On April 6, the 2023-24 CBA regular season was all over.
Even though the 12 playoff teams have been selected three rounds in advance, and the six teams have been determined before the final round, there are still two battles in the final round of the CBA that will be decided through overtime.
With 29 overtime games and 37 games with a score difference of less than 2 points, the word suspense is the key word left by the regular season this season.
In addition, when young players such as Yang Hansen gradually emerge, "winning in the future" is not an expectation, but a true portrayal of the present. Outside the court, the league slogan of "in the name of the city" is also helping Chinese basketball tell a warmer story.
Suspense, youth, and warmth, this is the Chinese basketball outlined in the CBA regular season this season.
CBA Playoffs Matchup Chart.
The final round was played overtime, which was the epitome of CBA suspense
Before the Guangdong vs Tianjin match, few people thought that the two sides would play overtime.
After all, before this matchup, the Guangdong men's basketball team had won 12 consecutive victories, while the Tianjin men's basketball team missed the playoffs.
In order to prepare for the playoffs, the Guangdong men's basketball team took turns to rest Zhou Qi. But obviously, the Tianjin men's basketball team does not want to just go through the motions, but is ready to wrestle with the Guangdong men's basketball team.
The reason for this may be the confidence accumulated by the Tianjin men's basketball team - before this season, Tianjin faced Guangdong 1-34, but this season, the Tianjin men's basketball team has won twice against Guangdong.
So the game only lasted for more than a quarter, and the Tianjin men's basketball team shot 8 of 15 three-point shots, once leading the Guangdong men's basketball team by 16 points. And the Guangdong men's basketball team did not choose to stay because of the playoffs, Hu Mingxuan played 45 minutes, Xu Ming played 37 minutes, and Ren Junfei played 35 minutes, gradually smoothing out the difference. At the critical moment, first Tian Yu made up for the basket, followed by James blocked Waters, and the Tianjin men's basketball team narrowly defeated Guangdong 113-112.
What to take to meet the playoffs? Tianjin men's basketball team took the lead in giving Guangdong an overtime game.
James blocks Waters.
With three wins over the Guangdong men's basketball team in a single season, the Tianjin men's basketball team's progress does not stop there. At this time last year, the Tianjin men's basketball team finished 10-32, ranking second to last in the league, but this season the Tianjin men's basketball team has won 22 games.
Not only is the Tianjin men's basketball team making rapid progress, but compared with the league pattern dominated by several teams in the past, today's CBA has more suspense.
The Xinjiang men's basketball team, which ranked 17th in the league last season, has become a strong contender for the championship this season, the Beijing Enterprises men's basketball team, which ranked 15th in the league last season, has returned to the playoffs after four years this season, and the Qingdao men's basketball team, which ranked 13th in the league last season, has a record of 31 wins and 21 losses this season.
Their outstanding performance has made the middle of the league, which is not far behind, even more crowded. Among them, the gap between Guangsha, which is ranked 5th in the league, and Guangzhou, which is 10th, is only 4 wins, which is still the league pattern presented when it has increased to 52 rounds this season.
In fact, even the less powerful teams have contributed a lot of footage this season - Sichuan defeated Guangsha, Ningbo reversed Shanghai, Jiangsu narrowly beat Guangzhou, and Fujian beat Xinjiang......
The appearance of these games has made many fans sigh: "This year is probably the year with the biggest changes in the league's landscape." ”
The feelings of the fans are also borne out by the stats – a total of 520 games were played in the CBA regular season this season. Among them, there were 37 games with a score difference of 2 points or less, 119 games with a score difference of 5 points or less, 252 games with a score difference of 10 points or less, and 29 overtime games with a double overtime and three overtime games each.
Yang Hansen did a great job.
Young players, not just expectation
The changes in the league structure are closely related to the growth of young players.
The Qingdao men's basketball team, which ranked 13th in the league last season, can play a record of 31-21 this season, and Yang Hansen's name cannot be avoided. The 18-year-old, who was expected by fans to be the "next NBA player", entered the CBA league for the first time and became one of the league's highest-quality interior players.
Yang Hansen averaged 15.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.2 blocks per game, ranking first in the league in blocks and second in rebounds, making him the second all-star starter in the history of Qingdao men's basketball team after Li Guang in 2009.
If it is just Yang Hansen, it may not be possible to make the Qingdao men's basketball team win more and be reborn, what really makes the team qualitatively change is the progress of a group of young players in the Qingdao men's basketball team.
Just took over the Qingdao men's basketball team, Liu Weiwei laid off 7 main veterans including Zhang Chengyu, Zhao Tailong, Li Yuanyu, and the team registration list that year, a total of 9 post-00 players, the oldest Wang Hong also just passed.
At that time, Liu Weiwei explained: "After coming to Qingdao, I made a big move to rebuild, and it was not easy to take this step, which was difficult and bitter, but I just wanted to create more room for young players to improve." ”
So this season, among the four people who scored the most points in Qingdao men's basketball team, 3 of them were all players born after 99.
