All paint, no gains

The 14-point winning margin tied the Koreans' 86-72 win at the 1997 Asia Cup as their largest victory over Team China, while helping them clinch a fourth win from the past six games against the ailing national side. The fact that Team China's adjustment, following its home loss that saw Korean forward Lee Hyun-jung hit nine 3-pointers to score 33 points alone, seemed to make its defense even worse on the road, where the host led by as many as 32 points late in the third quarter, left fans at home raging at the players' lack of fight and the coaching crew's tactical belligerence.

"The Chinese men's basketball team now has the same 'Koreaphobia' as its soccer counterpart," read a post by one angry fan, referring to the Chinese men's soccer team's unflatteringly lopsided record against the Koreans, which went viral on social media on Monday night.

Braced for its opponent's strength on the perimeter, Team China still allowed the Koreans, led by the prolific Lee, to nail 25 triples out of total 54 attempts across the two games, shooting 46.3 percent beyond the arc, falling victim to a rapid-fire Asian opponent again.

Getting beaten up in such a fashion brought back bitter memories of the summer of 2023, when the team suffered a similar double-whammy hammering at the hands of the Philippines at the last World Cup in Manila, and then again losing on home court to its archipelagic rival by a point in the semifinal of the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

A perennial continental power, proud of its talented supply of towering post players, the Chinese program has learned the hard way, on multiple occasions, how the modern game has evolved into a hustle of sheer speed, sharpness and intensity, delivered at a much faster pace.

The Chinese women's squad's disappointing Asia Cup campaign in July, outgunned by an aggressive Japanese team in the semifinals on home court in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, had proved that size, without agility and versatility, wouldn't dominate in the fast-transitioning modern game as much as it once did.

"I am afraid it's time for us to re-evaluate our plans for player development from bottom up, and (limit) the over-reliance on foreign players in league games," said Liu Yudong, a Chinese Basketball Hall of Famer.