Is the CBA champion playing in the AFC Champions League to embarrass people? Not to mention the three consecutive losses, it is still a disastrous defeat

In the early morning of June 12, in a quarter-final match of the Asian Basketball Champions League, Zhejiang Guangsha, which represented the CBA champion, lost to Alriyadh with a huge gap of 66-102. At this point, Guangsha's journey in this AFC Champions League ended and missed the semi-finals with a poor record of all three games. This result undoubtedly disappointed domestic fans and once again triggered people's deep thoughts on the competitiveness of CBA teams in the Asian arena.

Looking back on this AFC Champions League journey, Guangsha's performance is unsatisfactory. During the group stage, due to the conflict between the game time and the National Games qualifying match, the team had to split into two groups. Main players such as Hu Jinqiu, Sun Minghui, Zhu Junlong, and Zhao Yanhao stayed at home to compete in the National Games. The lineup for the AFC Champions League was led by three foreign players, Brown, Knight and Nonali, supplemented by domestic second-tier players such as Xu Zhonghao. The lineup configuration such as

was destined to face huge challenges in the AFC Champions League from the very beginning. In the group stage, Guangsha suffered two consecutive losses, losing to the Mongolian champion Broncos and Iranian champion Tabiat. Although the gap between the two losses was within 20 points, the team's overall lack of competitiveness has been exposed. The foreign players did not seem to have shown their due strength and fighting spirit. As the team's core foreign players, Brown's performance in the game was fluctuating. He missed 9 shots in the first game and scored only 4 points. Although he scored 28 points in the second game, his overall efficiency was still not high. Other foreign players are also in poor condition and have failed to bear the banner of team's offense. Due to lack of experience in major competitions, domestic local players seem to be unable to meet Asian powerhouses. Whether it is offense or defense, it is difficult to provide enough support to the team.

Surprisingly, although Guangsha did not win a single game in the group stage, due to the particularity of the competition system and the rival Korean League champion team LG Falcons, the LG Falcons, performed poorly, and in comparison with net wins, Guangsha had a slight advantage and was lucky enough to catch the last train of the quarterfinals. However, this "lucky" promotion did not bring good luck to Guangsha, but instead allowed them to encounter the AFC overlord Alriyadh in the quarter-finals.

Alriyadh team is a strong team in the Asian basketball world. The team is strong and has many outstanding players. In the AFC Group Stage last year, the Alriyadh team defeated the Liaoning team with a huge advantage of 43 points, which shows its strength. This time, facing the Guangsha team with a disorganized lineup, Alriyadh firmly controlled the initiative on the field from the beginning of the game. In the first quarter, Alriyadh team opened fire and scored 32 points in a single quarter, while Guangsha team scored only 15 points, and the gap instantly widened to 17 points. In the subsequent games, although Guangsha struggled to catch up, the gap in strength between the two sides was too large. Alriyadh always maintained a large lead and finally won easily with a huge advantage of 36 points.

Looking at Guangsha's AFC Champions League trip, the reason for the loss is obvious. On the one hand, the absence of the main players greatly reduces the team's strength. Domestic local players are not in the face of being young and bad. In the absence of big-name stars, it is difficult to compete with the strong Asian team. On the other hand, the lack of efforts in foreign players is also an important factor in the team's failure. During the game, foreign players failed to show their due professional attitude and competitive level, had low offensive efficiency, were not active enough in defense, and did not really assume the responsibility of the team's core.

Such a result is undoubtedly a shame for the CBA. As one of the top basketball leagues in Asia, the CBA's champion team performed so vulnerable in the AFC Champions League, not only losing the team's face, but also losing the CBA's face. If you send such a team that lacks competitiveness to participate just to cope with your errands and earn a little appearance fee, it would be better to give up your qualification for the AFC Champions League and leave the opportunity to other teams that are more prepared and motivated. Otherwise, over time, the CBA's status and influence in Asian basketball will gradually decline, and the development of Chinese basketball will be seriously hindered.