On March 19, Zhou Qi's Southeast Melbourne Phoenix lost 89-91 to the Sydney Kings, suffering four consecutive defeats. The "Big Devil" only played 19 minutes, 5 of 9 shooting, had 12 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, and showed a full range of offensive skills in the game, but as in the previous games, he was still pressed on the bench for a long time in the last moment.
From the infinite scenery at the beginning of the season to the abandonment at a critical stage now, how did Zhou Qi "fall" step by step to this point?
The NBL League has been trying to open up the Chinese market for nearly 20 years, until this season to get Zhou Qi, they finally got the "key". Therefore, whether it is the owner of the Phoenix team or the head coach, all of them are full of expectations for Zhou Qi. At the beginning of the season, in an interview with local media, coach Mitchell said: "In the NBL, Zhou Qi's technical characteristics are unique, his defense is very good, his defensive ability is first-class, and for other teams, he is a nightmare. We feel that his technical characteristics are a very good complement to our existing system. He's going to do a good job. ”
As Mitchell said, Zhou Qi did integrate into the team very quickly, and in addition to training and competition, Zhou Qi would eat hot pot with his teammates and eat Chinese food. On the field, Captain Crick will patiently explain tactics to Zhou Qi with a tactical board. During the game, Zhou Qi even led his teammates to shout "come on" with Chinese! Chinese fans believe that Zhou Qi's joining the Phoenix team is a win-win choice for both sides.
After the preseason, Zhou Qi represented the Chinese men's basketball team in two world preliminary matches with the Japanese team, but he was injured in the first game, the injury was relatively serious, and in the second game, for the purpose of protection, Du Feng did not send Zhou Qi.
But Zhou Qi was not affected, and after returning to the NBL, he will play to the fullest advantage on the defensive end. In the first four rounds, Zhou Qi averaged 13.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game, in addition to scoring, all the statistics are the highest in the team. Among them, in a battle with melbourne United, the old enemy of the same city, Zhou Qi sent 7 blocks! Help the team win.
After that game, Zhou Qi led the list of the best defensive players of the season, and some Australian media also listed him as a candidate for the regular season MVP. In addition, in the game against the Kings, Zhou Qi's playing time reached 30 minutes (NBL full 40 minutes), which is the longest game he has played so far.
It can be said that it was Zhou Qi's most beautiful period in the NBL, and it seems that after ending his contract with the Phoenix, he will once again appear in the NBA.
However, an accident disrupted Zhou Qi's rhythm. After the match with the Ants, Zhou Qi suffered from food poisoning and diarrhea, after which Zhou Qi never recovered to 100% of his state and lost some muscles at the same time. The roof leaked overnight, Mitchell had to hand over the coaching whip to assistant coach Flaville because of the trigger of the league's new crown health and safety agreement, and in several games commanded by Flaville, the Phoenix defender was too obsessed with individual singles, and Zhou Qi was no longer reused as he was at the beginning of the season.
In this regard, the phoenix team owner interviewed the coaching staff and expressed his dissatisfaction with not giving Zhou Qi too many opportunities. With Mitchell returning to the teaching whip, Zhou Qi's good days seem to be back.
However, Mitchell continued the teaching assistant's use of Zhou Qi. In the four games from February 19 to March 6, Zhou Qi scored all in single digits, and most of the last quarter was pressed on the bench, with nowhere to go.
Among them, there are Personal reasons for Zhou Qi, such as premature and too fast fouls. Taking the 36ers team against the "Philippines" Yao Ming Soto as an example, Zhou Qi quickly received two fouls in the first quarter, not only did Crick come to tell Zhou Qi to pay attention to the defensive action, Mitchell also signaled Zhou Qi that he only needed to raise his hand when defending. In this way, Zhou Qi sat on the field throughout the second quarter.
After Zhou Qi came on the court in the third quarter, he paid attention to the defensive action, completed the dunk twice, and also limited Soto, and the Phoenix team also firmly controlled the advantage of the score. But in the last quarter, Zhou Qi sat on the cold bench for half a quarter before being replaced by Mitchell again, and even so, he also grabbed a crucial rebound to ensure that the team won.
Look at this match with the king: Zhou Qi faced the opponent's bag clip in the first half, made a dreamy footstep on the inside line, and also passed his teammates to score, but in the last 7 minutes, Zhou Qi sat on the field until there were 0.8 seconds left in the game. In this game, Zhou Qi only had a total of 3 fouls, and was not affected by the fouls, and his efficiency value was +12, ranking fourth in the team.
In addition, Mitchell arranged for Zhou Qi to be greatly delayed in the defense of demolition, which also made the latter very uncomfortable, after all, Zhou Qi is an interior player with a height of 2.17 meters, even if the mobility is strong, it is difficult to keep up with the opposing defender. The phoenix's other two centers did not have a big delay in the defense of demolition. Therefore, Mitchell's use of Zhou Qi is very incomprehensible.
At present, Zhou Qi only has 21 minutes of playing time per game, contributing 11 points, 7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks, ranking fourth in scoring, ranking first in rebounds and blocks, but only fifth in playing time. In the case of such an efficient performance, if not subject to fouls, Zhou Qi can get more opportunities to play, at least in the decisive stage should have more trust.
Fortunately, Zhou Qi did not complain about the world, the last three games of his play has risen significantly, the last game cut the season's high of 25 points, and then the last game also had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks into the account, coupled with the performance of 12 points and 7 rebounds in only 19 minutes, if this can not impress Mitchell, it is not Zhou Qi's own problem.