Liaoning Flying Leopards, candidates for the 2019/20 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) championship title, have been forced to reflect on themselves after three tough losses out of the four games they have played since the CBA resumed on June 20 after a 151-day wait due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is almost cruel that when you finally take a serious look at your future and realize it's a blur. It's even worse that all you can see is yourself standing there with failure. The coach, though always tough on you, is not there to filter out your self-doubt anymore.

Late on June 27, the team announced that veteran head coach Guo Shiqiang would no longer be in charge. His assistant will be filling in temporarily before Yang Ming, Liaoning's former captain, officially takes over for the rest of the season.

Guo had built the team into an empire step by step since 2006. His team broke into the finals three times, and won the first championship title in team history in the 2017/18 season.

Within the past week, however, Liaoning lost 91-82, 106-102, and 101-90.

Former NBA player O.J. Mayo was immediately added to the squad after the first loss. Mayo, as well as franchise players such as Guo Ailun, Han Dejun, and Zhao Jiwei, had good numbers in the second game, Mayo with 28, Guo with 32, and Han, 24. After all, champions are champions. But that's the problem. They are all they have.

Their bench players had a total of 2 points in that game.

Lack of new talent has been a problem for Liaoning ever since their league triumph two years ago. Now the elephant sits there on the floor.

A different format

With the game schedule arranged in tournament style post-pandemic, teams are presented with challenges in terms of physicality and teamwork. They constantly need to play every other day and sometimes even back-to-back.

You can use a fixed group of people when intervals are long enough for them to recover. But the intensity is wearing players out. 

And when it comes to team chemistry, you simply cannot expect things to work out effortlessly. 

Mayo was introduced to Liaoning on March 29, when other teams such as the Beijing Ducks have long worked well with Jeremy Lin and Ekpe Udoh since the start of the season. 

Young leadership

The maturity of CBA players seems to exceed average Chinese athletes, for they are given the unique opportunity to play professionally with basketball having successfully developed as a business, compared to most other sports.

They don't seem to need a parent figure like Guo. Yang, on the other hand, is like their older brother. Leading the team to the top of the podium in 2018, Yang retired as Liaoning's captain in 2019.

His isn't the only young coaching setup currently in the CBA. The Beijing Ducks right now are guided by 35-year-old Xie Libing and his rather young staff members after head coach Yannis Christopoulos was unable to make it back to China because of travel restrictions during the pandemic.  

Yang has not worked as an assistant coach up until now, though.

Whether a "big bro" helps the team regain glory or they go down a slippery slope together is yet to be seen. 

Blue is sadness. Blue can be warm. Blue is what Liaoning is going through at the moment. Yet on the basketball court, a "blue player" is the cool-headed playmaker.

Liaoning players are golden, which is why their recent fall has shocked fans across the nation.

Now that the coach has left, the color blue is needed in their platter, so is a spirit of togetherness among the players.

The question is: Can they once again find that gold in themselves?