For the Chinese men's basketball team, the 2022 men's basketball Asian Cup may be an unforgettable experience for a long time. Due to the unexpected invasion of the epidemic, the team had to force out against the difficulties of a large number of attritions, unfamiliarity and lack of running-in, and finally suddenly broke through the quarter-finals when it was gradually on track, leaving only the dismal result of the eighth place in the tournament and the consequent external doubts. In this game of losing to the Lebanese men's basketball team, the Lebanese defender Araki standing opposite the Chinese men's basketball team is undoubtedly the person who most "injured" the Chinese team.
In the whole game, Araki scored 32 points with great efficiency (13 of 22 shots), which not only made the wheel war of the Chinese team's defender line useless, but also repeatedly let the Chinese team's dominant internal line helpless to him. In the semi-finals and finals that followed, he also triggered some controversies about the ownership of the so-called "Asia's first defender", and was even used by many netizens as a textbook to "correct" the poor performance of the Chinese defender line.
So, as a core defender, what personal characteristics and excellent skills did Alaki show in the game of defense with the Chinese team, and what practical relationship can his performance have with the problems existing in the Chinese men's basketball team? This article will explore the answers by reviewing most of The attacking rounds of Alaki in this game.
First, the root of the "technical flow" is in the body
After the battle between China and Lebanon, the first impression that Araki left on most fans may be superb and comprehensive offensive skills, but the change in ball skills should first be based on the boundaries of physical fitness. In the early period of the game, Araki actually showed us that he was not inferior to any of the Chinese team's opponents, and these strong "hardware" also formed the basis of his overall technical and tactical level.
Araki's first score in this game was extraordinary, after the Lebanese team completed the break in the backcourt, Araki single-handedly advanced with the ball, and then quickly got rid of Zhao Rui in the midline position, and finally dodged Wang Zhelin's defense with a high-speed pull back basket. In just a few seconds, Araki showed off his many basketball talents in the physical sense: a quick first step, superior core strength, and a pretty good ability to bounce and hold air.
(Incidentally, pushing the switch offense is one of Araki's best technical links))
In addition, Araki's ability to fight is enough to support his dribbling advance under the opponent's close defense. Facing Zhao Rui and Sun Minghui, who are absolutely strong in the Asian defender (although the former was affected by the disease at this time), Alaki also did not fall behind in several hard encounters after the opening, such as the following round during the first quarter, Zhao Rui's fierce defense finally failed to stop Alaki's left-hand advance, and the latter also won two free throws.
The dynamic talent and confrontation ability that should not be underestimated, coupled with the height of 1.93 meters as a defender is definitely a "high match", Araki's innate conditions are actually enough to make him swoop in the Asian arena. In fact, in the group stage before the match against the Chinese team, the data handed over by Araki was luxurious, and the left-handed breakthrough showed great power in front of fierce opponents such as the Philippines (the Chinese team also made restricting Alaki's left hand the top priority of the defensive strategy in this game).
Second, the premise of "reasonable" is comprehensive
If you want to say that Araqui is the most "huge contrast" for Chinese fans in this game, the answer given by many people may be to deal with the ball - compared to several Chinese defenders who frequently lose the ball, Alaki played a very high shooting rate while not making any mistakes in the whole game, and the certainty in the attack is unforgettable. In the face of the Chinese team's targeted defense, the reason why Araki is still at ease, in addition to thinking as a decision-maker, the more important point is that he has enough "reserve options" to be able to pull out a variety of "backhands" under the opponent's various strategies, and eventually translate into the team's score.
Speaking of which, it is necessary to mention the targeted defense made by the Chinese team against Alaki in this game. Judging from the reflection of the Chinese team's performance on the field, the coaching staff and counterpart players are obviously prepared for Araki's outstanding ability. Du Feng instructed the whole field to arrange a number of defenders such as Zhao Rui, Sun Minghui, Hu Mingxuan and Xu Jie to engage in a "wheel war" with him, focusing on his strong conversion advance while depleting his physical strength, and focusing on limiting his good left-handed breakthrough in position warfare (the picture below is the defense of Alaki in the first round of the opening round).
