On May 1, Beijing time, the "CBA Spring Festival Gala" was staged as scheduled. Guangdong Hongyuan challenged Liao Basket away from Zhou Qi and Er Fei when they were not able to play, and finally lost to Liao Basket 97-119 through four quarters of fierce battles, falling behind 0-1 with a big score. In this game, Hongyuan was able to rely on his excellent three-point feel in the first half to start a tug of war with Liao Basket, but in the second half, the three points of Zhang Mingchi and other players were no longer hot, and Zhang Zhenlin and Han Dejun of Liao Basket seized Hongyuan's inside forward pain points and beat hard, and finally Liao Basket played a wave to win the game.
In terms of statistics, Hongyuan's Waters scored 19 points and 6 assists, Hu Mingxuan had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, Xu Jie had 20 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Zhang Mingchi had 15 points, Weems had 10 points, and Xu Xin had 10 points and 4 rebounds. In Liao basket, Zhang Zhenlin had 34 points and 7 rebounds, Zhao Jiwei had 19 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists, Fogg had 16 points and 4 assists, and Han Dejun had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
In this game, Hongyuan was able to maintain the balance of power with Liao Basket in the first half, which was also because Xu Jie, Zhang Mingchi and others' three-point hand was hot enough, but at this time, the layering of Liao Basket's offense had come out, and Liao Basket had an advantage in strategy and tactics. In the second half, Hongyuan's three points were no longer magical, and Liao Basket continued to seize the weakness of Hongyuan's inner line to chase after him, and Hongyuan was helpless to lose in the end. The instability of young players and the lack of corresponding preparation to deal with high-intensity games are a major problem on Hongyuan's side, coupled with the defects of the lineup, the front line and the inside line are not up to the advantage of Liao Basket, and it is normal to lose this game.
Xu Jie's recovery has become the biggest surprise of Hongyuan in this game. After entering the playoffs, Xu Jie's overall state is quite average, playing Guangsha in the last round, after being targeted by the opponent with superior forward cluster defensive resources, Xu Jie basically has no chance to play. Especially in the second quarter of the game, after Hongyuan was beaten out of a wave of 10-2 by Liao Basket, Xu Jie stood up decisively and used a beautiful look back at the moon, as well as two consecutive throws in the paint area, to help Hongyuan stabilize the situation. In the first half, Hu Mingxuan's hand was extremely poor, and he only hit 2 goals in 8 shots, but fortunately, Xu Jie scored 8 points in a single quarter, so he did not let Liao Basket directly open up the difference.
After Zhou Qi was absent, Hongyuan's internal responsibility was handed over to the hands of the two young people. To the satisfaction of Hongyuan fans, both Zhang Mingchi and Xu Xin have done an excellent job of completing the tasks assigned by Du Feng. Zhang Mingchi incarnated as Embiid, and scored 3 three-pointers in the first half alone, with three points and interior finishes, is this still the "big sweet potato" ridiculed by the whole network before? And Xu Xin, who participated in the CBA playoffs semifinals for the first time, is also eye-catching. In the head-to-head confrontation with the top foreign aid Moreland, Xu Xin not only did not be timid, but frequently gained the upper hand, making Moreland crazy. Moreland's first three fouls were all used on Xu Xin, and Xu Xin now dangled a shot and then made a layup after getting the ball, which stunned Moreland directly, and there were the same misjudgments several times in a row.
Xu Xin scored 8 points and 4 rebounds in the first half, including 2 of 2 shots and 4 of 5 free throws, as a 20-year-old young center, it is the first time to play a playoff game of this intensity, and it is indeed commendable to have such a performance! Although the state of both of them has dropped in the second half, but on the whole, they did their best, and they can't blame anything.