As the NBA regular season approaches its final stage, it’s already Finals time in China. Contending for the title after a 1-1 tie at the conclusion of Game 2 it’s Liaoning and Sichuan. We’ve already introduced the two teams here and here respectively (not only that, we’ve also praised their accomplishments here), so we’ll spare the formalities and dive right into what’s going on in these Finals. But we’re not stopping here: while the last stage of the Chinese season is unfolding, some of its
In the land of the NBA expat, the standard being set by the Golden State Warriors has not gone unnoticed — and in a few cases, it has nearly been matched. No team has duplicated what the ‘Dubs have done in the NBA, opening 24-0 en route to a 30-2 record that they took into their Saturday night matchup with the Denver Nuggets. But behind Andray Blatche, Andrew Goudelock and future lottery pick Zhou Qi, the Xianjing Flying Tigers are not all that
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 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
From NBA bust to CBA folk hero, Shanghai Sharks import Michael Beasley is enjoying an incredible career renaissance in China. The second overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft, Beasley is currently averaging 29.4 points and 10.4 rebounds. If that wasn’t impressive enough, on Sunday at the CBA All-Star Game in Beijing, Beasley scored a record 59 points. There are few players with quite so hot a hand as the former Miami and Minnesota forward, and given that he will soon
For the last three months, Emmanuel Mudiay hasn’t been able to cross the Guangdong Tigers’ locker room without first passing the cubicle of the team’s starting small forward, Zhu Fangyu. Zhu is the Chinese Basketball Association’s all-time leading scorer and a fixture on China’s national team for over a decade. He is also known as the authority figure within the Guangdong roster that sizes up new arrivals and decides if they are serious enough about playing for China’s most successful team. The
The 15-day, 24 hour barrage of firecrackers that start on chun jie (Chinese New Year) ended two nights ago to the relief of this now nearly deaf blogger as China celebrated the final night of the Lunar Festival, yuan xiao (Lantern Festival). Marking the 15th day and first full moon of the new year, the festival is the official end of the Spring Festival period… and of all of the loud firecrackers that are lit off in every corner of Beijing
With under a minute to go and a win out of reach, a defeated and frustrated Tracy McGrady pulled up with a muscle pull in his thigh, asked to be subbed out, and watched from the bench as his Qingdao Eagles lost 95-84 to the previously winless Jilin Northeast Tigers. [Read more…]