Watch the World Cup | If nothing else, the Chinese men's basketball team scores first
The men's basketball team lost 63-105 to Serbia. The result is certainly not surprising, but the gap is unacceptable, after all, it is the biggest point difference since the start of the World Cup. Lee Kyle failed to score 0-of-9, and his poor play and confused form were disappointing, and while it may be the least important game for the men's basketball team at the World Cup, the content on display was worrying.
Men's basketball against the world's best teams, to sum up, basically two points are not okay - this is not okay, that is not okay. It's not interesting to say that every time, even if everything needs to be improved, there are always some aspects that are more serious than others. For example, Serbia is 13 of 28 from three-point range, and we are 8 of 29, and the opponent relies on shooting advantage, which can not only use the weak side space to hit our contraction, but also dispatch the center to a dilemma, relying on space advantage to make it easier to play open cuts.
But more striking than the shooting gap is 30 assists + 11 turnovers versus 17 assists + 18 turnovers. Serbia walks the ball smoothly, defenders play the ball with accurate timing, eat big and small can give, weak side opportunities can be seen, and fast attack on the ball in one go. And just the low quality of our pass and catch is enough to complete the self-destruction. Why are there so many counterattacks by others? Is it all a matter of retreat? No matter how hard you try to retreat, you can't stand the live ball mistakes and send more. And many of our live ball mistakes are not the main attack that cannot be moved, or the interception that is judged on the weak side, and there are many of them that block and disassemble the connection, find the empty cut to make the ball without passing well or not receiving well.
The men's basketball collapse in the first round began with consecutive low-quality pass errors. After entering the articulation section, the combination of Zhao Jiwei and Wang Zhelin has certain responsibilities. These two people in the next level of the game, a pass, a finish, may be able to play a certain chemistry, now it is not easy to make a conclusion. But in the face of a strong European team, Ji Wei can basically only hit the ground, and the two links of Dawang receiving the ground and turning around and getting up again after receiving the ground are problems, and the opposite side may lose the ball if he gives a little pressure. Going to the defensive end, Jiwei's single defense suffered losses, the defense could not be dismantled to cover, the king could not keep up with the defender, and Shen could not protect the basket. The two of them combined their swords together is really a cap.
Objectively speaking, the men's basketball team has also played some beautiful cooperation, Zhou Qi and Zhou Peng have given wonderful strategies, and Li Kyle's opening cards and shots can be seen in the excellent vision and technique. After the second half of the breakout, Serbia's intensity relaxed, and we played in the middle of the block, fast attack. The defensive intensity of the first and second half, we were also online. But we can't maintain our firepower as steadily as Serbia, the tactical combination based on blocking passes will not always find opportunities, the cost of mistakes to find opportunities is too high, and we will miss open opportunities. In this game, just because of the empty bottom corner space given by Li Kaier, we lost three (Hu Mingxuan, Zhu Junlong, Zhao Jiwei).
That's why we always say that the men's basketball team needs someone who can solve the problem, and we need someone to step up and score when the offense is stagnant. This is of course nonsense, just as the NBA has 29 teams missing Durant, there will be no overflow of scorers on the FIBA court, and players who can create shooting opportunities with the ball will always be scarce. Li Kyle is not this type in the NBA, which we have long known, and it was also said in previous articles that Li Kyle is like Bennett without a main C to supplement in the men's basketball team, and this praise is not known to whom. At the beginning of the game, his teammates were able to score a few times, and his habitual style of play was still maintainable. But after the teammate can't shoot, as the team's leader, he has to rush up with the wind eagle sword.
As a result, impulsiveness. Li Kyle's signature of playing the main attack can be described as a three-board axe, relying on his size to gain shooting space at near mid-range, relying on rhythm to further expand his shooting space, and finally finishing with a throwing feel close to mid-range. Europe's tall and strong front court is of equal size, and the confrontation is even more violent, Li Kyle stunned up, and he flew two meters first. As a striker who relies on size and rhythm, it is really uncomfortable to meet such an opponent.
