Praise Hu Jinqiu, the Chinese men's basketball team has finally begun to find long-lost fun

I started writing this article at 6 p.m. on August 31st. 18 hours ago, the Chinese men's basketball team was in a "darkest" moment.

In the early morning of the 29th, Yi Jianlian announced his retirement on Weibo.

On the night of the 30th, the Chinese team lost to Puerto Rico 89:107, and the group stage ended with all three defeats.

This is a darkest moment for every fan who loves Chinese basketball, and especially for those who have truly experienced the "golden age" of Chinese basketball.

With a 21-year career, the UAE marked an era. As the last man of China's "golden age", he fought side by side with those great figures, and after those figures gradually faded, he supported the last dignity of the men's basketball team with his gradually broad shoulders.

Our generation has looked forward to, questioned, disappointed, relieved – and in the end, everything turned into emotion.

Looking back on the past 20 years, except for Yao Ming, whose talent has been rare in the world for decades, there has never been a second person in Asia who has done better than him, and from the perspective of dedication to the national team, the UAE's hard work is high, even more than Yao.

Now standing at the end, when we look back at Yi Jianlian's entire career, we can say that in the past twenty years - all the yellow players in Asia, Yao Ming first gear, Yi Jianlian second gear, broken first gear, and then everyone else.

It is a pity that the UAE has achieved "inheritance" but failed to "enlighten the bottom".

The Chinese team is weak, this is an established fact that has been presented before our eyes.

But worse than "very weak" is that some of our players look unmotivated on the pitch.

On the evening of the 30th, I was supposed to write an article analyzing the Chinese men's basketball team, but I really didn't know how to write. The night seemed exceptionally dark and extraordinarily long.

If the gap in strength cannot be changed in the short term, what else can the Chinese team do?

In fact, yesterday's commentary has already given the answer: "Let those who want to fight go up and fight a dozen"

Fortunately, Qiao Shuai finally listened to this sentence.

On the 31st, back-to-back against Angola, the Chinese men's basketball team had a break of less than 16 hours, and in the case of no way back, the Chinese men's basketball team finally made personnel adjustments for the inside: DNP Wang Zhelin, shortened Zhou Qi's playing time, and reused Hu Jinqiu, who had little playing time in the first three games but was extremely efficient.

As it turned out, this adjustment eventually became the winner of today's Chinese men's basketball team.

Hu Jinqiu shot 8 of 10, scored 20 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, with a team-high plus-minus of +12, and also set a record for the highest local player of the Chinese team in this World Cup.

Next, let's review Hu Jinqiu's offensive and defensive performance round by round.

First of all, the biggest improvement that Hu Jinqiu brought to the men's basketball team after he came on the court was the enthusiasm to fight for the rebound in the front court.

Hu Jinqiu's first goal after coming on the court was a layup after Li Kaier and Zhang Zhenlinkong failed in succession, and quickly followed up after grabbing the front court board.

We can see that Hu Jinqiu compared to Wang Zhelin, the first obvious advantage is his speed - as the player who has the longest running distance in the process of landing inside and pushing the conversion, Hu Jinqiu can rush in front of Li Kaier and Zhao Rui in the conversion attack - leaving aside the issue of positivity, this ability to advance quickly is indeed something that the king of traditional centers does not have.

And it is this ability that turns a mistake by the Chinese team into a score.

After Hu Mingxuan missed the free throw, it was Hu Jinqiu who relied on consecutive points to grab the front court rebound, which won the Chinese team one more offensive opportunity.

In the second quarter, Zhang Zhenlin pointed to the offensive rebound, but the ball lost control, and the 211cm Hu Jinqiu did not hesitate to fall to the Angolan players to compete for the floor - what is hard work, what is blood, this is it.

In the fourth quarter, Hu Mingxuan broke through the layup and popped up, and it was Hu Jinqiu again, who came in from the outside and directly made up the dunk!

In the last two minutes of the game, Zhang Zhenlin missed a three-pointer, and it was Hu Jinqiu's consecutive point grabs to allocate the front court rebound to his teammates on the outside.

Today's men's basketball opponent Angola is one of the most fierce teams in offensive rebounding in this World Cup (they also showed this in this game), facing such a tough opponent, Hu Jinqiu not only contributes to the offensive end, his efforts on the other side of the court are actually equally important - Angola can't shoot on the periphery, the offense is all based on the rebounding advantage, as long as it can weaken their rebounding advantage, it can greatly improve our chances of winning - and this is for the thinner body, Hu Jinqiu, who is actually more like a power forward, is undoubtedly a daunting challenge. But in the end, Hu Jinqiu withstood the test and better protected the rebound in the second half.

