Thoughtfulness | Chinese men's basketball team, please let those who want to win play
In fact, the fans' demands are really not high. The Chinese men's basketball team is currently at a trough and everyone can understand that it is not unacceptable that Olympic tickets cannot be obtained, as long as they play bloody and play their own characteristics, there are not too many people who will be excessively harsh on the players. In the last match against Puerto Rico in the group stage, young players such as Fu Hao and Zhao Rui did it, but in sharp contrast, the core of the team, Zhou Qi, and the veteran Wang Zhelin who has been famous in China for a long time, did not do it...
Written by 丨 Horsen
Editor丨 Feng Xiao
The men's basketball team lost again.
After the game, Zhao Rui, who performed the most well in the team, faced the reporter's interview, his eyes were red, his voice choked, and he said bluntly: "I am unwilling, I especially want to play in the Olympic Games, even if it is just a ball." ”
But this idea may be difficult to realize.
After losing all three games in the group stage, if you want to get a ticket to the Paris Olympics, the Chinese men's basketball team must win at least two games in the next positioning game, which has become an almost impossible task for the Chinese men's basketball team today.
This night, for Zhao Rui, Hu Mingxuan and Fu Hao, it was indeed too cruel, they still retained the blood of young people, and they were full of expectations for the future.
Similarly, this night, perhaps for Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, is also full of silent torture - under the washing of the years, have you lost the bloodiness to want to win?
For the performance of Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin in the match, domestic Internet public opinion was in an uproar
01 Lying flat Zhou Qi and outrageous Wang Zhelin
Once Zhou Qi, a big devil with high hopes, was once thought by fans to be the new "Great Wall of China" that inherits the mantle of Shan Tao, Wang Zhizhi and Yao Ming.
Even four years ago, it was Zhou Qi's fatal mistake that caused the Chinese team to miss the Tokyo Olympics, but most fans still comfort themselves after scolding, he is still young and there is more room for growth in the future.
Four years have passed, and Zhou Qi has also experienced a lot, from the first person in domestic salary, to having to go to Australia because of the dispute with Xinjiang that led to no ball, to the basketball association before this World Cup did not hesitate to make a special transfer for him to Guangdong.
After getting rid of these disturbances, Zhou Qi did not become the "big devil" expected by fans, but became a lying worker.
In the first game, against Serbia, who completely cleared the inside line, 6 of 6 was not satisfactory, but in the next life and death battle against South Sudan and Puerto Rico, Zhou Qi focused on a wantless, unfazed, facing an opponent who was more than ten or twenty centimeters shorter than himself, he never thought of using his absolute height advantage to fight for the advantage of the team.
He lacked desire on the offensive end, especially against Puerto Rico, who made only two shots in the first half and not a single shot in the fourth quarter; In addition, the offensive cover is also particularly bad, there is almost no effective blocking in the whole game, even after receiving the ball down, there is not even a shot, all choose to pass back to the outside teammates - what is the tactical value of such a center in attack?
On the defensive end, he is also careless, picking 3 boards against South Sudan and 5 boards against Puerto Rico, his feet are completely unable to keep up, delays are completely out of place, and changing defenses is full of mistakes...
If this is the attitude of our core player, the number one center of the national brand, to the life and death battle of the national team, then perhaps the three-game losing streak is a fair response to this attitude.
In addition to Zhou Qi, there is also Wang Zhelin, who was scolded on social media after the game.
As an interior twin who debuted at the same time as Zhou Qi, Wang Zhelin once carried no less expectations than Zhou Qi, and the former CBA League MVP performed so badly in this World Cup that he even surpassed the lying flat Zhou Qi.
In the match against Puerto Rico, Wang Zhelin's performance was called a "war criminal" level by angry netizens, except for the same slow delay and poor cover quality as Zhou Qi, he even missed three empty baskets in the whole game.
The most outrageous thing is that when the Chinese men's basketball team rose to chase the score and pulled the score within 9 points, Wang Zhelin immediately gave Puerto Rico a 2+1 after an empty basket and two free throws, directly burying the hope of the Chinese men's basketball team in this game.
02 The most unacceptable way to lose
There are many excuses to lose.
Serbia is too strong, South Sudan is too cunning to exploit loopholes and naturalize, and Puerto Rico is not a weak brigade ...
The naturalized Li Kaier is not the type of player that the Chinese men's basketball team urgently needs, and the time for joint training is too short...
Zhou Qi hasn't played for more than a year, and Wang Zhelin has been injured for a long time...
But we all know that these specious excuses will not convince disappointed fans.
Losing and losing tickets to the Olympics is unacceptable, but over the past four years, fans have gradually recognized the fact that the level of China's men's basketball team has regressed significantly.
The Chinese men's basketball team proved its weakness in three games, and at the same time, in the third quarter of the game against Puerto Rico, it brought the level that Chinese fans expected to "have".
In fact, the fans' demands are really not high. The Chinese men's basketball team is currently at a trough and everyone can understand that it is not unacceptable that Olympic tickets cannot be obtained, as long as they play bloody and play their own characteristics, there are not too many people who will be excessively harsh on the players.
