Liaoning, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Beijing, in the CBA field with a huge gap in strength, it is difficult to imagine a former playoff marginal team that can win four league giants in succession. But this season's Shanxi team did it.
What's even more amazing is that unlike the top teams in the league standings, this team does not have star players, no one in the whole team has been selected for the national team, and even their financial resources are not strong, and they have recently exposed the news of operational difficulties and intention to list for sale...
In an offseason, the most obvious change in the Shanxi team is the third return of the veteran coach Yang Xuezeng to the team. This champion coach with a big belly on the sidelines and always a calm face has let the tepid Shanxi team find the glorious years of "making trouble with him".
Liaoyue and Shenzhen are all background boards
Against Beijing, in the final 7 minutes of the fourth quarter, Beijing once stretched the point difference to 10 points, and then Yang Xuezeng called a timeout. After returning, the sudden joint defense of the Shanxi team made the Beijing team extremely uncomfortable.
When Beijing called for a pause in the attack again, Yang Xuezeng changed back to the defense of people. Back and forth, the 10-point difference was smoothed out. Subsequently, Yuan Shuai, Feld, Xing Zhiqiang and Ge Zhaobao scored consecutive points to carry the current CBA's longest six-game winning streak into his pocket.
After the game, Yang Xuezeng said lightly: "We play this ball with the mentality of fighting." The Beijing team is higher than us in terms of team strength, individual ability and rotation lineup. Our players have no baggage, calm, patient and tenacious on the field. ”
If a win in a match has an accidental element, then a series of wins is a manifestation of strength.
The second stage of the game is a devil's schedule for the Shanxi team. From Guangdong to Shenzhen to Beijing, which team has to take a breath of cool air when it hears this schedule, but the answer sheet handed over by Shanxi is: 26 points to win over Guangdong; to repel Shenzhen in overtime; to reverse Beijing in the fourth quarter; plus the Liaoning team won in the first stage, Shanxi team has soared this season and rushed to the 5th position in the league.
Zhang Ning, who is most familiar to fans, sighed: "After the new coaching staff was in place, they did not put the goal on their lips, but let us put it in the right position - we are a weak team, and we need to fight hard when we meet every opponent." ”
This season, Shanxi averaged 111.2 points per game, second only to the Shanghai men's basketball team; third in the league in three-point shots, but the number of hits was the first in the league; and the average number of rounds per game was 94.0, also second only to the Shanghai men's basketball team. However, compared with the wealth of the Shanghai team, the Shanxi team is much more "civilian".
The history of the Shanxi men's basketball team is not without glory. In the 2011-2012 season, Shanxi played a record of 20 wins and 12 losses, and the team broke into the playoffs for the first time in team history. That season, The Shanxi team averaged 111.1 points per game in the middle of the full "trouble", which won the league.
For the first time in the history of the team, they broke into the playoffs, first eliminating Shanghai 3-1, and then playing five games with Beijing in the semifinals, and finally losing.
Coincidentally, the Shanxi men's basketball team ten years ago was also coached by Yang Xuezeng.
Sanjin Shanxi, CBA's "Running Boom Master"
Shanxi men's basketball team has always been not stable, since entering the CBA League in 2006, Shanxi men's basketball team has changed 21 managers in 15 years.
In the past three seasons, from Wang Fei to Ding Wei to Pan Jiang, and then to Yang Xuezeng today, the Shanxi men's basketball team has frequently changed coaches and twists and turns, so that the team has never been able to form a fixed technical and tactical system, and the results are naturally passable.
In such a frequent personnel transfer, Yang Xuezeng is undoubtedly the person with the most relationship with the Shanxi team. In ten years, Yang Xuezeng took charge of the Shanxi team three times.
In the 2010-2011 season, Yang Xuezeng came to Shanxi. At that time, Shanxi had never had a coach who could be re-elected, which was a notoriously difficult belt in the CBA.
After a few brief run-in games, Shanxi played 13 wins and 6 losses in the last 19 rounds, ranking 9th in the league, one step away from the playoffs.
The following year, Yang Xuezeng created a "pants combination" of Marcus Williams and Charles Gannings, supplemented by assists Wang Lu Xiaoming, local core Zhang Xuewen and others, playing a record of 20 wins and 12 losses, and finally lost 5 games to Beijing to stop the semifinals, but also created the best record in team history.
After a brief absence from the team, Yang Xuezeng returned to Shanxi in 2014 and led the team to the playoffs again, eventually ranking sixth.
In the previous two seasons, two years after Yang Xuezeng's departure, the Shanxi men's basketball team had no chance of playoffs, and the 2013-2014 season was only ranked 16th.
