AMMAN (Jordan) - The last five minutes of the fourth quarter against Japan was not looking too good for China's Ruiqi Duan. He had already missed his last three shots and turned the ball over leading up the China's timeout down by one point with 13 seconds left on the clock.
Everyone knew that the ball was going to go to China's leading scorer, Boyuan Zhang. Japan also knew that, which is why they nearly tripled team him. And that's why Duan was wide open on the perimeter when Zhang kicked the ball out of the swarming defense to him.
"... Great shooting ... Let's pay more attention to No. 1, Ruiqi Duan." - Boyuan Zhang
The pressure piled on at the moment might be tough to imagine. Both teams are legit U18 Asia Cup 2024 title contenders and while this wasn't an elimination game, being able to claim this victory against a longtime rival would mean wonders to the confidence of the victors. That this was against Japan meant that it was a game that China would not want to lose either, as they had yet to lose to Japan in a FIBA youth competition in a little over 20 years.
Duan had 12 points to his name at that point, but the 1.91M (6'3") guard was also 4-18 from the field and had made only one of his four previous three-point attempts.
Moreover, just a few months ago in China's domestic High School basketball league, Duan had faced a similar situation. Playing for the favorites Nanshan High School, Duan missed last minute free-throws in the final moments - resulting in a come-from-behind win for his underdog opponents in the Quarter-Finals.
But in the game of basketball, you are always trained to have a short memory. You have to be able to quickly forget and overcome moments of disappointment. It might not feel like your night, but at some point, you have to take the shots that matter.
So Duan let it fly.
He might have missed 14 of his previous 18 shots leading up to that moment. But with the game on the line in the waning seconds, Ruiqi Duan went 1-1 on the field goal attempt that mattered the most.
While the general basketball fan might not have known going in to expect this from the rising Chinese guard, the fellow teammate who trusted him with the clutch kick-out pass always knew.
Said Boyuan Zhang ahead of the games on content day: "Sharp driving, tough defense, great shooting, a lot of capabilities can be shown. Let's pay more attention to No. 1, Ruiqi Duan."
We all should have listened to Zhang.
From being down by as much as 12 points in this game to being trusted with the ball in his hands in the final seconds for the deciding play, Duan made sure that he would let his friend, team, or country down with everything on the line.
Let's pay more attention to No.1, Ruiqi Duan, indeeed.
FIBA