The 88-year winning streak came to an end, and the Chinese men's basketball team lost to Japan for the first time since 1936 in the Asian Cup and above organized by FIBA.
In the Asian Cup qualifiers on February 25, the Chinese team led by Djordjevic lost 73-76 to the Japanese team away, once again becoming the protagonist of embarrassing history.
The Japanese men's basketball team, ranked 26th in the world, became the best Asian team in last year's World Cup, grabbing a ticket to the Paris Olympics. However, judging from the past mutual records, the Chinese team has always had an absolute advantage. In the World Preliminary Tournament at the end of 2021, the two sides also met twice, and the Chinese team won by more than 15 points.
At the beginning of the game, the Chinese men's basketball team entered the state earlier and took a 14-3 lead under the leadership of Hu Jinqiu. The Japanese team then launched ** with a hot outside touch, while the Chinese team fell into the predicament of fouls and mistakes. At half-time, the two sides were tied at 38.
In the second half, the Chinese team still failed to find a way to suppress the opponent at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and the problem of too many mistakes and fouls was never solved. The Japanese team, which is fighting at home, has a "revenge" mentality, constantly launching a strong impact on the offensive end, and gradually establishing an advantage on the field.
Although Cheng Shuai Peng hit a surprise three points in the last minute to win a glimmer of life for the team, the last 6In 6 seconds, the Chinese team failed to reverse the defeat after all, Zhu Junlong made a hasty shot outside the three-point line, and the score was fixed at 73-76.
In the whole game, only two Chinese team scored double-doubles, and Hu Jinqiu continued to play steadily, contributing 23 points and 12 rebounds; Hu Mingxuan scored 20 points, but hit only 1 of 7 three-point shots.
Yang Hansen, a rising star with high hopes, lost his way in the face of the Japanese team's tough defense, missed all 4 shots, scored 2 points with only free throws, and made several mistakes in passing and defense.
Coach Djordjevic gave his own explanation of the tactical arrangement of the final attack in the post-game press conference: "We wanted to pass the ball quickly to find a three-point opportunity, but the players did not understand and execute the tactics well. ”
As for whether this loss will be the last game for the Serbs to coach the Chinese men's basketball team, Qiao Shuai responded after the game: "I don't answer this question, it's a great disrespect to me." ”
Text丨Gu Miao. **Wen Wei Po.