Down by 3 points, yet choosing to go for 2! What’s going on with the national team’s starting guard?

This post is about venting.

After a night’s sleep, I still can’t figure it out.

Last night, I watched some CBA and happened to catch an intense game between Shenzhen and Shandong, so I decisively entered a live stream selling goods (a feature of this season)...

And then, the final moments stunned me.

Of course, if you’re from Shandong, you might feel like your head is about to burst.

In the last 30 seconds of the game, the two teams were tied, and the scene unfolded like this:

Chris committed a goaltending, Shandong fell behind by two points;

After the timeout, Gao Siyuan chose to shoot from outside but missed;

However, the referee called a foul on Wang Haoran for rebounding, and Chris made free throws to tie the game;

On Shenzhen’s next possession, Wang Haoran redeemed himself by hitting a clutch three-pointer.

Shenzhen led by 3 points with 1 second left.

...

Then, the picture above!

The most surreal moment:

First, as the receiver, Zhang Xu must have been confused, otherwise he wouldn’t have run toward the basket.

I wonder what he was thinking at that moment...

Actually, he had a great chance to shoot from the outside. This tactic is quite common in the NBA, inbounding the ball to the far corner.

Of course, the unbelievable part was that Zhang’s tough two-point attempt didn’t go in...

Even more amazing things followed:

After “losing” that assist, Gao Siyuan, who inbounded the ball, was holding his head in frustration.

No, man, what’s the point even if it went in?

The team was down by 3 points...

After the game, many fans criticized Gao Siyuan online.

He appeared in the comment section and said:“Not passing within five seconds? There were several defenders above? I’m speechless to you guys, what else do you want???”

As the national team’s starting guard, I personally can’t understand this kind of comment. (Of course, whether I understand or not doesn’t matter)

But if any of my teammates made such a choice, I would call him clueless about the game.

Because the basic logic is: we are down by three points.

Even if there are five defenders above, you shouldn’t pass the ball inside the paint.

Passing like that guarantees a 100% loss; even if I stupidly passed it to the three-point line with only a 1% chance, there would still be hope.

Even if it ended in a turnover, that would be normal—last-second mistakes happen often in the NBA too.

But passing to a teammate for a contested two-pointer and still being stubborn about it...

His “performance” continued.

At the postgame press conference, he directly criticized his teammates.

The gist was that all domestic players should seriously reflect on their condition; none of them have the right to say they’re tired—no one on the whole team is more exhausted than me (I’m on the national team).

“Get that fighting spirit back on the court first, then talk about tactics.”

As someone who doesn’t follow basketball closely, I’m puzzled.

On one hand, I wonder how other Shandong players felt hearing that.

Especially Chen Linjian, who only took two shots all game, and the hardworking Tao Hanlin...

If you played really well, then fine.

Besides, Shandong’s loss really was a tactical issue... down by two points, who took the risky three-pointer? Wasn’t it you?

And who made that incredible inbound pass? Wasn’t it you...

But well, I’m used to it.

Here, the usual summary for a loss is always about effort.

Today’s rant—I just didn’t expect the national team’s starting guard to behave like this.

Our hope is still to qualify for the Olympics... I can only hold my head in disbelief.

Alright, that’s all.