The fourth game between Zhejiang East Sunshine and Guangdong team in the semi-finals had a chance to turn the big score into a 2:2 draw, but unfortunately the whole Zhejiang East Sunshine team seemed to have lost the belief that they would win. The team scored only 4 points in nearly 7 minutes, and at the end of the first quarter, it had already dug itself a big hole of 17 points, and the whole game seemed to be in a state of suppression. In the end, he swallowed the bitter fruit of 35 points, regrettably said goodbye to this season, and more importantly, he didn't even make it to the final four of the playoffs. In addition to the absence of Hu Jinqiu, the team's core insider, when he chose to give up the big foreign player Wilter last offseason and chose to cut the big foreign player Oliver in the middle of the regular season, it seems to indicate that the team will not miss the top four in the league.
This game was originally a chance for Zhejiang East Sunshine to win the Guangdong team, although the core of the team Hu Jinqiu was absent due to injury, but as the absolute leader of the Guangdong team, Zhou Qi could not play. In this way, the two teams are actually equal in overall strength, coupled with the psychological advantage of fighting at home and the personal singles ability of Okafor, the big foreign aid on the inside, it can be said that Zhejiang East Sunshine has the best chance to save the situation. But I didn't expect the team to be a little careless from the beginning, and basically did not score in the first 7 minutes of the first quarter, and all the 4 points scored relied on Sun Minghui's impact on the inside of the Guangdong team, and finally relied on free throws. Okafor, a big foreign player, seems to have a certain advantage on the field, but he has never been able to help the team score, especially when Okafor's attack with the ball is caught by the Guangdong team, and it is even difficult to pass the ball to his teammates. In addition, the team's overall outside three-point shooting rate is not high, so Zhejiang East Sunshine only scored 14 points at the end of the first quarter, but let the Guangdong team score 31 points. This shows that in addition to having a big problem on the offensive end, he is also not doing well on the defensive end.
Of course, for strong teams, it is normal for the team's slow heat to cause the gap in the first quarter of the game to be pulled away, as long as the state is recovered after adjustment. However, after Zhejiang East Sunshine fell behind in the first quarter, the confidence of the whole team was even more insufficient, and even the shooting seemed very hesitant, which may be the main reason why the team has been unable to catch up or even complete the overtake. In the second quarter of the game, although Zhejiang East Sunshine improved compared with the first quarter, the whole team scored 25 points in a single quarter, but it was still difficult to limit the scoring of the Guangdong team on the defensive end. In the second quarter, Guangdong scored more points, reaching 34 points. At the end of the first half, the majority of the team scored 65 points, which is a bit incredible for Zhejiang East Sunshine, after all, the team conceded only 97.6 points per game in the regular season, so it may be normal for the opponent to score about 48 points at halftime, once it exceeds 50 points or even more than 60 points, it means that the team is completely blinded by the opponent on the defensive end. He averaged 103.3 points per game, at least 50 points in the half, but only scored 39 points in this game, and there were also big problems on the offensive end.
In addition to the lack of confidence in this game, Zhejiang East Sunshine appeared to have no fighting spirit in the whole game, and the most important thing is that the foreign aid does not seem to have reached the level of top foreign aid. Zhejiang East Sunshine has suffered in foreign aid for not one or two seasons, although the foreign aid as a whole did not reach the level of the championship team last season, but at least as the fourth position of the big foreign aid Wei Zhe in the quarterfinals of the key game, in the outside to help the team through the difficulties. It is also the key to the successful reversal of the Guangdong team in the case of a 1:0 lead, Wei Zhe not only has a 42% outside three-point shooting rate, but also has a height of 208cm, and the defensive end also plays a good auxiliary role on the inside. Especially in the game with the Guangdong team, the outside three-point shooting rate reached 50%, including 6 of 12 shots in one game, which can be said to be the hero of the quarterfinals. Even in the semi-finals against Liaoning, Wilzhe also played a vital role, but unexpectedly the team did not choose to keep Wilzhe in the offseason, but chose to find a more suitable foreign aid for the team.
In fact, as a big foreign aid introduced at the beginning of the season, Oliver also got better with the team, although Oliver is only 202cm tall, but his excellent jumping ability and frame protection ability are far better than Okafor. What's more important is that Oliver dares to fight on the inside, especially when he is on the field at the same time as Hu Jinqiu, Oliver better creates offensive space for Hu Jinqiu, making Hu Jinqiu more comfortable to play, and the efficiency is also very high. The main thing is that Oliver does not need a certain amount of ball possession like Okafor, which will make the team appear to play one person and four people, which is probably one of the best foreign players to bring teamwork to the team. In addition, Oliver plays very hard, spares no effort on the court, and is more willing to help his teammates do more dirty work, and is the best blue-collar interior player, especially for Zhejiang East Sunshine, whose style of play is very suitable for the team. But unexpectedly, when Oliver's performance was at its best, the team actually chose Okafor, the former big foreign aid, for the second time, and directly cut Oliver. This may be the main reason why the team has not been able to break through the final four of the regular season in the later games.
Okafor's biggest characteristic is that he is slow, holding the ball on the offensive end and chiseling the inside, not only moving slowly, but also far away from the basket and not guaranteed to shoot. In the playoffs, the performance is even more unsatisfactory, the protection of the rebound is not flattering, the basket offense encounters a tough inside, and in most cases can only choose to shoot from a distance, but the shooting percentage is not high. The defensive end cannot be like Hu Jinqiu or even Wu Xiao and other players, expanding to near the three-point line, once away from the three-second zone, it is difficult for Okafor to return to his defensive area again, which is also the main reason why the Guangdong team has been unable to open up the situation on the inside line in the absence of Zhou Qi. Of course, the team's lack of touch on the outside in this game is also the main reason for the loss, but as the head coach, Wang Bo should understand where the opponent's weaknesses are? Without Hu Jinqiu, it would be difficult for Okafor and Sun Minghui to complete the on-line blocking and dismantling to complete the scoring smoothly. This is also the main reason why it was impossible to score in the open battle from the beginning, and even if the Guangdong team was trapped in a foul crisis in the final stage, Okafor still found it difficult to score smoothly on the inside.
In addition to the unfavorable factors on foreign aid, Zhejiang East Sunshine has even said that players have been injured during the critical period of the playoffs for several consecutive seasons throughout the season, which is the most worthy of reflection, is it all a coincidence?
Therefore, if the team wants to win the league championship in the golden age of players such as Hu Jinqiu, Sun Minghui and even Zhu Junlong and Zhao Jiaren, in addition to finding better foreign aid or foreign aid that is more suitable for the team, it should also make the bench players a weapon in the regular season, so that maybe the team still has hope of winning the championship next season, otherwise, I really dare not expect the championship trophy.