On May 15, Beijing time, with Liaoning sweeping Zhejiang 4-0 to complete the defense, Zhao Jiwei was 7 of 15 and 3 of 4 free throws, only 0 of 7 from three-point range became a flaw, contributing 17 points, 4 rebounds, 11 assists, 7 steals and 2 blocks of double-double data, leading Liaoning to successfully defend the title and win the third consecutive championship in team history. Zhao Jiwei successfully won the MVP of the finals, and also successfully won the FMVP to set a number of records. There is no doubt that the 27-year-old Zhao Jiwei is in the prime of his career, he took on the team's backcourt offensive pass when Guo Allen was injured, became the cornerstone player of leading the team to sweep the championship, and will also be the backcourt core of the Chinese men's basketball team in the men's basketball World Cup this summer.
Zhao Jiwei has now won consecutive FMVP in 2022 and 2023, and he has set a number of records:
First, Zhao Jiwei became the third player in CBA history to win the FMVP consecutively, the first two being Liu Yudong in 2002 and 2003, and Zhu Fangyu in 2008 and 2009.
Second, Zhao Jiwei became the fifth player in CBA history to win FMVP at least twice, the first four in chronological order are Liu Yudong, Zhu Fangyu, Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian.
Third, Zhao Jiwei tied for the third most FMVP in history twice, equaling Liu Yudong and Wang Zhizhi 2 times, second only to Zhu Fangyu 4 times and Yi Jianlian 3 times.
Fourth, Zhao Jiwei became the player with the most such awards in Liaoning team history with 2 FMVPs, surpassing Hudson once.
The 27-year-old is in his 10th season of his career, and he has grown into a "veteran" player, becoming more offensively threatening on the pitch and more skilled in organizing tandem attacks, after all, he has averaged a career-high number of assists per game this season.
At the beginning of his career, Zhao Jiwei was a playmaker, but in recent seasons, his projection power on the offensive end has been increasing, especially after years of experience with the national team, Zhao Jiwei has become more and more mature. In this year's playoffs, Zhao Jiwei had two crazy performances of hitting 9 three-pointers in a single game, especially the 9-point shooting in the first game of the Finals, 29 points and 5 assists, equalling the local three-point shooting record in the finals, and when he was chased to a lead of only one point in the final moment, he led the team to win with two key consecutive three-pointers.
In the second and third games of the finals, Zhao Jiwei contributed 21 points and 9 assists in the second game, and continued to lead the team to complete the victory with offensive passing performance, while in the third game, Zhao Jiwei scored 13 points, 11 assists and 5 steals, and led the team to complete a 26-point victory with organizational passing. After the first three finals, Zhao Jiwei's FMVP performance rating ranked first with a high rating of 20.33, and he was the only player to exceed 20.
Now in the fourth game of the finals, Zhao Jiwei missed only one shot in the first quarter, and scored 1 point on 1-of-2 free throws. However, Zhao Jiwei sent 5 assists in a single quarter, accounting for half of the team's assists in the first quarter, effectively using passes to lead the team to attack, helping Liaoning to achieve a 6-point advantage in the first quarter, only 4 mistakes in a single quarter became flaws.
Zhao Jiwei stepped up his offensive in the second quarter, and he hit 3 of 7 shots in a single quarter. Even if Zhao Jiwei was 0 of 5 from three-point range in the first half, he made 3 of 3 two-pointers, plus 3 of 4 free throws, and contributed 9 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block in the first two quarters, and continued to lead the team to maintain the lead and become the team's trusted backcourt brain.
Yibian fought again, Zhao Jiwei led Liaoning to gradually expand its double-digit advantage with an offensive performance, he scored 4 more points on 2-of-5 shooting in the third quarter, and had already scored 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting in the first three quarters, only 0-of-7 from the outside three-point range performed extremely badly. However, Zhao Jiwei continued to use passing and steals to lead the team to suppress the opponent, and successfully played a 24-8 offensive in the third quarter, and the first three quarters of the game have extended their 23-point advantage to establish the victory in advance, and Zhao Jiwei's plus-minus of +23 is also the highest in the first three quarters.
At the end of the quarter, Zhao Jiwei continued to methodically lead the team to control the situation, and he also successfully achieved double-doubles, sending two double-doubles in two consecutive games for the first time in this year's finals, leading Liaoning to continue to lead and establish victory. Zhao Jiwei clocked out early after work, and he also received cheers from the home fans when he left the field.
Zhao Jiwei successfully won the Finals MVP, he has won 3 championships at the age of 27, and has won FMVP twice, undoubtedly becoming the spokesperson of the top point guard in China. This summer, the Chinese men's basketball team will participate in the men's basketball World Preliminary Round, and there is no doubt that Zhao Jiwei will be the main point guard of the team, and he will be the starting position during the sixth window of the previous World Preliminary Tournament, which is also expected that Zhao Jiwei can continue to bring surprises in the Men's Basketball World Cup.
(Text/Drunken Lying Float)