On the evening of December 11, a high-profile Shandong derby in the CBA league will be staged at the home of Qingdao Guoxin, and they will face Shandong High-speed. Currently, Qingdao Guoxin is ranked 11th in the league with a record of 7 wins and 7 losses, while Shandong High-speed is ranked 12th with a record of 6 wins and 8 losses. However, the performances of the two teams after entering the second stage were very different. Qingdao Guoxin defeated Xinjiang Guanghui in a row, but lost to Tianjin, Fujian and Shenzhen in three away games in succession. After losing to Zhejiang and Liaoning, Shandong High-speed defeated Jiangsu and Fujian in a row, and its state has rebounded significantly. This season, Shandong High-speed ranks 11th in the league in points per game at 1016 points, ranking 11th in points conceded per game at 1023 points, with an away record of 0 wins and 5 losses.
Although it has three foreign players, Shandong High-speed has not performed well, especially with a poor away record. In addition to the three foreign players, only Jia Cheng (14 points per game) can average a double-double per game, while the two highest-paid players, Gao Shiyan and Tao Hanlin, failed to reach the level of last season. The lack of reliable local scoring points makes Shandong High-speed unable to boost the morale of the whole team even if it has three foreign players, and the relatively single style of play also limits the overall strength of the team. Qingdao Guoxin averages 99 points per game6 points, 16th in the league, and 101 points per game2 points, 8th in the league, with a home record of 4 wins and 1 loss. After Yang Hansen joined the team, Qingdao Guoxin's strength has been significantly improved.
NBA scouts have also paid close attention to Young's performance, as he is averaging 17 points per game, 134 rebounds, 42 assists and 28 blocks, including the league's first rebounds and blocks, and the ninth most points per game among local players. However, in addition to Yang Hansen, the performance of other players in Qingdao Guoxin has not been optimistic recently, and the shooting percentage of small foreign aid Powell and Bartley has seriously declined, especially Powell's shooting rate in the last 3 games is only 264%。Thankfully, though, their form seems to be picking up. Although the team's overall form is still not at its best, the return of Dakari Johnson has provided more rest time for Young.
This season, Shandong High-speed's offense has accelerated significantly since Ding Wei's coaching, but the team's main scoring method has shifted to mid-to-long-range shooting, which they are not good at, resulting in a shooting percentage that ranks fourth from the bottom in the league. The team's rebounding game, which used to be good at rebounding, has also slipped to 14th in the league this season, and has been replaced by fast break as the main scoring method for Shandong High-speed, ranking fourth in the league in both fast break points and fast break scoring percentage. Gillenwater's excellent performance is one of the main reasons for Shandong High-speed's recent victories. Although Qingdao Guoxin team has excellent rebounding performance under the leadership of Yang Hansen, ranking third in the league and ranking first in blocks, its shooting ability has not achieved the same achievements, ranking only 14th in the league in shooting percentage, and the three-point shooting percentage is even more dismal, ranking at the bottom of the league.
The similarities between the two teams in terms of shooting ability will make the game even more compelling. After all, the duel between the old and new Shandong center Yang Hansen and Tao Hanlin is enough to attract attention. However, how the game plays out will depend on the performance of key players such as Powell and Gillenwater.