go home, get a good night's sleep, and recover as soon as possible."
Shanghai media: "The last time Shanghai men's basketball team completed a double kill against Guangdong in both home and away games during a single season regular season was during the championship-winning season of 2001-2002, which was exactly 24 years ago!"
Shanxi media: "Shanghai Jiushi achieved a big home victory over Guangdong Dongguang, securing ten consecutive home victories. Guangdong Dongguang failed to achieve ten consecutive victories, suffering defeat in Shanghai. Li Hongquan performed outstandingly, scoring seven three-pointers and contributing 21 points and 4 rebounds."
Liaoning media: "Du Feng deliberately did not field Jilunwater; they couldn't have won anyway. This way, they can say it's because Jilunwater wasn't on the court that they lost, making Jilunwater the scapegoat. Du Feng, you're still the one!"
Media personality Mai Suifeng summarized: "Guangdong lost to Shanghai with a score of 81-115, being double-killed in the regular season this season. The point difference is quite large, but the result of the game is not very surprising. Despite recently achieving a nine-game winning streak, Guangdong's overall strength has not undergone a qualitative change; at most, they have gelled well, and their competitive state is good. As long as they don't bring in a small foreign aid with strong attacking capabilities and don't welcome Hu Mingxuan's return, Guangdong will not be able to break through their bottleneck."
Shanghai is undoubtedly a strong team; they only lost by 3 points to Liaoning without Lofton, which speaks volumes. However, in this game, Guangdong did not come away empty-handed; they did some things right, such as targeted defense against Lofton - Lofton scored only 15 points throughout the game, "forced" to dish out 8 assists and made 7 turnovers - and controlling their own turnovers.
As a Guangdong fan, what is most frustrating is not the loss but the conflict between Du Feng and Jilunwater, discord between coach and players, which is a military taboo. According to media reports, after the first quarter's defensive lapse against Lofton, there was indeed a scene where Jilunwater and Coach Du Feng exchanged words when coming off the court. Both have stubborn tempers, but do they have to escalate to this point? Can't they finish the game first and then discuss everything clearly? This game was too painful to watch, and this kind of emotion is likely to affect future games. I hope they can communicate and resolve this issue as soon as possible.