In the U18 Asian Cup final that ended earlier, the Chinese national youth women's basketball team lost to Australia 79:96 and was the runner-up.
First, when Zhang Ziyu became a phenomenal topic, Chinese basketball had actually won.
In the group stage against Japan, Zhang Ziyu scored 44 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists.
In the semifinals against South Korea, Zhang Ziyu scored 34 points, 16 rebounds and 5 assists.
In the face of Zhang Ziyu's aerial work, the helplessness in the eyes of the Japanese and South Korean players made Chinese fans think of Mu Tiezhu, Zheng Haixia and Yao Ming.
In fact, because of the difference between men and women, Zhang Ziyu's height of 2.24 meters is basically 2.5 meters in men's basketball, we can imagine how terrifying a center who is a head taller than Yao Ming will be.
In the past year, from the World Cup group out, to the Asian Games humiliating loss of gold, to the defeat of Japan in the Asian preliminaries, Djordjevic's strikeout of the Chinese men's basketball team made Yao Ming and the reputation of Chinese basketball fall to the bottom.
The series of defeats of the Chinese women's basketball team in the Olympic warm-up match has actually clearly pointed to the final tragic ending of the women's basketball girls who have nothing to do with the Olympic medals.
Zhang Ziyu's birth and the discussion it sparked are indeed a real long-term drought for Chinese basketball.
When Zheng Wei instructed whether to take Zhang Ziyu to Paris became a topic, it has already shown that Chinese basketball has not lost the hearts of the people and has a cure for it.
Second, the more invincible Zhang Ziyu is, the more he needs to think about how to properly cultivate Zhang Ziyu and avoid Yao Ming's tragedy.
There is no doubt that Zhang Ziyu's advantage in the face of Japan and South Korea has surpassed Yao Ming's dominance in his last CBA season.
With Zhang Ziyu, the Chinese women's basketball team will have at least 15 years of competitiveness in the future, because Zhang Ziyu, who was born for basketball, will at least improve the strength of the Chinese women's basketball team by two levels.
The tiny sample of the Japanese and Korean youth allows us to get a glimpse of the future of Chinese basketball in Zhang Ziyu.
First, Zhang Ziyu is indeed tall but not stupid, she has basically reached the flexibility of her predecessor Zheng Haixia, who is 20 cm shorter than her.
Second, from the hand-shaped feel of shooting, to the holding of both hands high when facing off the basket, and the few unnecessary fouls, it shows that Zhang Ziyu's basic skills are quite solid.
Third, from the three-point line to the long pass assist of getting the backcourt rebound, Zhang Ziyu has indeed become the team's tactical initiation point.
However, the premise of everything is Zhang Ziyu's health.
Sancong ruined Lang Ping, and the frequent recruitment of the national team and the strong confrontation in the NBA made Yao Ming's career end early.
Now the ban on Zhang Ziyu from jumping in the national youth women's basketball team is just a correct start.
At the very least, we don't want the tragedy of Xu Yong and Ding Yanyuhang to happen again in Zhang Ziyu.
Third, Zhang Ziyu's restriction in the first quarter shows her lack of strength and physical fitness.
Today's fans are all here to see Zhang Ziyu.
Looking at the kangaroo center who is two heads shorter than Zhang Ziyu, the first feeling is that Australia is as useless as Japan and South Korea, and if Cambage comes, Zhang Ziyu will definitely be limited, because the little girl's strength is really insufficient now.
In the first minute of the game, the Chinese team called a stoppage, and it is clear that compared to New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, the Australian players have better weight and strength, and they add up to Cambage.
There are three basic strategies for the Australian team.
First, speed up on the offensive end.
Second, push Zhang Ziyu out when defending.
Third, cut off Zhang Ziyu's connection with the outside line.
Australia's strategy of defending Zhang Ziyu is actually a test of the passing, running and finishing level of other players in the Chinese team.
In the first quarter of the game, Zhang Ziyu was 0 of 3 and 2 of 4 free throws, just from the bumps and bumps of the free throws, I knew that she did not come out of the fatigue of yesterday's game against Japan.
The Chinese team missed a large number of empty baskets, which shows that the strength is insufficient.
Fourth, we should thank Australia for bringing calm back to Chinese fans and Chinese basketball.
In the second quarter of the game, the situation still did not change, Zhang Ziyu's footsteps became heavier and heavier, and even reached the point of staggering.
With Australia's three-point shoot, the gap between the two teams widened to double digits.
In the third quarter of the game, the Chinese team finally played the expected combination of inside and outside, Zhang Ziyu's pressure dropped, and the Chinese team once completed the overtake.
The price paid by the Chinese team was that Zhang Ziyu's physical fitness was overdrawn in advance after almost playing the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter of the game, Zhang Ziyu's lack of physical strength and the ensuing deformation of offensive and defensive actions made the Chinese team reluctant to lose.
Zhang Ziyu had 40 points and 14 rebounds, and an ultra-low shooting rate of 18 of 36, indicating that she was indeed targeted today.
The lack of crosshairs for role players after Zhang Ziyu was targeted today shows that without Zhang Ziyu, the Chinese youth women's basketball team is actually a second-rate team in Asia, and it is completely meaningless to criticize the coach.
From this point of view, the loss of the national youth women's basketball team is an absolutely good thing to uncover the scars.
The biggest shortcoming of Chinese basketball is that because of all kinds of quick success and corner overtaking, the training intensity and level of guards are far lower than those of the inside, and the consequence is that the effectiveness of the inside players is far from the original intention.
For the current Chinese basketball, Zhang Ziyu's appearance is actually the same as Yao Ming, both point guards and pitchers are seriously missing the fig leaf in front.
When there will be a group of point guards in Chinese basketball who are not inferior to Japan and South Korea, Chinese basketball will have the real possibility of getting out of the trough.