In the face of the Chinese team's heavily stockpiled defensive line, Araqui and his team are also clearly prepared. After a few rounds of tentative attempts, Araki began to cede some of the possession to his backcourt partners Al-Davic (No. 9 in Le) and Shamon (No. 6 in Le), while he himself looked for fighters from the no-ball end. This response effectively reduced Alaki's consumption in the early stages of the game and allowed him to focus more on finding better offensive opportunities.
(It is worth noting that Araki's activity in the no-ball state, in addition to reflecting his own skills, also shows that the Lebanese team has built a rather mature tactical system around him.) In the following round, No. 34 Hadidan quickly leaned on Hu Mingxuan to hold Hu Mingxuan's position under the basket after Araki's ball, so that the Chinese team had to send Wang Zhelin to chase after Araki, who had slipped to the bottom corner of the other side, at this time, No. 24 Yorkchin also passed the ball in time, and Araki was able to directly face the misalignment to complete the score)
Since it is said to be "comprehensive", then the projection of the outer line is definitely a topic that cannot be avoided. In the impression of most Chinese fans, Araki's shooting is a relative weakness. During his brief landing in the CBA in 2018, Araki, who played for Beijing, only had a dismal statistic of 3 of 22 shots in the three-point line diplomacy, and only 6 shots and 1 of 6 in the group stage before this tournament. However, as the game progressed, the defender, who had been out of the sight of Chinese fans for many years, quickly proved with actions that shooting was no longer his shortcoming. Faced with the space that Sun Minghui left for himself, Araki did not shy away from shooting outside the three-point line, and opened his long-range account with only two shots:
In the game that followed, Araqui hit two more three-pointers, which also showed his creativity and stability in different environments and shooting choices. In the first round below, Araki first handed the ball to his teammate Alrich under the defense of Hu Mingxuan, and then sent a realistic fake action in the no-ball running position, and then quickly ran back while Hu Mingxuan hit the cover wall, using superb no-ball skills to create a big vacancy for himself, and finally hit steadily; In the middle of the third quarter, he scored a difficult three-pointer in the conversion offense, stretching the point difference to 13 points while giving the chinese team's increasingly increasingly error-prone morale a heavy blow - just two rounds after this goal, the Chinese team made another mistake, and the Lebanese team used Shamon's three-pointer to extend the point difference to the biggest 16 points of the game.
(It should be noted that Araqui's shooting ability seems to have undergone a non-negligible upgrade in recent years.) If we compare Araki's shots in the above picture with his shots 4-5 years ago, we can easily see the difference, the more straight body and measured movements improve the stability of the shot and the shooting point, so that The threat of Araki's outside line is even higher. During this Asian Cup, he shot more than 45% of his three-point shots, and he was even more prominent in the finals.
After responding to the Chinese team's defensive strategy with a shot, Araki quickly adapted to the Chinese team's "blocking left and right" position. Of his 13 athletic goals in this game, almost all of them, with the exception of three-pointers and a handful of undefended quick-break air baskets, were successful ends after the breakthrough on the right, and at this point, we have to start with The most profound technical action of The Game in Alaki -
Third, the magic of the "crooked machine gun": the analysis of Araqui's mysterious throwing
Despite the aforementioned talent and all-round technique, araki's biggest highlight in the Sino-Lebanese battle was not this, but his strange but extremely efficient shot posture.
Almost every time in the moment when the score is the most glued, we will see Araki in front of the screen to make the following set of "combo moves": change the ball to the right hand to break through to the basket, receive the ball to the left hand during the march and start, suddenly change direction to the right sharply at the second step, partially twist the upper body without pointing to the basket between the marching, and then lift the ball to the far left of the head with both hands, and complete the shot with only the left arm facing the basket, and the ball draws a precise arc after flying out of this seemingly strange action. Crossing the arms of Zhou Qi and others, he rolled into the basket of the Chinese team again and again.
As an attacking defender, mastering the throwing technique is a very important "high-level task", and the efficient throwing means that the defender can effectively use the limited space after blocking or breaking through, and complete the score between the opponent's inner and outer layers of defense, which is especially lethal for opponents who adopt a crouching basket strategy on the inside line. Compared with the mid-range emergency stop shot, the shooting point between the marching shots can be closer to the basket and the preparation time is more sufficient, but all of this needs to be based on the breakthrough threat and three-point containment, and also has high requirements for the user's timing and action proficiency.
