"We defended well most of the time, but we were a little distracted at critical moments." On February 3, after the Guangdong South China Tigers lost 90-97 to Shenzhen Marco Polo in an away game, Guangdong team coach Du Feng was a little unwilling. Said the above words.
With 17.4 seconds left in the game, Shenzhen team's He Xining hit his fifth three-pointer of the game, widening the point difference to 4 points, almost killing the Guangdong team's hope of winning. The Shenzhen team finally won this crucial "Guangdong Derby", continuing their recent winning streak.
In this campaign, He Xining became the biggest contributor to the Shenzhen team's victory. He scored a game-high 44 points on 17 of 32 shots and set a new career personal scoring record. The Guangdong team once again had to embarrassingly become the backdrop - He Xining is already the fifth player to score more than 40 points against the Guangdong team this season (the previous four were David James, Pitt Sen, Rakosevic, Powell).
This is the second meeting between the Guangdong and Shenzhen teams this season. In the first round, the Guangdong team won 120-93 at home. The Shenzhen team obviously absorbed the lessons of the defeat in the last round and took the initiative to increase its defensive intensity in this campaign. The Shenzhen team played taller lineups for a long time, making it difficult for the Guangdong team to find opportunities in the paint. For most of the game, the Guangdong team could only rely on Waters' personal ability to score points, but Waters seemed a little anxious when facing the Shenzhen team's extremely oppressive defense and paid the price for a physical foul. .
In this campaign, only Waters, Zhou Qi and Hu Mingxuan of the Guangdong team scored in double figures. Although only He Xining, Adams and Shen Zijie of the Shenzhen team scored in double figures, He Xining scored 44 points alone. He became the team's offensive backbone. When the team's main foreign aid Salinger was not in his best condition and only scored 5 points, He Xining proved his worth with difficult scores again and again. It is worth mentioning that if He Xining's three-point data is deducted, the Shenzhen team only made 3 of 20 three-pointers in this game. With such a low shooting rate, the Shenzhen team can still defeat the Guangdong team, which is enough to reflect He Xining's performance from the side. What a dominant game.
Compared with the Shenzhen team, where one person shines and the whole team is united, the Guangdong team seems to have few options. From three defenders to a high forward combination, from emphasizing Waters' individual singles to sending Wilms to play team offense, Du Feng continued to adjust the lineup, but none of them had very good results. The Shenzhen team led by 15 points at the most, and although the Guangdong team achieved a reversal in the fourth quarter, it relied on a series of three-pointers from Waters and Hu Mingxuan. As their shooting percentages dropped, the balance of victory and defeat fell. It was immediately turned over by the Shenzhen team. This season, the Guangdong team has become a team that relies heavily on shooting percentage when facing strong teams. Due to the lack of suitable forward attackers, the stability of the Guangdong team has significantly declined.
After winning this game, the Shenzhen team, which has won four consecutive victories, has tied the Guangdong team, which suffered two consecutive losses, in the standings. Currently, Guangsha, Guangdong, and Shenzhen teams have all achieved a record of 25 wins and 13 losses, three wins behind the third-ranked Zhejiang team. According to the rules of the CBA League, the top four teams in the regular season will receive a bye in the first round of the playoffs. It is foreseeable that the competition for the top four seats among the strong teams in the subsequent games will be extremely fierce.
Yangcheng Evening News reporter Hao Haoyu