On March 20, Beijing time, the CBA regular season continued, with Tongxi hosting Guangzhou, which suppressed Tongxi in the first half and took an 11-point lead. Tongxi was only one point away from the final quarter, but it still fell short, and Guangzhou defeated Tongxi 101-95 to win his 18th game of the season, taking a crucial step towards a playoff spot. Tongxi suffered four consecutive defeats, fell out of the top 12, and the playoff situation was precarious, and Xi Relijiang seemed to have lost the magic of the beginning of the season, and the magic was no more.
It was a playoff ranking battle, with both teams having identical records of 17-19 and being on the brink of the playoffs, and the outcome of this game was crucial. Tongxi had suffered three consecutive defeats and desperately needed a victory. In the first meeting of the season, Guangzhou defeated Tongxi.
Both teams have a relatively neat lineup, Tongxi did not use double foreign aid starters, after the opening, both teams entered the state quickly, and the score rose quickly, Guangzhou's young center Li Yanzhe opened the game as the main attack point to score continuously, Guangzhou also took the lead in the middle of the first quarter, Cui Yongxi hit a three-pointer, Guangzhou led by 10 points to stop Tongxi. Tongxi picked up after a timeout, Guangzhou did not score in the last three minutes, and Tongxi played a wave of 6-0, and the first quarter was only 4 points behind.
Guangzhou took the lead in the second quarter, Li Yanzhe was very efficient today, Zhu Mingzhen, Cui Yongxi, Bell, etc. also felt good, Tongxi's offense was still not good, Jiao Boqiao scored a layup, Guangzhou led by 11 points to stop Tongxi. Tongxi's offense was still chaotic, Wang Lanran and Lin Wei were not feeling good, and in the last 2 minutes of the quarter, Tongxi took advantage of Guangzhou's consecutive mistakes to narrow the point gap for a while, but still trailed by 11 points at halftime.
Tongxi made a double foreign support lineup in the third quarter, but Tongxi's offense still did not improve, Wang Lanzheng just played one minute in the third quarter and suffered a foul, Guangzhou quickly widened the point gap, once leading 71-50 by 21 points. Achul was very lethal on the inside, scoring 10 points in the quarter, Tongxi played an 11-0 to narrow the point gap, Tongxi continued to chase points, chasing only 8 points at the end of the third quarter, retaining the suspense of the game.
Tongxi continued to chase points in the final quarter, Wang Lanrong scored on a basket, and Tongxi chased only 1 point. Guangzhou quickly adjusted to stabilize the situation, and the two teams alternately rose in points, and Guangzhou maintained a lead of about 5 points. In the decisive moment, the Guangzhou team seized the opportunity and finally defeated Tongxi to win this crucial victory. Tongxi suffered four consecutive defeats, continued to decline in the rankings, the playoff situation was not optimistic, Xi Relijiang seemed to have lost the magic of the beginning of the season, and Tongxi's dark horse color began to fade.
Guangzhou rising star Cui Yongxi performed well, with a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds, Chen Yingjun also had 22 points, 8 assists and 5 steals, and Li Yanzhe scored 15 points to become a surprise soldier. Several key players of Tongxi performed averagely, Peterson scored 19 points and 5 assists on 7-of-21 shooting, below the season average, and the twins also felt cold, Wang Lanran scored 12 points and 6 assists on 4-of-11 shooting, Lin Wei only scored 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists on 5-of-16 shooting, Tongxi swallowed a key game loss, and they can't afford to make the playoffs.