The bad news came suddenly, and the Liaoning men's basketball team suffered a heavy blow. Zhou Qi missed the life-and-death battle with the Guangdong men's basketball team due to injury, and Du Feng was caught in a dilemma of whether to use a young substitute.
1. The impact of Zhou Qi's injury on Liaoning
In the focus of this season's CBA semifinals, the Guangdong men's basketball team will face the Liaoning men's basketball team in the key tie-break battle to compete for the qualification to enter the finals. Before the game, there was a bombshell news that Zhou Qi would not be able to play due to injury, which cast a variable on this evenly matched battle.
According to Guangdong TV reporter Guan Xin, in the last game, Zhou Qi triggered a waist injury, and after yesterday morning's film inspection, the situation deteriorated, so he did not go to Shenyang with the team to participate in this key battle of grabbing five. The news was shocking, and many people thought that Zhou Qi might arrive in Shenyang later, but did not expect him to be unable to compete.
Since joining the Guangdong men's basketball team, Zhou Qi has been injured frequently and has only played 28 games in the regular season. So far in the playoffs, Zhou Qi has played in 6 games, averaging 16.17 points, 12 rebounds, 1 steal and 1.5 blocks per game. In the previous game, Zhou Qi performed very hard, playing 31 minutes and contributing 18 points, 10 rebounds and other comprehensive data, but the Guangdong men's basketball team was ultimately defeated.
Although Zhou Qi's dominance has decreased this season, and the Guangdong men's basketball team has a lot of talent, his tactical position is not indispensable, but against a strong team like the Liaoning men's basketball team, Zhou Qi's role has become particularly important. In the previous game, Zhou Qi failed to appear due to a ban, which caused the Guangdong men's basketball team to suffer a serious blow on the inside, losing to Liaoning 97-119. In the case of Zhou Qi's absence, the interior support of the Guangdong men's basketball team will be stretched, and the away reversal will become extremely challenging.
Second, Du Feng is facing a dilemma
Zhou Qi's injury is undoubtedly bad news, but Liaoning will do its best to deal with it, and Du Feng will make the best choice. After losing to Liaoning in the last game, the Guangdong men's basketball team fell behind 1-2 in the best-of-five series, and the Liaoning men's basketball team held the match point.
For Guangdong, how to fill Zhou Qi's vacancy is crucial. Jordan Bell will be reused, but he will also squeeze out the playing time of other foreign players. Local players Zhang Haojia, Huang Mingyi, Zhang Mingchi, Xu Xin and others are worth looking forward to who can carry the banner of the inside line.
Du Feng also needs to solve the problem of the back line. Zhao Jiwei and Hu Mingxuan are the core defenders of both teams and the MVP winners of the finals. In this series, both men have had high-profile performances, but they have also had slumps. Who can play better in the tie-break between Zhao Jiwei and Hu Mingxuan will affect the direction of the game.
Du Feng also needs to weigh whether to trust young players to play at key moments, whether to fight conservatively or boldly innovate. In the last game, Liaoning's young inside Fu Hao and Liu Yanyu scored 31 and 12 points respectively and became "wonder soldiers". Whether Du Feng will also use young people is undoubtedly a dilemma.
Third, Liaoning went all out to fight against the water
This life-and-death battle between Liaoning and Guangdong is crucial for both sides. Zhou Qi's injury is bad news, but Liaoning will do its best to deal with it.
The Liaoning men's basketball team has rich experience in the playoffs, and although it has fallen into passivity many times before, it has always been able to burst out with amazing combat effectiveness and successfully get out of the predicament. In the semi-finals last season, they fell behind Guangsha 1-2, but finally reversed their opponents to advance to the finals and successfully defended their title.
For Liaoning, it is crucial to turn pressure into motivation. The players need to be calm and not be affected by the defeat in the last game. There are many young players in the Guangdong team, and Liaoning should give full play to the advantage of experience.
On the defensive end, Liaoning need to stay focused at all times and not let Guangdong score easily. In the last game, Guangdong's outside shooting rate has been around 50%, and Liaoning's defense needs to increase its intensity. The average age of the Liaoning team is the oldest, and the young players in Guangdong will continue to "close wrap around" the marking, which is a great physical drain on the old players.
On the offensive end, once a few key scorers are restricted, other players provide firepower. Liaoning should control the rhythm of the game in their own hands, give full play to their experience advantages, and go all out to impact the victory.
This life-and-death battle between Liaoning and Guangdong is crucial for both sides. Zhou Qi's injury is undoubtedly bad news, but Liaoning will do its best to deal with it, Du Feng will make the best choice, and the whole team will fight against the water, opening up new possibilities for the road to the playoffs.