And of course, compared to the defensive end, Daqiu's performance on the offensive end today shocked Angola's jaw.

In this game - or the last two games, in fact, Qiao Shuai has begun to gradually understand some offensive things.

For example, too many passing balls and trying to create open three-point patterns may not be suitable for the Chinese men's basketball team - because our outside line does not have a very stable shooting grasp;

For example, although Li Kaier has the best ability to handle the ball, his lack of projection has a negative impact on blocking and dismantling attacks, while the Chinese team's defender group has a significantly better offensive effect when holding the ball in hand than when there is no ball;

For example, the Chinese team has some center forwards, who look tall and big, claiming to be excellent in technique and delicate in hand, but in fact...

And this game, with Hu Jinqiu being reused, defenders finally no longer facing opponents who are taller and more athletic, and gaining more ball-carrying authority, the Chinese team finally played an unprecedented smooth blocking attack.

First of all, look at one of Hu Jinqiu's advantages - solid cover.

Yu Zhou Qi is more fake cover quickly disassembled and smooth, most of his blocking is real cover, can better block the leading defense players for the defender - of course, there is no accusation of Zhou Qi here, the way of blocking and dismantling is determined by the player's own characteristics, Zhou Qi's body is thin, it is more difficult to block people but the victory is in the height and arm length, so the fake cover is more suitable for him This is actually beyond reproach, but as a team, sometimes in the face of different opponents, enabling players who can set different covers often has miraculous results—— This field is an example.

This round, Hu Jinqiu explained blocking the pursuers, but Zhang Zhenlin's three-point shot missed.

And this round, Hu Jinqiu's solid cover has an effect - because Hu Jinqiu blocked Angola's small defender firmly, Angola's inside lineman had to save to delay Zhao Rui, so Hu Jinqiu got a good opportunity to go straight to the basket. And Hu Jinqiu also firmly grasped this opportunity.

It is also a very beautiful cover, which directly caused the Angolan team's change of defense, and Angola changed the defense communication error, Hu Jinqiu went straight to the basket, received Li Kyle's pass and scored a layup, and the Angolan small guard could only look at the ball and sigh although the defense was in place.

In the second half, Angola chose a center forward to delay the defense, and Hu Jinqiu grasped this perfectly and completed the block to remove the smooth score.

It can be said that Hu Jinqiu's subordinate consciousness and finishing ability under the basket are unprecedented in the previous three games.

Look at Hu Jinqiu's follow-up consciousness in this round - when he saw that his teammates might encounter pockets under the basket, he desperately sprinted from the back court to the front court, went to the dunk position, and finally succeeded in solving Zhao Rui.

Positivity, awareness.

This round was also the same, with only the last two seconds left in the attack, and with the opposing trio encircling, Hu Jinqiu got up and put it in hard - I don't need to say more about how many of these goals we conceded in the previous games, or even simpler balls than this.

In interviews, a number of players mentioned that the Chinese team emphasizes hitting the ball into the inside line - but to get into the inside line, you must also put it in, and tonight, Hu Jinqiu accomplished what the Chinese team did not do in the past few games, which is why China was able to win its first victory today.

And finally, I would like to say about "fun".

In today's game, we can all see that under the leadership of Hu Jinqiu, the Chinese team gradually played momentum, everyone played their favorite basketball, and the Chinese team finally found the long-lost "fun" on the court.

In fact, I have watched a lot of interviews recently, and many Chinese team players, when asked how they feel about wearing the national team jersey, the first thing they answer and emphasize is "responsibility" - yes, as national team members, they are burdened with expectations and responsibilities, which is true.

But if we look at the words written by Yi Jianlian after his retirement, and look at the views of other team players about participating in the World Cup, you will hear some words that have been lost in the national team players for a long time - such as "love", such as "fun".

In fact, I think that for basketball players, "love" and "fun" are just as important as "responsibility" - even "love" should come first. If you lose your love and don't have fun when you're playing on the pitch – then responsibility just becomes pressure.

From an early age, our culture and our education teach us the importance of "responsibility", but few people tell you that "self" and "fun" are equally important.

But these national players, carrying the expectations of 1.4 billion people, in fact, most of them are only young people in their twenties.

What makes me most gratifying in this match is not that China finally won Angola, but that Hu Jinqiu finally won the opportunity to prove himself; It was Zhao Jiwei who finally played the long-lost three-point holding ball and crotch passing, and passing behind the ball; It was Zhang Zhenlin's last teenager's blood-boiling trying to block the opponent...

They can finally find some fun and they are finally able to be themselves.

If winning is too hard, if the road ahead is too far, then at least let's show our love for the sport on the pitch.

I wish Chinese basketball that there will be a moon when the sun sets, and a new sun when the moon sets.