After losing to Shanghai, Guangdong ended the second phase of the CBA regular season with a record of 20 wins and 8 losses. It was another defeat for them in the second phase, where injuries and fatigue greatly limited their play and caused them to struggle in the second phase.
He was killed by Liaoning Guangsha
In the second stage of the regular season, Guangdong's record was 9 wins and 6 losses, with a winning rate of only 60%, compared with the performance of 11 wins and 2 losses in the first stage, with a win rate of 84.6%, the competitiveness of Guangdong team in the second stage declined significantly.
In terms of record alone, Guangdong's record in the second stage is only tied for 5th in the league, ranking behind Liaoning (13 wins and 2 losses), Shanghai (13 wins and 2 losses), Zhejiang (12 wins and 3 losses) and Guangsha (11 wins and 4 losses), and Shandong, Xinjiang, Jilin and Beijing are tied for 5th place, such a performance is obviously a regression for Guangdong, especially considering that the performance of Shandong, Jilin and Beijing in the second stage is not ideal, and Xinjiang is currently even only ranked 13th in the league.
Losing six games, Guangdong lost twice to Liaoning, twice to Guangsha, once to Shanxi and once to Shanghai. In addition to revenge on Shanxi, Guangdong lost all the strong dialogue matches. Among them, they are the first time in the history of the team to be swept by Guangsha in the regular season, and the first time since the 2017-18 season that They were swept by Liaoning in the regular season. At the same time, they have lost 20 points to Guangsha, 20 points to Liaoning, and 15 points to Shanxi, which is enough to see how obvious the defending champions' competitiveness declines at this stage. In the closing battle of the second stage, the Guangdong team faced the Shanghai team with many generals, although it chased the single-digit point difference in the last moment after a long period of more than 20 points, but in the end it was lost. And losing to a strong opponent again and again has also dealt a big blow to Guangdong's morale.
Reflected in the data, many of the performances of the Guangdong team in the second stage have not improved significantly compared with the first stage, and even declined. In the first stage, they averaged 101.6 points per game, averaging 47.9 rebounds and 25.8 assists per game. In the second stage, they averaged 101.8 points per game, 41.9 rebounds and 23.3 assists per game. Defensively, they conceded 92.5 points per game in the first phase and 99.1 points per game in the second phase. After the return of foreign aid Wims and the addition of fire-fighting foreign aid Ledo, the overall performance of the Guangdong team in the second stage has not improved compared to the first stage, which actually means that they are lagging behind, because their competitors are generally getting stronger.
Because of the frequent losses in the second stage, Guangdong's ranking also fell, and eventually failed to enter the top four. While the top four, Liaoning, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangsha, all locked up playoff qualification in advance, Guangdong, as the defending champion, rarely needed to qualify for the playoffs in the next stage, the third stage of the regular season.
The dilemma of the defending champions
The key reasons for Guangdong's frequent losses are injuries and fatigue. In the second stage, the main defender Zhao Rui only played 1 game and then truncated due to injury and physical reasons, at the same time, substitute striker Zhang Haojia was reimbursed in advance of the season due to injury, and substitute center Zhang Hao has been suspended because of a serious foot, which caused great trouble to the rotation of the Guangdong team. In addition, Guangdong's Zhou Peng, Ren Junfei, Xu Jie and Hu Mingxuan have basically been in league and national teams for more than a year, physically and mentally exhausted and injured, and Yi Jianlian has also gradually recovered after his comeback this season (last season due to Achilles tendon rupture reimbursement), which has exacerbated the difficulties of Guangdong team. Coupled with Weems' poor form this season, Marzan Brooks is still uncertain when he will return (Achilles tendon rupture is recovering well), which also forced Guangdong to sign fire-fighting foreign aid Ledo.
When Liaoning Guangdong Second Battle, Guangdong foreign aid Weems was suspended for 5 games due to clashes with Liaoning center Han Dejun, Guangdong could only quickly let new foreign aid Ledo appear. Under the overstretched employment, Guangdong team coach Du Feng joked that "if no one comes again, I will sign up with Zhu Fangyu", although this is Du Feng's joke, it can also reflect that the Guangdong team is indeed very nervous.
In addition to injuries, the most difficult for the Guangdong team may be foreign aid Weems. In the second stage, Weems, who returned to Guangdong, did not perform well. In 10 games, he averaged 14.2 points in 26.3 minutes per game, setting a new CBA career low in scoring. Last season, Wiems averaged 15.8 points per game and scored less than 20+ points for the first time, but that was because after the change in foreign aid policy, his playing time dropped sharply to only 20.6 minutes. This season is different, Guangdong once only had one foreign aid, his average playing time per game is more sufficient than last season, but perhaps he did not find the state after a long period of isolation, perhaps it was an increase in age (almost 36 years old), a decline in athleticism, Weems's shooting rate this season was only 47.8%, the CBA's first shooting rate fell below 50%, and his overly good quick counterattack, mid-shot and one-on-one ability have all had great ups and downs. The former Finals MVP has not found form this season so far.
At the same time, Guangdong also needs more games to test the use of Weems and Ledo in the same game. In the second stage of the finale, Guangdong vs. Shanghai, Weems lifted the ban and returned, and he also played for Guangdong for the first time this season with Ledo. But in this campaign, Weems, who has been suspended for 5 consecutive games, only scored 5 points in 2 of 10 shooting, although Ledo had 23 points, but only 4 rebounds and 1 assist, and no free throws, far less than the previous three games of comprehensive performance, aggressiveness also dropped significantly, which made Guangdong unable to narrow the point gap with Shanghai, until the last moment of the game to catch up to single digits, but it was too late. How do I schedule the appearances of Weems and Ledo? How can we maximize the power of the two? Du Feng also needs time to explore the answer.
epilogue
After the end of the second stage of the competition, Guangdong will usher in a month or so of rare rest, for the sleepy defending champions, this is the best "recharge" opportunity for the body, but also to enhance their tacit understanding with Ledo, to help Weems find a better state. If Zhao Rui can make a comeback in time for the third stage, Ma Shang can also be in place at a certain time in the third stage, and Guangdong is still a strong opponent that any team does not dare to despise.
But at the same time, Guangdong also needs to increase its sense of urgency. With at least two wins behind the top four teams, they need to sprint all-out in the next stage to return to the top four of the regular season, otherwise, they will need to participate in the 12-in-8 playoffs and cannot directly advance to the quarterfinals, which is by no means what Guangdong hopes.