However, after the introduction above, it is not difficult to see that Araki has the basic conditions to become a good thrower. And don't forget that he also carries a "left-handed" niche attribute. Regarding the subtle differences in the shooting posture between the left hand and the right hand, NBA star Arenas once made a brief analysis in a video program a few years ago: most right-handed players generally have a straight body and tiptoes facing the basket when shooting, while many left-handed players have a certain twist in their legs when shooting, the toes and body are not facing the basket, the only shooter who is facing the basket is in front of the side of the body rather than directly in front, Harden, Ginobili, Dragic and others are similar shooting postures. Araki is no exception, and his throwing action takes full advantage of the fact that the left hand will be good at oblique shots. Due to the small number of left-handed players on the field, defenders often lack sufficient experience with this unique offensive habit, which further increases the difficulty of defending Araqui's throws.
Compared to performing similar technical moves four years ago, Araki's mastery of throwing posture is now even more intense
The efficient throwing allowed Araki to completely form a triple offensive threat of "basket - mid-range - three-pointer" in this game, and the abundance of offensive means means that he will have more choices at key moments and leave the defense with more serious "choice difficulties". When the game reached the end of the fourth quarter, just when the Chinese team once smoothed out the point difference, the Araki in the picture below launched an attack from the right side again, and Zhou Qi, who had previously crouched in the inner line but was thrown by continuous shots, had to leave the basket slightly to block his unique work, and as a result, Araki directly accelerated past Zhou Qi to complete the layup, stabilizing the situation for Lebanon. In the following round, he pretended to retreat after forcing Out Gu Quan's change of defense, and as a result, Gu Quan, who was afraid of his shooting threat, was also shaken by this fake action, and Araqui immediately hit the last goal of the game, helping lebanon to gain a 5-point advantage and basically establish the victory.
As we've said before, a mature enough throw is closer to the basket than a stop-and-go jump shot, so the chance of hitting a shot will be higher. With the blessing of this technology, Araki's shot distribution map in this game has basically achieved "magic ball", only one of the 22 shots is located in the area between the three-second zone and the three-point line, and the rest are all baskets or three-pointers. Specifically, he made the most of 10 of 14 shots in the three-second zone and 3 of 7 from outside the three-point range, taking advantage of both efficient shooting areas.
4. Summary and Enlightenment
The reason why Araki can still score high scores under the premise that the Chinese team has focused on defense is that in addition to his own talent that can be called The top talent in Asia, what is more important is the comprehensiveness of the offensive end and the excellent special skills. He can not only change the opponent's defense with various means, but also has enough "high-end" points at key moments to integrate and drive the whole team's attack with one person's strength. He can win the MVP of the Asian Cup, which should be said to be well-deserved.
Looking at the defenders currently owned by the Chinese men's basketball team, the offensive means of several main attackers are still relatively single, the proportion of breakthroughs and the end of the basket and the selection tendency are relatively too large, and although the finishing means such as holding the ball and throwing cannot be said to be mastered, the threat is not enough from the perspective of the combination of production and efficiency. The other part of the defender, who has both a no-ball and organizational attribute, lacks the stability to solve problems on his own and cannot contribute with goals.
Today's basketball trend is destined to be more able to determine the direction of the game, and on the whole, the defender is undoubtedly the most mature of the outside players, the strongest ability to drive the whole team, so the core defender has become more and more a standard of a strong team. But for the Chinese men's basketball team, such a "jagged" defender line obviously has a long way to go to pick up the girder. In recent years, li nan and Du Feng, the two head coaches, daxing the "three guards" wind, may also be out of the original intention of letting multiple defenders learn from each other on the field, but unfortunately more defenders also mean that some of them must assume the role originally borne by the flanks and even the front line players, and this burden seems to be too heavy for the current defender line of the men's basketball team. Lonely Zhou Qi may need to wait for a new face (or several) with fewer shortcomings if he wants to get more stable outside support in the national team.