ALL PAINT, NO GAINS

In the wake of arguably its biggest loss in history, the Chinese men's national basketball team has instead won something ironically — the tag of the "most reviled" collective big-ball sports team in the country, relieving its struggling soccer counterparts of the burdensome moniker.

Once the only pride among all of the country's male ball-sports teams, the basketball squad has fallen into disgrace among its fans after opening its 2027 World Cup qualifying campaign with an unexpected double blow — losing to South Korea at home on Friday and away on Monday, conceding consecutive defeats to its East Asian neighbor for the first time in history.

The brace of disappointments, both in humiliating blowout fashion, has severely jeopardized Team China's chances of making it to the 2027 FIBA showpiece, while loudly ringing alarm bells about its future, built upon an out-dated game plan that seems to rely solely on size in the paint.

If fatigue could be made as an excuse for Team China's 76-80 home defeat in Beijing on Friday, right after its players' National Games duties, the 90-76 follow-up rout by the sharp-shooting, fast-paced host in Wonju, South Korea, three days later has provided the harsh wake-up call that the Chinese program, perhaps, needs to reassess its current rebuild strategy and deliver an international turnaround.

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.

"The fundamental training in shooting, passing and dribbling needs to be strengthened with the current generation," said Liu, a formidable member of China's quarterfinal team at the 1994 world championships and 1996 Olympics.

Perhaps China's head coach Guo Shiqiang should look back to his half-complete roster, which finished runner-up at the men's Asia Cup in August behind Australia, relying on a smaller, yet sharper lineup.

China's 7-foot-1 (2.16-meter) former NBA center Zhou Qi and big forward combo of Zhang Zhenlin and Zeng Fanbo, both 6-foot-10, had missed the Asia Cup due to injuries.

"Having lost two games in a row in the Asian qualifiers has indeed made the situation much tougher for us to try to qualify for the World Cup," Guo said at the news conference following the second loss on Monday.

"Our execution, offensively and defensively, was bad compared to the Korean team ... They played better, more cohesively with greater agility and better shooting, than us.

"We didn't execute the game plan well, we played with no focus. That's why we lost the game ... We need to play better."

Sixteen teams, including Australia and New Zealand, have been vying for the continent's seven qualification spots for the 2027 World Cup.

Drawn with South Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei in Group B, Team China will next face Japan on the road on Feb 26, and then take on Chinese Taipei in another away game three days later, followed by two home fixtures against them both in July to try to clinch a top-three spot and advance into the second qualifying phase.

From there, three teams from Group D — potentially Asian power Lebanon, the Cup host Qatar and Saudi Arabia — will join them, creating a six-team round-robin, where each team will carry over its first-phase win-loss record as they compete for the top three qualification berths for the FIBA showpiece. The combined win-loss record after the second phase will determine final team standings.

At the World Cup finals, only the highest-ranked Asian team, barring the Boomers and Tall Blacks, earns a sole direct Olympic ticket for the LA28 Games.

Having missed out on the Olympics twice (Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024), Team China cannot afford a third strikeout in a row, yet trying to make it to the Cup finals — essentially the Olympic qualifiers — now seems a tall task in itself.

"Obviously, we have a lot of catching-up to do, but I really believe that these two losses did not reflect our real level," Team China forward Hu Jinqiu, a key contributor to China's Asia Cup podium finish, said on Monday.

"I believe we are better than this. I think we need to find our fighting spirit, like we had in the summer."