The 2023-2024 CBA season will kick off tomorrow night in Shenyang, and the Liaoning men's basketball team will sit in the Liaoning Stadium to face the Nanjing Tongxi men's basketball team to start the new season. After changing the coaching staff and adding two young players, the Liaoning men's basketball team, which had been the champion team for the previous two seasons, aimed to win three consecutive championships. To achieve this feat, the team faces challenges such as an aging squad and the strengthening of its opponents for the championship, and the road to the championship is long.
The opener tests the team's run-in effect
On the evening of the 21st, the opponent of the Liaoning men's basketball team, Nanjing Tongxi men's basketball, was not strong, and the only victory of the Liaoning men's basketball team in the preseason that ended not long ago was to defeat the team. In that game, the Liaoning men's basketball team's Guo Allen, Ferge, Zhao Jiwei, Zhang Zhenlin were absent, and they trailed by 6 points in the first 3 minutes of the final game, and then the Liaoning men's basketball team played an 11-0 mini-climax and finally won the game.
A week later, the Liaoning men's basketball team met Nanjing Tongxi men's basketball team again in the opening game, and many main players returned, which is bound to increase the confidence to win the game. As the first game of the new season, the Liaoning men's basketball team, commanded by the new coaching staff, will also take this game as an opportunity to test the team's running-in effect.
The new season of the Liaoning men's basketball team retains the main team that won the championship in the previous two seasons, and a stable lineup is a guarantee for the team to win the championship. However, the stable lineup of the Liaoning men's basketball team also has hidden worries, that is, the main player is older. Han Dejun, 36, Li Xiaoxu, 33, and Allen Guo, 30, are more experienced, but they are no longer at the peak of their competitive form, and they are more vulnerable to injuries.
Take Allen Guo, for example, who took a rare vacation last season after being plagued by injuries and his physical condition improved. Regrettably, on the 18th, he revealed on his personal social media that he has suffered repeated thigh injuries in training recently, which makes people worry about whether he can attend the opener.
In the new season, I believe that the Liaoning men's basketball team will control the playing time of several veterans and strictly prevent serious injuries, as long as they show their best in the key playoffs is the greatest support for the team.
The strength of the opponent continues unabated
In the first two seasons, the reason why the Liaoning men's basketball team was able to win the championship was related to the serious injury suffered by the opponent who rushed to the championship. In the new season, Guangdong men's basketball, Zhejiang Shuangxiong, Shenzhen men's basketball, Beijing Shougang men's basketball team and other championship opponents have been recruited, and their strength has increased, and the Liaoning men's basketball team is facing greater challenges than in the previous two seasons.
Among many opponents, the veteran Guangdong men's basketball team is undoubtedly the biggest "roadblocker". The team introduced Zhou Qi, the strongest center in China, this season, completely making up for the lack of tall centers. Although they transferred the main guard Zhao Rui to the Xinjiang men's basketball team, there are Hu Mingxuan and Xu Jie on the guard line. From the perspective of strength, among the opponents of the Liaoning men's basketball team, the Guangdong men's basketball team has improved the most.
In the first two seasons, the strongest opponents on the way to the championship of Liaoning men's basketball team, Zhejiang Jinlian men's basketball team and Zhejiang Guangsha men's basketball team are also rubbing their hands in the new season, especially the two relatively young teams have accumulated valuable playoff experience after the baptism of the last two seasons, which will make their ability to play key games more mature. And the main lineup of the two teams is younger and more impactful than the Liaoning men's basketball team.
In addition to Zhejiang Shuangxiong, like the Shenzhen men's basketball team that broke into the final four last season and the veteran powerhouse Beijing Shougang men's basketball team, both have strong strength, the two teams have completed the replacement of new and old, and the new season has introduced a number of strong foreign aides, Liaoning men's basketball must pay attention to them.
Shenyang will raise the third championship flag
Although the road to the third consecutive championship is full of thorns, Shenyang, the home court that has helped the Liaoning men's basketball team win three championships, is undoubtedly the team's strongest backing.
Before the opening game of the new season on the 21st, the third championship flag in the history of the Liaoning men's basketball team will be raised in the presence of more than 10,000 fans at the Liaoning Stadium, and the team will receive the third championship ring in the history of the team, which is undoubtedly a glorious moment belonging to Shenyang's home court, Liaoning basketball and Liaoning sports.
Not long ago, the championship ring of the Liaoning men's basketball team has been revealed, from the exposed pictures, this year's championship ring is "gold set with jade and diamonds", that is, a green jade is set on the front of the gold-plated ring, and the gold-plated Liaoning basketball team logo and the Chinese Simplified word "Liaoning" are embedded in the center of the jade, and there are three circles of rhinestones around the jade. The Chinese Traditional of the word "Liaoning" is engraved on one side of the ring, the Chinese Simplified name of each player, and the corresponding jersey number; On the other side, the words of the 2022-2023 CBA championship are uniformly engraved.
In the opening game of last season, the CBA was still played in a conference format, and it was somewhat regrettable that the second championship flag of the Liaoning men's basketball team could not be held at its home court. On the evening of the 21st, when the third championship flag was raised, it heralded the beginning of a new journey for the Liaoning men's basketball team, and the soldiers will go all out to fight for the third consecutive championship and fight for the fourth championship trophy in the history of the team.
Reporter: Ma Cheng
Photo by Zhang Wenkui