lost to the Guangdong team in an away game, and Guangsha team shooting guard Zhao Yanhao performed poorly. He played 30 minutes and scored 12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks on 4 of 14 shots. After the team replaced the main players and substituted substitutes early, Zhao Yanhao did not seize the opportunity.
In this game, the Guangsha team was dissatisfied with the referee's penalty and replaced the main team in the last four minutes of the third quarter. Zhao Yanhao also came on as a substitute at this time. Among all the substitute players in the Guangsha team at that time, Zhao Yanhao was the most famous and capable one. Logically speaking, with such a lineup, Zhao Yanhao should obviously be the offensive arrow, but his performance was unsatisfactory. After
came on the scene, Zhao Yanhao had some performances in the third quarter, such as making his opponent foul and making two free throws, blocking Xu Jie and assisting his teammates, but that was all. In the fourth quarter, when the Guangsha team needed to score, Zhao Yanhao missed three consecutive points and made a mistake. After finally completing 2+1 and causing consecutive fouls, Zhao Yanhao missed consecutive shots again.
As the "big brother" who used the lineup most in the last quarter of the Guangsha team, Zhao Yanhao did not play a core role in the offensive end, and even many strong attacks ended in blackouts. The Guangdong team's defense was not that suffocating, but Zhao Yanhao failed to stand up and perform well. When Hu Jinqiu missed the game due to illness, and Sun Minghui, foreign players and other main players were watching the game off the court early, Zhao Yanhao lost his best chance to prove himself.
Two or three years ago, Zhao Yanhao was still capable of performing well. In the 2020-21 season, he averaged a career-high 17.7 points per game. In the 2021-22 season, he averaged 16.9 points per game. His shooting percentage exceeded 45% for two consecutive seasons, and his three-point shooting percentage was around 40%. He averaged at least 2 three-pointers per game. He is still very good for the Guangsha team. The important firepower also once again showed the status of the "domestic Curry" in the past.
But in the 2021-22 season playoffs, Zhao Yanhao was seriously injured and withdrew from the game in the semifinals. He was eventually diagnosed with focal brain contusion with intracranial hemorrhage and traumatic brain injury syndrome. The left carotid artery was also damaged and the blood vessels ruptured. A dissection occurred and surgery was necessary. Even after passing the critical period, he was transferred to Beijing and underwent minimally invasive interventional carotid artery occlusion surgery (directly removing the thrombus and repairing the damaged blood vessel without placing a stent).
After this serious injury, Zhao Yanhao has never returned to his past state in the 2022-23 season and this season. Part of it is due to changes in the system and roles, and part of it is also due to Zhao Yanhao's state, or even his lower confidence than in the past. Zhao Yanhao said, "I was not knocked down." However, it is easy to lament when such a great opportunity was wasted in the game against the Guangdong team. After all, Zhao Yanhao was not in this state before he was seriously injured.
