Nanjing vs Shenzhen Preview: Guo Haowen in Hot Form, Can Zhou Peng End the Losing Streak?

On the evening of August 27, the CBA Summer League continues at Yumin Station with Nanjing Tongxi facing off against Shenzhen.

Shenzhen had a good run with five consecutive wins during the summer league but then suffered two consecutive losses to Jiangsu and Xinjiang, showing a decline in form. At the Shenzhen station, Zhou Peng began his coaching career and they clinched the championship with three straight wins, marking a perfect start to Zhou Peng’s coaching career. Arriving at Yumin Station, Shenzhen also defeated Zhejiang and Tianjin consecutively, demonstrating impressive combativeness. However, unfortunately, they lost to Jiangsu by a score of 108-110, suffering their first defeat under Zhou Peng as the head coach of Shenzhen. This game saw a total of 70 fouls and 80 free throws, indicating intense competition. Notably, this was Zhou Peng’s first loss since taking over as head coach of Shenzhen.

In the last match against Xinjiang, Shenzhen was overwhelmed with an 81-103 loss, conceding 20 rebounds, despite He Xining maintaining good form with a team-high 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. However, facing a multi-pronged attack where six players scored double digits for Xinjiang, Shenzhen seemed overwhelmed. Apart from He Xining, Lu Pengyu scored 13 points and 7 rebounds, while Ma Mingkun came off the bench to score 10 points. Although all Shenzhen players who played scored, the disadvantage in rebounds put them on the back foot.

Nanjing Tongxi has played four games at Yumin Station, achieving a record of two wins and two losses. They beat Tianjin 110-99 in their first game, then lost to Xinjiang 88-101 and Zhejiang 78-100. Nanjing Tongxi gave Zhejiang Chouzhou, who were on a losing streak, their first win of the summer league. It should be noted that Zhejiang had performed poorly throughout the summer, but Nanjing Tongxi’s performance in this game was even worse. The highly anticipated new recruit Guo Haowen did not play in this match, and only three players from Nanjing Tongxi scored in double figures, with Zhang Xinyu leading the team with 18 points and 4 rebounds, Abdussalam getting 16 points and 2 rebounds, and Zhao Baiqing scoring 11 points and 3 rebounds. In addition to a low shooting percentage, Nanjing Tongxi also struggled with fouls and turnovers.

In the last game, Nanjing faced Jiangsu, who had won three consecutive games previously, and eventually won 90-79. The team’s overall form was very good. Notably, Guo Haowen came off the bench in this game after sitting out the previous loss to Zhejiang. Guo Haowen played 39 minutes off the bench, making 5 of 17 shots, including 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, and hitting 14 of 15 free throws to lead all scorers with 27 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, and 3 fouls. Although his shooting percentage was not high, his ability to draw fouls was outstanding.

It is worth noting that Guo Haowen averaged 29.3 points, 7 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game in three games, making him one of Nanjing’s most outstanding players in the summer league.

In addition to Guo Haowen, five other Nanjing players scored in double figures in this game. Zhao Baiqing started and played 34 minutes, shooting 7 of 14, including 1 of 3 from three-point range, to score the second-highest 15 points and 13 rebounds for the team. Tian Yuheng shot 3 of 10, scoring 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Wu Tingjia shot 4 of 10 to score 13 points and 4 rebounds, while Liu Dong came off the bench, shooting 4 of 9 to score 11 points and 8 rebounds, with 2 steals and 5 blocks.

Nanjing is currently riding high in morale. This will be the first meeting between the two teams in this year’s summer league. Shenzhen needs a victory to stop the slide, while how well Nanjing performs hinges on whether Guo Haowen plays and his condition. It remains to be seen if Zhou Peng can end the losing streak.

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