In the semifinals of the men's basketball team of the Hangzhou Asian Games on the 4th, the Chinese men's basketball team once led by 20 points, but was finally reversed by the Philippine team and lost 76:77 and missed the final.
After the game, the press conference that the loser originally attended first was the first to appear, but the Philippine men's basketball coach and players appeared first. The host announced the cancellation of the post-game press conference of the Chinese men's basketball team. However, the launch resumed after that.
In response to this matter, Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, personally appeared at the end of the press conference to apologize, saying that there was a problem with the team's communication and apologized to everyone.
"After receiving the call from the stadium, we decided to send the athletes back to the athletes' village first. After that, I turned around with the coach and captain Zhao Jiwei to participate in the press conference. Sorry for the delay. As a team manager, I have a lot of responsibility. Yao Ming said.
After the game, the delayed press conference was still full of reporters. A journalist asked Djordjevic: "If there is one person to blame for this defeat, who should it be?" "Of course it's me, I said that winning belongs to the player and the responsibility for losing belongs to the coach. ”
Zhao Jiwei, who attended the press conference together, took over the conversation and told the media in the audience: "I think (responsibility) is in the players." Zhao Jiwei said that "everyone makes mistakes on the field, and the coach deploys a lot of requirements", "players can't execute on the field", and "blame the coach if you can't lose".
Chinese coach Jordjevic (left) and player Zhao Jiwei attend a post-match press conference on October 4. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Pan Yulong
Before the semifinals, Djordjevic pointed out that the Chinese team needs to base itself on defense and play a good start. In the first half, China forced its opponent to make 10 turnovers and 0-of-7 three-pointers, relying on defense to drive the offense to take the lead. Unfortunately, they failed to defend equally well in the second half.
On October 4, Zhao Jiwei (second from left) made a layup during the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lan Hongguang
Zhao Jiwei said that it is not ruled out that the players may relax their mentality after leading by a big score, "everyone still has more or less slack after leading by 18 points or 20 points"; Although the coach repeatedly communicated and reminded the players to "take out the momentum of the first half and play the third quarter well", they failed to do a good job in the details of defensive positioning, foul selection, etc.
For the Philippines, the biggest contributor to the comeback was naturalized player Brownlee. He scored eight points in the final 1/2 minutes, including the three-pointer that "killed" the game 24 seconds before the end. After the game, Brownlee thought the Chinese team did a good job of defending him. 'They gave me a lot of physical confrontation and kept me from getting passes through teamwork and defending around the front. "They didn't make too many mistakes and I got my chance in the final minute of the game and was lucky enough to make a throw," Brownlee said.
Philippine player Brownlee (second from right) scrambles for a rebound during a game on October 4. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lan Hongguang
Speaking about the defence against Brownlee, Jordjevic said that "Brownlee played an incredible game" and in a "one-on-one" situation he scored a few goals against the defense, "sometimes we made some mistakes, but the players did everything they could".
In the final moment, the Chinese team had another offensive opportunity, but Zhang Zhenlin missed a mid-range shot from within the three-point line. In response, Jordjevic said that requiring players to create shots through passing during timeouts "was a good shooting option, but it didn't score", and "it's unfortunate for us, this is basketball".
After missing the final, the Chinese men's basketball team will compete with Chinese Taipei for the bronze medal of this Asian Games on the 6th. In Jordjevic's view, what the Chinese team needs to do most now is to "unite and walk out with their heads up in the next game to win." "This is our job," Djordjevic said.
Comprehensive: Xinhua News Agency, China-Singapore Sports Forum
Source: News Night Flight