The Guangdong Southern Tigers and the Shandong Gold Lions met in Game 1 of the Chinese Basketball Association Finals last night, with the Southern Tigers taking an 88-81 win to go up 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.
Despite it only being the first game, the result was crucial: In the CBA’s 1-2-2-2 setup where the lower-seeded team hosts the first game, the Tigers now head back home with a chance to take a commanding 3-0 lead if they can hold serve.
While that is good news for the eight-time champs, it’s less so for fans who have been treated with an disappointingly boring and predictable postseason that has featured sweeps in five of the six series thus far.
But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been storylines. And with that, enjoy these bullet points.
In China, you just gotta’ roll with it sometimes. But even that tried-and-tested creed has been pushed to the max this post-season after CCTV-5, China’s national sports television network, decided first to air the opening round of China’s domestic soccer league, the Chinese Super League, over Liaoning and Xinjiang’s do-or-die Game 5 in the quarter-finals, then by opting to show the Chinese national soccer team’s Asia Cup qualifying match against Iran over Game 1 of the CBA Finals last night. Nothing against the sport of soccer, but come on – broadcasting a league and a national team that are at the butt of every single sports-related joke while also acting as national disgrace over the CBA, which enjoyed record-breaking attendance and television ratings last year, is not something we can roll with.
As we saw last year during the NBA lockout, China is capable of attracting some high-level American talent. But beyond the big names like J.R. Smith, Wilson Chandler, Patty Mills and Kenyon Martin, the CBA has also been called home for several other NBA-caliber players. John Lucas III and Garret Siler both signed in the NBA in 2010 after spending a season with the Shanghai Sharks, eventually playing for multiple seasons for the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns (Lucas now plays for the Toronto Raptors while Siler played back in China this season with the Jiangsu Dragons). The trend has continued this season: Shavlik Randolph, D.J. White and Terrence Williams all secured deals for the rest of the season with the Boston Celtics after they were done in China and there are now rumors surrounding a potential return to the NBA for Von Wafer as well. For teams needing late-season help, China continues to be a league worth monitoring. Not sure if anyone will ever give Yi Jianlian another chances in the States, but they guy has been dominant this season after a strong Olympics..
Stephon Marbury and the Beijing Ducks failed to defend their magical championship run from last season, but the 36 year-old isn’t stressing too much. Marbury, who has become a local icon in Beijing, will work as an assistant coach during the China National Games this off-season for Beijing. The Games, which occur once every four years, serve as an intra-China Olympics that pit each province against each other in various sports, including basketball. While Beijing isn’t favored to win, they should pose a decent chance towards getting into the top eight as it was recently announced that former Los Angeles Laker draft pick, Sun Yue, will be playing for the capital city. Marbury, who is by all accounts completely committed to China in the long-term, says he wants to become head coach of the Chinese National Team one day.
- Speculation over serious changes within the league has been plentiful over the last few years, but thus far nothing has actually come about. That may be changing this summer as the league announced they’ll be adding an 18th team for next season. The team is likely to come from China’s second tier professional league, the National Basketball League, but how exactly that team will be selected is unknown. A team from Sichuan province looks to be in the lead, but that isn’t deterring other teams from investing heavily in their roster with the hope that a league title will give them automatic promotion. Whatever the case, adding a team promises to bring other potential reforms, such as new scheduling formats, league re-alignment and possibly a salary cap aimed at curbing increasingly expensive price tags for both foreigners and Chinese players.
- And finally, some random stuff: Tracy McGrady is apparently mulling a return to China next season with the last-place Qingdao Eagles. Hey, season two couldn’t be any worse than season one, right?… Because it’s necessary to separate foreigner from Chinese, Marbury won the regular season foreign MVP while Yi Jianlian won Chinese… Gold Lions import, Jackson Vroman, who has been a key force behind their run to a title berth, has been shooting a percentage from the free-throw line this season that would make even Dwight Howard cringe: 25%. Somehow, only his finals opponent realize this and sent him to the line 10 times last night, where he hit only one shot. That could be an issue going forward this series… In Game 2 the semi-finals against Xinjiang, Yi received a gash in the webbing between his index and middle finger on his shooting hand that despite sideline treatment, refused to stop gushing blood. After running – yes, running – to a nearby hospital outside the stadium, doctors recommended getting stiches on the spot. Knowing that would keep him out for the second half, Yi refused and wore a bulky bandage the rest of the game and came through with a key tip-in in the final minute to lead his team to a key victory. It’s not exactly Willis Reed-esque, but in this blogger’s opinion, it’s worth noting in lieu of the soft label he’s been branded by everybody in the States, and even in China for that matter.