111 to 121, Shanghai Jiushi Men's Basketball Team lost to Shenzhen Team in an away game last night, ending its four-game winning streak. In this game, the Sharks are not without a chance to win, but in order to avoid a recurrence of last season's nightmare, they learned their lesson and chose to "play it tight" this time, and even directly hid the main center Wang Zhelin in advance to prepare for the playoffs.
That clash last season
What was the Sharks’ nightmare last season? Of course, it was the conflict against the Beijing Control Team at the end of the regular season that led to the suspension of foreign aid Bledsoe. Time goes back to the last game of the CBA regular season a year ago, when the Sharks defeated Beikong 149-100 at home. Due to the personal grudge between then head coach Li Chunjiang and Beikong coach Marbury, the situation The home team, which had a big lead in the fourth quarter, still refused to give up. This also made the two sides more and more explosive and their moves bigger and bigger. Halfway through the fourth quarter, Ma Yong, who was still on the North Control team at the time, made too many moves when defending Bledsoe. The latter hit Ma Yong in the face with his elbow, and Ma Yong returned the punch to Bledsoe. , the conflict occurred. Subsequently, the referee expelled the two people, and CBA officials subsequently imposed additional penalties on the two. Bledsoe was suspended for 4 games and fined 140,000 yuan, and Ma Yong was suspended for 4 games and fined 100,000 yuan.
Since the North Control team had already missed the playoffs at the time, the suspension had little impact on the team. However, the Shanghai Men's Basketball Team made it to the playoffs, and Bledsoe's suspension penalty will be implemented starting from the playoffs. In order to allow Bledsoe to catch up with the Shenzhen team in the second round of the playoffs, the Shanghai team, which ranked fifth in the regular season and had an obvious advantage, faced the regular season team in the first round of the playoffs (from twelve to eight). The twelfth-ranked Jiangsu team easily won the first game with a 24-point advantage, but unexpectedly lost the second game on the road. This game was also considered by the outside world to be a deliberate loss by the Sharks, thus allowing the series to enter the third game. , so that Bledsoe can return from the ban in the second game of the next round - and if the Jiangsu team is eliminated by winning two games in a row, Bledsoe will not be able to return until the third game of the quarterfinals, less His Sharks lacked enough confidence against the Shenzhen team.
Unfortunately, things developed beyond expectations in the end. In the third game of the first round of the playoffs, the Sharks performed poorly at home and fell behind at the last moment. Although they narrowly won and advanced, this game also aroused doubts from the outside world. . In the end, the Chinese Basketball Association and CBA quickly launched an investigation and believed that the two teams had negative competition. They canceled the results of the two teams last season, and the head coaches and general managers of the two teams were also suspended for many years. Later, the Shanghai Men's Basketball Team changed its head coach and general manager. However, after this turmoil, they did not fully pursue the national player Zhou Qi who had already been interested in introducing them during the offseason. Afterwards, Zhou Qi and Zhao Rui exchanged clubs, and Zhou Qi joined the Guangdong team. Zhao Rui joined the Xinjiang team, and the CBA championship pattern also changed. It can be said that the conflict in that game not only had a huge impact on the Sharks, but even affected the CBA championship structure. If Li Chunjiang hadn't been suspended for five years and had no chance to continue to lead the team, and if the Sharks could win Zhou Qi, then the Shanghai Men's Basketball Team would undoubtedly become the favorite to compete for the championship. However, the episode of Bledsoe's suspension triggered a series of chain reactions.
Prepare for the playoffs
This season, Ferrer, the first foreign player introduced by the Sharks, performed poorly. Bledsoe was recalled and returned to represent the Sharks in the second stage of the league after passing the suspension period. The Sharks, who had a poor record in the first stage, also started low and moved high to catch up. Before last night's game, they locked in the top six in the regular season and completed the team's goal of reaching the top eight set at the beginning of the season ahead of schedule. Before the game, the Shanghai Men's Basketball Team and Shenzhen Team were ranked sixth and seventh respectively. Since the Sharks won the first two games this season, even if the Sharks lost to their opponents last night, they would still not be overtaken in the rankings. This also made the Sharks win. The Sharks began to prepare for the playoffs and no longer took the risk of playing Wang Zhelin with a strained leg muscle. They also reduced the playing time of impatient foreign aid Bacon to avoid conflicts between him and opponents.
Although they ultimately lost the game, there were still highlights in the Sharks' performance last night, especially young players Liu Zipeng and Ma Diancheng who scored in double figures. The former scored 13 points to set a personal CBA career record, and the latter scored 10 points to tie his personal record. Score record. Now, the 12 tickets for the CBA playoffs have been confirmed, and the Sharks have also won the home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but which team the opponent will be will not be determined until the final round.
Xinmin Evening News reporter Li Yuanchun