But Serbia's configuration is certainly not the whole reason for Lee Kyre's poor performance. A large part of Li Kyle's poor play this time is a matter of personal state - can't play the opposite frontcourt player, and the backcourt player is also powerless? Catching the Bogdan single defense block, eating to the near basket usually holding the handle and not hitting the shot, three-point shooting across the bridge, and even no one under the basket can not put the basket, these are difficult to say that it is a problem of ability.
Jordjevic brought Li Kyle back to the court in the fourth quarter, and with the suspense of the game already lost, the purpose of continuing to play the top card was clear - he needed Li Kyle to find some form, give himself and the team confidence, and make final run-in and preparation for the subsequent games in South Sudan and Puerto Rico. But Li Kyle countered that he did not go on the ball, and went to find Zhao Jiwei, who seemed to have a better chance, which may not reflect the concept of basketball, but in the night that has been lost, as a player who usually has no habit of taking over, it is difficult for him to adjust his confidence back at this time.
Positioning and habits are not so easy to change. If you don't play the top card all year round, under the pressure of international competitions, do you have enough mental preparation to deal with the night when you feel bad? If Li Kyle never gets into the role, then he and the rest of the national team will have a hard time. In addition to the team's overall low-quality passing and poor personal form in this game, there was another problem that could not be ignored was the team's hesitation in attacking options. Whether it was Li Kyle who took over or the team played as a whole, everyone has never been clear. For example, Li Kyle caught the center misplaced and did not play, returned the ball and directed his teammates, feeding Zhou Qi big and small misplaced. It seems like a reasonable choice, but it ignores the time cost and opportunity cost, after all, the national team defender to the inside ball is not necessarily passable.
There are also questions about whether Li Kyle's tactical positioning is appropriate. If we are in the NBA environment, we can generally divide the offensive positioning of players into "with the ball" and "without the ball". But in the FIBA environment, especially in the environment of our men's basketball team, we can't be so vague, because the catch problem of the main attacker of the national team is very serious. Playing No. 1 means that you can make your own decisions about the ball, and playing No. 4 means that when you stand in the horn position, you are more likely to appear at the top of the arc where it is easy to participate in tactics, or when playing a single block cover, at the bottom of the dunk position. Playing No. 3 means standing in the bottom corner or running from the bottom corner. From the first game, the most uncomfortable situation for the national team was that Li Kyle stood in the bottom corner without a three-point threat, failed to catch the ball by covering up, and the others did not have enough time to initiate again. For example, such a canon:
Li Kyle did not receive the ball as the first choice, Zhou Qi received the ball again as the second choice, the ball was not held steadily, and the adjustment took some time. After returning the ball to Zhao Rui, holding the ball to block and launch again, Serbia changed the defense and broke it. Inside lineman Zhou Peng got a big bite, and the defender couldn't give it. In the end, Zhang Zhenlin took the pot and bought and sold with a hammer.
One round, exposed N problems. The problem of the quality of the defender's on the ball and passing and receiving is difficult to change for a while, and at the moment, Li Kyle cannot receive the ball without being resolute. But he can't all blame him, he rarely played the role of running from outside the three-point line, and if he wanted to run without the ball, he also cut crossways behind the free throw line. The current positioning is that Zhou Qi is the first cover man, Zhou Peng is more like the No. 4 position, and Li Kaier is more like the swing man. I'm not sure that positioning works against next-level opponents — theoretically, to maximize Lee's scoring ability — at least so far, it's not conducive to Lee's direct involvement in tactics and amplifies his weakness in poor shooting.
In the end, we still have to pin our hopes on "the opponent is too strong, and the opponent behind is not so strong". You can't win against Serbia, and you lose if you lose. This game at least let us know that there are too many ideas to think about the worst outcome on either end. When playing opponents who are not so big, confrontational, and integrated, we need Li Kyle to show aggression, even if his value is reflected in many aspects, it is still a minimum requirement to score first.