With 4 minutes and 29 seconds left in the first half of the second game of the CBA Finals, Zhao Jiwei took the ball outside the left three-point line, and gave a shot to Yan Shouqi on the right, and Jiwei ran diagonally into the right bottom corner without the ball and received Yan Shouqi's return ball.
Zhejiang's defense was in place, Wright chased over, formed a defensive barrier in front of Zhao Jiwei, Jiwei slightly leaned back to face the defense to throw the ball, accurately guiding the ball into the bullseye.
With this shot, Liaoning extended their lead to 10 points.
The chat room in the live broadcast room is full of "Curry", Zhao Jiwei, the MVP of last season's finals, used Curry's way to dominate the championship series with Zhejiang, and Liaoning took another step towards defending the title by two consecutive cities on the road.
'My team-mates and coaches trust me, I have the ball on the pitch and I have to do something.' Zhao Jiwei said after the first game of the finals.
Allen Guo's injury causted a dark cloud over the Liaoning team's backfield. Allen Guo and Zhao Jiwei have different ways of outputting combat power on the field, Allen has a strong impact and is a dual-energy guard playstyle, Jiwei is a traditional point guard, is a field commander to drive teammates, and has the title of "Anshan Paul".
Guo Allen does not play, and in the playoffs this intensity of confrontation, Zhao Jiwei shoulders the organization of the attack, but also to show stronger firepower to attack the fortification, with the load full mode to lead the Liaoning team to attack the consecutive championships.
In the first game of the finals, Zhao Jiwei played 44 minutes, scored a career high of 29 points and made nine three-pointers, becoming the second local player in CBA Finals history to hit nine three-pointers in a single game, the last being Zhu Fangyu in the 2003 finals.
Zhao Jiwei in this game is a projection version of Curry, running without the ball after his teammates block and shooting, using cover to pull a long-range shot, quickly chasing down and bombarding, the fourth quarter key moment strong attack defense hard solution kill, Zhao Jiwei tear Zhejiang team's defense with various three-point postures.
"I didn't think about anything, I just voted." In an interview after the first game about the key three points in the fourth quarter, Zhao Jiwei calmly carried a domineering air.
Compared with the Liaoning team that played the finals 11 times, the Zhejiang team that stepped on the battlefield of the finals for the first time was inexperienced, and the loss in the first game was the "tuition fee" they paid, and the head coach Wang Shilong admitted that the first game was a little nervous, the strategy of defending Zhao Jiwei was not very clear, and the second game would give more restrictions.
The Zhejiang team used an extreme operation in the second game, starting from Zhao Jiwei's backcourt reception and close defense, and the whole court pressed all the way to lead the defense, when Zhao Jiwei and his teammates cooperated with the block, first delaying and then around the cover. Whenever Zhao Jiwei takes the ball, the Zhejiang team will have two or three people facing him, ready to close at any time.
Zhejiang's defensive logic, somewhat like the Raptors in the 2019 Finals, Nass was piling up defensive forces on Curry, and Wang Shilong guided this time to "encircle and suppress" Zhao Jiwei, both starting from the opponent's core offensive launch point.
Zhao Jiwei's response was 21 points, 9 assists and 3 steals, the true shooting rate was as high as 86%, and the plus or minus value was +17, and the Liaoning team won more than the first game (107-99).
Facing Zhejiang's death entanglement throughout the game, Zhao Jiwei gave a gravitational version of Curry, who brought the defense to himself by dribbling and cutting in, and then created opportunities for his teammates.
Zhao Jiwei's handling of the ball shows his ability to disassemble the opponent's defense, not a simple and rough sudden score, but a lot of detailed operations, such as strong side blocking to dismantle the basket to attract bags, first to the teammates who responded at the top of the arc, and then pass the weak side vacancy, maximizing the mobilization of the Zhejiang team's defense, as well as the short block short pass in the middle to cut through, directly facing the basket.
Zhao Jiwei's current style of play, on the one hand, comes from the tactical support of the Liaoning team, on the other hand, there is also the "nutrition" supply of the national team. Giordević has repeatedly practiced how to play the ball when the Chinese men's basketball team is blocked and dismantled in the face of delayed defense, short passes and short downturns, and the top of the arc should be transferred again, all of which are the key training systems of the new national team.
While attacking the Zhejiang team's defense by implementing tactics, Zhao Jiwei's personal attack was not delayed, and he shot a total of 5 shots under the basket and mid-range in the second game of the finals, and the three-point shot still had a heavy hammer crit that "kills and kills", and pinched the Zhejiang team's defense in the shot and cross.
"As a defender, I have to read the opposing defense on the pitch and respond." Zhao Jiwei said.
For his performance, Zhao Jiwei is always light, but the dominance he gives in the game is by no means fully reflected by the data. In this 18-point victory, Zhao Jiwei played 45 minutes, more than the first game.
Yang Ming and teammates were supporting Zhao Jiwei, Daehan shared the work of moving the ball in the high post and gave cover again and again, Zhang Zhenlin played the role of organizing forward, and Li Xiaoxu fought 40 minutes to put on 12 points and 15 rebounds, including 7 frontcourt boards. The last local player to have seven frontcourt boards in a single Finals game was Yao Ming in 2002.
However, Zhao Jiwei's role is irreplaceable, he is the tactical initiator of the Liaoning team and an efficient finisher, Zhao Jiwei is on the field, the Liaoning team has a "ballast stone". The second match against Zhejiang was Zhao Jiwei's third consecutive game, and his fifth appearance in his last six games was 40+, and he was burning his energy to the maximum.
"Without Jiwei's performance, we wouldn't have been able to get to this point." Yang Ming instructed.
Such Zhao Jiwei can very well imagine that he has experienced three fractures and two ligament tears, and has suffered from depression. In this year's playoffs, Zhao Jiwei broke his knee when playing against the Beijing team, and he was so tired that he vomited, overcame layers of difficulties, and opened a way.
Looking at the entire history of the CBA Finals, you'd be hard-pressed to find a second homegrown guard so dominant. It is no exaggeration to say that Zhao Jiwei has become the best point guard in China.
"Step by step! Get ready! The road to the mountain is long and difficult. After the first game of the semifinals, Zhao Jiwei updated Weibo and wrote.
Now, Zhao Jiwei and the Liaoning team are only two victories away from the "top of the mountain".