In the days of the Shanxi team, Yang Xuezeng coached many teams in Dongguan, Zhejiang, Sichuan and other teams, and led the Sichuan men's basketball team to win the championship, becoming the 6th CBA champion coach after Wang Fei, Adi Jiang, Li Qiuping, Li Chunjiang and Min Lulei.
After helping Sichuan win the CBA championship, Yang Xuezeng said in an interview: "I have been coaching the Southern (Nanjing Troops) to play A since 1995, and I have basically witnessed the 21 seasons of the CBA. I have been in many teams and have gradually developed my own set of tactical concepts and training methods. ”
The answer to this tactical philosophy can also be found in his answer: "I don't like tactics that are too complex, and I only need 3 or 5 sets here to use them." I don't agree with the concept of more than 10 or even 20 sets of tactics, even if the tactics run out, what is the use of not being able to play? Competitive sports are not about teaching. ”
Simplifying complexity is Yang Xuezeng's tactical style, "I am advocating a fast, practical and concise style of play." ”
His team is almost always fast-paced and high-scoring. In the 2012-2013 season, he coached Shanxi, and the team averaged 111.1 points per game, the first in the league; in the 2015-2016 season when Sichuan won the championship, he led the team to average 114.7 points per game, which was also proud of the league.
Now leading the Shanxi coaching whip again, you can often see the figure of the 7-second attack, and the score is also rising, from an average of 98.7 points per game last season to 111.2 points.
According to the fans, "Yang Xuezeng is the CBA version of D'Antoni, the master of running and bombing." ”
Happy basketball, good means of driving people
Running sounds easy, but it's not easy to do. For Yang Xuezeng, the first task is to loosen the shackles of the players.
"I think it's important to play a good running and bombing tactic, shooting is very important, decisive shooting is also very important, when the opportunity comes, don't make the tactics run around." Yang Xuezeng described the essence of running and bombardment in this way, and the primary factor to do a good job in running and bombing is that everyone dares to fight and everyone dares to vote.
This is the case in Shanxi this season - you can often see the original coach borrow a cover to shoot three points, you can also see Xing Zhiqiang throw three points outside the three-point line, and even center Ge Zhaobao, from time to time on the outside.
So in the win over Beijing, Shanxi's scores in the last three minutes came from Yuan Shuai, Feld, Xing Zhiqiang and Ge Zhaobao.
What prompted all this to happen was naturally Yang Xuezeng. According to Zhang Ning's words: "I also made mistakes at the key moment of the game, and my teammates and coaches did not blame me, which I was also very pleased, the coach did not deny me because I made a mistake, what I can do is to try my best not to live up to everyone's trust in me." ”
Unlike the current mainstream "spitting fragrance" of CBA coaches, you can hardly see Yang Xue's angry appearance.
On the playing field, he rarely blamed the players, always with a calm face, "It may be that when I was a child, my family conditions were slightly better, the family ranked eight, and I was pampered by millions of people from childhood, which created a good character." ”
"The way I recognize education is still encouragement-based and more communication. Like Coach Milu, who played in the World Cup, I advocate 'happy basketball'. Yang Xuezeng said.
For foreign aid, Yang Xuezeng can always boil a good pot of "chicken soup for the soul". This season's Shanxi team, whether it is Felder or Simmons, has been the "outcast" of other CBA teams, but it has performed well under Yang Xuezeng, and Feld has been named the CBA's player of the week in the fifth week.
The strength of Yang Xue's ability to control people can be known from Haddadi's body.
Once Haddadi was once considered a "thorn head", when in the Qingdao team, the news of cheating and escaping training was endless, but under Yang Xuezeng's command, he became a model worker.
According to the "Basketball Pioneer News", in the season when Sichuan won the championship, after the team drew 1-1 with Liaoning, on the day that Sichuan returned from Liaoning, Yang Xuezeng asked for training, but Haddadi only wore casual clothes to the court.
Seeing this scene, Yang Xuezeng did not get angry, but shouted him aside to chat, and soon the two laughed, haddadi borrowed a pair of pants from Harris, and put on a commemorative T-shirt to train.
In this way, in the matches after the finals, Haddadi almost played the whole game - many times it was his own request to insist, and even once replaced him with a forced rest, almost Haddadi infuriated.
Thus, there is a picture of Haddadi kneeling on the floor to celebrate after winning the championship. At that time, Yang Xuezeng said to Haddadi: "You used to be a 'lazy child', and now you have become a 'labor model' through practical actions." ”
Obviously, a similar story has also appeared in the Shanxi men's basketball team this season.
(The Paper)