Similar to the Qingdao men's basketball team, the Shanghai men's basketball team has also tasted the lineup dividend of cultivating young players. In the first stage of the season, the Shanghai men's basketball team had a record of only 3 wins and 7 losses, but at the end of the regular season, the Shanghai men's basketball team achieved a record of 32 wins and 20 losses. Behind the low start and high walk is the process of young players such as Li Hongquan and Li Tianrong adapting to the field.
The young people of the Shanghai men's basketball team.
This season, Lee Hongquan averaged 28.9 minutes per game, scored 11.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists, and shot 39.6% from three-point range. And five of the candidates on this shortlist are all recruits who have been in the league for less than three seasons.
Last season, the top four local players in the Shanghai men's basketball team were Wang Zhelin, Liu Zheng, Luo Hanchen and Ren Junwei, the youngest of which was 28-year-old Luo Hanchen. This season, the three "post-00" players, including Li Tianrong and Li Hongquan, have squeezed into the top five local players in the team in terms of average points per game.
In contrast, the current predicament of the Beijing and Shandong men's basketball teams is just the epitome of the team's lack of fresh blood.
In addition to Qingdao and Shanghai, two teams with full youth, many young players have become the leaders of the team. For example, Lin Wei and Cui Yongxi, who are both "second grades", are already the core of their respective teams.
Lin Wei, who averages 20.0 points and 4.2 assists per game, is the fourth offensive core in the local scoring list this season, and Choi Yongxi, who averages 15.7 points, 6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game, is also evolving towards an all-round forward.
Behind them, Zou Yang, Chen Guohao and others, who entered the league through the draft, have gradually gained a firm foothold in the team while having good popularity.
These young people in the league are the treasures of Chinese basketball, they are not just "win in the future" in the mouth of fans, but have become the immediate combat force of each team, and their growth is closely related to the progress of Chinese basketball.
The Guangzhou men's basketball team held Zheng Zhun's retirement ceremony.
In the name of the city, it belongs to the warmth of the CBA
Record is one of the dimensions to measure the quality of a team, but it is not the only one. How to make the whole team more warm is also the key to impressing fans.
In the last game of the CBA regular season, the Guangzhou men's basketball team held Zheng Zhun's jersey retirement ceremony, which was also the first retired jersey in the history of the Guangzhou men's basketball team.
On this night, Zheng Zhun in a black suit stood in the middle of the court, Cui Yongxi next to him smiled and imitated his shooting posture, and on the seat of the court was the "Quasi-Heart Forever" poster specially designed by the team for Zheng Zhun.
On the day of the retirement ceremony held by Guangzhou Longshi, the Shanghai men's basketball team also held a "Home Appreciation Day" activity. At halftime, a specially made fan appreciation video "In the Name of the City, Walking Together, Shark to the Future, Thank You" was played on the big screen.
This is not the first time that the Shanghai men's basketball team has interacted with fans this season, as early as the home opening game, the team invited 6 disabled fans and friends to form a special invitation to watch the game, and also held a retirement ceremony for Liu Wei's jersey.
And the most solemn retirement ceremony this season is none other than Yi Jianlian, because it is not only the club and fans who are involved, but the city of Dongguan.
This season, Yi Jianlian's retirement ceremony was held.
Before the retirement ceremony began, a video circulated on the Internet - a helicopter slowly lifted off at the Dongguan Bank Basketball Center, towed a giant Yi Jianlian jersey, and then passed through the city of Dongguan.
The theme of the video reads: "In the name of the city, one person, one city".
On the night of the retirement ceremony, the event was not only limited to the Dongguan Bank Basketball Center, but also the landmark buildings in the city center ten kilometers away were also collectively lit up, sending Yi Jianlian a confession of citizens and the city "in the air".
It was Dongguan that launched a solicitation for the whole city, inviting people in the city to write down what they wanted to say to Yi Jianlian, and finally 16 selected messages were selected to "go to the wall" on the day of the retirement ceremony.
"In the name of the city" is the new slogan of this season's CBA, and in order to interpret this slogan, not only the teams are trying, but the league itself is also trying to break through.
Screenshot of the official promotional video.
In December last year, the CBA league officially released an official promotional video from the perspective of fans.
According to the official, this film is the first time in the history of the league to use the perspective of fans and use fans as the protagonists to interpret their own stories. The promo video draws on many classic CBA fan stories to depict the connection between the CBA league and people's daily lives.
In addition, the CBA and various clubs also launched the "Please Come to the CBA" campaign, inviting different groups of people from different industries to watch the games.
Similar warmth is not only in the lives of fans, but also on the basketball court. In the last home game of Beijing Holdings, Min Lulei put Jin Hong on the CBA arena, and he also became the first grassroots player to appear in CBA history.
As early as the draft meeting, BEWG once wrote such a paragraph to Jin Hong: "The story of you entering the CBA from 'Village BA' will give more people who chase their dreams strength and motivation." ”
At a time when Chinese basketball is in urgent need of confidence, the CBA league needs to accumulate strength from all sides to convey more delicacy and warmth.