But what the fans cannot accept is to lose without blood, without fighting spirit.
When Zhao Rui and Hu Mingxuan sacrificed their lives again and again to rush to each other's inside line, when Fu Hao stepped up and tried to replace Zhou Qi as the team's inside endpoint, when Zhao Jiwei tried to save the team with three points one by one... They played the bloodiness that fans have been waiting for for a long time, and it was the young people's tandem inside and outside in the third quarter that gave the Chinese team the hope of a turnaround.
As a newcomer to the team, Fu Hao turned out to be the most courageous player on the field. This phenomenon itself is worth pondering.
And Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, the twin towers that should have become the inner no-fly zone, actually let the opponent basket 11 of 15 in the situation of obvious height advantage in the life and death battle, which is really infuriatingly weak.
Hu Jinqiu, who has excellent frame protection and agile footsteps, and Choi Yongxi, who is physically strong and able to fight on the flanks, can only sit on the bench, reflecting on their meagre playing time in this game.
Although in theory, the Chinese men's basketball team has not completely lost its ticket to the Paris Olympics, how many people can be optimistic about this kind of performance and mental state?
No wonder Zhao Rui's choking after the game - young man, how many four years?
At the end of the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter against Puerto Rico, China struggled to build up the momentum to win with the play of young people, but Wang Zhelin's crotch-pulling performance made all this go to waste. In Tencent's broadcast room, several commentators, including Wang Shipeng, repeatedly asked a question: Why not Hu Jinqiu?
This became everyone's soul torture for the men's basketball team after the game, and in the live broadcast, Wang Shipeng finally summarized everyone's heart: Let those who want to play the game, play the game!
03 The original intention corrupted by money
Recalling the ambitions before the expedition, everyone vowed that the final opponent for the ticket would be the mighty Philippines. But the good neighbor Japan used the simplest basketball theory to perform a slam dunk-style blood miracle, first cutting Finland in the quarterfinals of Europe, and then losing to Australia, only one step away from the dream becoming a reality.
The passion of Japanese player Isuki Kawamura during the match is the best portrayal of the desire to win.
Yuta Watanabe, Yuda Baba, Eiki Kawamura, these outstanding local players in the Japanese team, who used to be the defeated players under Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, but in this World Cup, they exuded a dazzling light that the two could not reach - that may be pure love for basketball, and in Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, only a sinking twilight remains.
Perhaps, these things have early signs.
Yuta Watanabe worked hard as a marginal man in the NBA for four years, with a total salary of only $4 million, and after Zhou Qi was cut by the Rockets, Xinjiang still offered him a huge contract of 20 million yuan a year.
Zhou Qi in the CBA league against Wang Zhelin
It is understandable that players pursue the realization of their own best interests, but once they completely use basketball as a tool to make money, and only want to mess around, they will naturally be punished by the game in the end.
Who is to blame for this?
Probably we can only blame our CBA league for not being competitive.
After all, even such Wang Zhelin and Zhou Qi, as long as they return to the league, they are still the indispensable core of the team and a stable killer.
A domestic basketball commentator once bitterly satirized this phenomenon: "If Wang Zhelin can pick up 10 rebounds in a game without jumping, then why should he jump in the future?" ”
The flowers in the greenhouse are always more difficult to withstand the wind and frost.
After Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin pulled domestic clubs back and forth, obtained sky-high salaries early, and achieved financial freedom, lying flat was not an incomprehensible choice, just suffering fans who have always had expectations for them and the national team.
The young Zhu Junlong, Hu Mingxuan and Hu Jinqiu have not had many opportunities to perform so far in this competition.
04 Please let the person who wants to win play
If you have to find some highlights for today's loss, the big comeback in the third quarter and Choi Yonghee's unyielding block in the final stages of the game are equally impressive to fans.
Whether it is a problem of ability, or an attitude problem, what has happened, it is no longer meaningful to hold people accountable, and life always has to look forward.
After three consecutive defeats, the Chinese team can only hope for a miracle if it wants to get an Olympic ticket.
Of course, winning can't just look at blood, but since you are already in a desperate situation, without blood, how can you expect to drop all the shackles and fight to the death?
Zhou Peng, Fu Hao, Cui Yongxi, Hu Mingxuan, and Hu Jinqiu, their boldness and tenacity, fierceness and unwillingness to admit defeat, should have deserved praise and more playing time.
Coincidentally, on the day of the loss to Puerto Rico, Yi Jianlian, the last afterglow of the old era, also announced his decision to retire, completely ending the once golden age.
He took the banner of honor from Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi, and then passed it on to Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin.
Today, the Sri Lankans are gone, and the storm is stormy.
The new standard-bearer may be Zhao Rui, or Fu Hao, we don't know.
But in general, this big stage has never lacked young people who need to show themselves, and all they are looking for is an opportunity to prove themselves.
No matter where the future of Chinese basketball is, at least for the moment, please let those who want to win on the court.