Asian Cup final preview: Han Xu led the Chinese women's basketball team to avenge Japan for the 12th championship after 12 years

On July 2, Beijing time, the 2023 Women's Basketball Asian Cup final will be contested at 13 o'clock, and the Chinese and Japanese women's basketball teams have met in the final for three consecutive times, but the Chinese women's basketball team has lost to the opponent in the past two finals and ranked second, and witnessed the Japanese women's basketball team complete 5 consecutive championships. Now the goal of the Chinese women's basketball team is naturally to win the championship, but the captain Yang Liwei is injured and the battle is doubtful to weaken the strength, and the overall strength and performance of the Japanese women's basketball team in this tournament are extremely good, and it is exciting whether the Chinese women's basketball team can take revenge and win the championship after 12 years. Once the Chinese women's basketball team wins the championship, it will win the 12th Asian Cup in team history, equaling the first place in the history of the Korean women's basketball team.

Journey to the finals: The overall performance of the Chinese women's basketball team is not as good as that of the Japanese women's basketball team

Chinese women's basketball group stage

Chinese women's basketball team 89-44 Lebanon women's basketball team

Chinese women's basketball team 80-46 New Zealand women's basketball team

China Women's Basketball 87-81 South Korea Women's Basketball Team (Overtime)

Semifinals: Chinese women's basketball team 74-60 Australian women's basketball team

Japan Women's Basketball Group Stage

Japan women's basketball 94-53 Chinese Taipei women's basketball team

Japan women's basketball 95-57 Philippines women's basketball

Japan women's basketball 91-66 Australian women's basketball team

Japan women's basketball team 88-52 New Zealand women's basketball team in the semifinals

Confrontation history: The Chinese women's basketball team has lost 6 consecutive matches against the Japanese women's basketball team in the past 5 Asian Cups

In the history of the Women's Basketball Asian Cup, the Chinese and Japanese women's basketball teams have met as many as 18 times, and the Chinese women's basketball team has the upper hand with 11 wins and 7 losses. It's just that since the Chinese women's basketball team won the championship in 2011, the past five tournaments have lost 6 consecutive matches against the Japanese women's basketball team, especially the past two finals, which were 68-71 and 73-78 defeats to the Japanese women's basketball team.

Injury hazards: Chinese women's basketball captain Yang Liwei is suspected of playing with an injury

Compared with last year's women's basketball World Cup runner-up, the Chinese women's basketball team lacks three players, Li Yueru, Huang Sijing and Wu Tongtong, who are still in injury mode. In the semifinals of the Women's Basketball Asian Cup, in the final moments of the Chinese women's basketball team's narrow victory over the Australian women's basketball team, Yang Liwei, the captain of the Chinese women's basketball team, was overwhelmed by the opponent and fell to the ground, and the left leg was injured and withdrew from the game.

According to Beiqing Sports reporter Song Xiang, Yang Liwei preliminarily diagnosed that there may be some problems with the left collateral ligament, and the specific injury requires further MRI examination. Once Yang Liwei is unable to play in the final due to injury, it will be a big weakening of the backcourt strength of the Chinese women's basketball team, and Li Yuan is expected to start in place of Yang Liwei.

Inside advantage: Han Xu needs to continue the dominance of the inside + be wary of foul trouble

Han Xu is the most dominant player in this year's Women's Basketball Asian Cup so far, she averaged 21 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, with an efficiency value of 29.3, so that all four statistics ranked first in the tournament, becoming the number one favorite for this year's Women's Basketball Asian Cup MVP.

Han Xu has scored double-doubles in four consecutive games in this Women's Basketball Asian Cup, and has absolute offensive and defensive dominance on the inside. In the face of the height disadvantage of the Japanese women's basketball team is expected to dominate the inside, but the Japanese women's basketball team is mainly small and fast, with excellent shooting and impact, once they continue to impact the inside to make kills Han Xu into foul trouble, may also directly disrupt the tactical deployment of the Chinese women's basketball team, how to avoid the need for coach Zheng Wei to prepare in advance.

Outside competition: All the crosshairs of the Chinese women's basketball team are in the downside, and Li Meng needs to rebound to lead the team to impact

So far, the Chinese and Japanese women's basketball teams have won 4-0 in the finals, the Japanese women's basketball team has won 4 consecutive games to show the dominance of the defending champions, the Chinese women's basketball team has stumbled to advance to the final, the group stage through overtime to narrowly defeat the South Korean women's basketball team, the semifinals to defeat the Australian women's basketball team is also quite laborious.

In addition to the advantage of the inside, the Chinese women's basketball team is in the inferior position in the outside competition, shooting 45% from the field and 50% from the opponent, 53.1% from two-point range, 59.8% from three-point range, 41.1% from three-point range, 81.5% from the free-throw line, 83.7% from the free-throw line. The Chinese women's basketball team is inferior to the Japanese women's basketball team in all shooting fronts, so how to win the outside competition is extremely critical.

The Chinese women's basketball team needed Li Meng to bounce back to be an outside offensive arrow, and she had a sluggish performance of just 2-of-9 from the field of 7 in the semifinals. The Chinese women's basketball team needs Li Meng to be more aggressive on the offensive end, and she needs to hit the opponent's defense more to create damage.

At the same time, Wang Siyu broke out in the semifinals to contribute 13+5+6, and in the case of Yang Liwei's injury and doubtful play, she needs to stand up again to carry more backcourt offensive passing tasks. Li Yuan is the remaining defender in the team, and her performance is also key. As for forwards such as Pan Zhenqi, Zhang Ru and Jin Weina, it is also necessary to give the team as much as possible to contribute.

Rush to the 12th title: The Chinese women's basketball team can tie South Korea for the first place in the history of the Asian Cup

This year, the Chinese women's basketball team has advanced to the final of the Women's Asian Cup for the 21st time in history, and has won 11 championships and 9 runners-up in the past 20 finals. The Chinese women's basketball team currently ranks second in the history of the Asian Cup, and if it can beat the Japanese women's basketball team to win the championship after 12 years, it will win the 12th championship in the history of the team, thus equaling the South Korean women's basketball team to tie for the first place in the history of women's basketball Asian Cup championships.

The Chinese women's basketball team is eager to win the championship again after 12 years, and whether it can prevent the Japanese women's basketball team from achieving six consecutive Asian Cup championships is also a high-profile women's basketball Asian Cup final.

Chinese women's basketball starting predictions: Han Xu, Li Meng, Pan Zhenqi, Wang Siyu, Li Yuan

(Text/Drunken Lying Float)