Stephon Marbury, the lost son of the New York Knicks, continues to live the good life in the Chinese Basketball Association. On Sunday night, the point guard scored an efficient 25 points in Game 6 to lead the Beijing Ducks past the Liaoning Leopards 106-98 for the Ducks’ third title in four years. A few seconds after the final buzzer sounded, the American was wildly embraced by his Chinese teammates while cameramen fought to capture the moment. Marbury won Finals MVP after
For the first time in years, the hyperbole generated in the build-up to a CBA Finals is actually living up to the hype. Three games into the championship series, the Liaoning Leopards have a 2-1 lead over the defending champion Beijing Ducks. All three of the encounters have been compelling, but what has helped the CBA is that no one can confidently say what is going to happen next. Certain assumptions have turned out to be true. For example, Beijing’s Stephon
With the CBA Finals about to begin on Wednesday, the championship series between the Beijing Ducks and the Liaoning Leopards has already attracted massive amounts of media attention and hyperbole. ‘War is imminent’ wrote one major Chinese website. [Read more…]
The CBA semifinals are in the books once again. One series was a rout while the other produced a number of shocks that fascinated audiences across China — and even in America. Hey, any news on Emmanuel Mudiay qualifies as big news. With that in mind, its time to break down the last week in the CBA. Beijing Ducks defeated Guangdong Tigers 3-1 It took one of the most pulsating games in the history of the Chinese postseason, but the Beijing Ducks are
For the four remaining teams left in the CBA playoffs, the stakes simply could not be higher. After one of the tightest regular seasons in the history of Chinese basketball followed by a grueling quarterfinal round, the semifinals get underway on Wednesday. On one side of the bracket is a dream matchup between two historic foes while on the other, one heavily favored team will be challenged by an underdog with no prior history in the postseason. Some compelling basketball is
Two weeks ago, Von Wafer was riding pretty high. His Shanxi Dragons team had just made it into their first postseason for three years and his name was about to be included in the shortlist for the CBA’s foreign player MVP. Now however, things are very different. On Saturday when America was tuning into the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest, Wafer was releasing a public apology in China following his behavior in the final minutes of a playoff game. Writing that he was
The CBA playoffs are now in full swing and everyone in China is glued to their TVs watching everything play out. A couple of teams are already going home, while others are hanging on to the postseason dreams by their fingertips. With that in mind, let’s check in on the best-of-five quarterfinals to see who is doing what and which notable American free agents are coming home. [Read more…]
The traditional ‘quiet week’ in Chinese basketball is rarely what it’s designed to be. Instead, the brief break that splits the regular season and the playoffs are often the most frantic few days in the CBA schedule as teams race to get ready for the postseason. But this year however, things have been even more chaotic than usual. Not only did the playoffs create some unexpected matchups, the recently unveiled foreign MVP shortlist also raised a lot of eyebrows. With