The Xinjiang Flying Tigers missed the playoffs in the 2021-22 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) season. Team captain Abdusalam Abdurishit said it's a pity but not a total loss.

It's one of the best-performing seasons for Abdusalam, who has averaged 23 points to become the domestic scoring champion. 

He dropped a career-high 43 points in the game against the Liaoning Flying Tigers on October 25, 2021. "It has been a while," he posted on Sina Weibo that night.

"I felt like I had been holding myself all the time without releasing the emotions," Abdusalam said in an interview with East Asia Super League. "After one year and a half, I finally had a game like that, and I was really happy."

The Flying Tigers finished the regular season with an 18-20 record. The team saw their starting center Zhou Qi depart for the National Basketball League in Australia and had no foreign players during the first stage and struggled with their offense.

"As the team's captain, I want to do my job and shoulder more responsibilities on both offense and defense for the team," Abdusalam said.

Though he had to do more on the court, Abdusalam doesn't think he played like a lonely hero. The rookies stepped up and showed significant progress. The growth of Yilifulati Motaner and Aizimaiti Tuxun was great news for the Flying Tigers.

"We didn't achieve the most satisfying record, but it's a happy process for me," Abdusalam said.

As the captain, Abdusalam had to play bad cop sometimes. At a post-game press conference during the first stage of the 2021-22 season, he said young players should not pretend to work hard because results don't lie. 

"I wasn't criticizing them or telling them what to do," Abdusalam said. "I just wanted to stimulate them with my own performance and words like this. As you could see, our young players were doing better and better in the following games of the second and third stages."

A regular member of the Chinese national team, Abdusalam may appear on the national squad for the 2022 Asian Games. According to him, the difference between wearing the jersey of the Flying Tigers and the national team is that he feels a greater sense of responsibility as a national team player.