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
Major surprises are overthrowing the longstanding hierarchies in China, as both Beijing and Guangdong – the two dynasties of the Chinese basketball empire – are relinquishing their thrones. With two best-of-five series already at 2-0, the sides of Xinjiang and Guangdong have to climb out of huge holes. Xinjiang is the home of Andray Blatche, Bryce Cotton and Zhou Qi, China’s next NBA player; and Guangdong for many years has been a de facto equivalent to the Chinese national team, captained
The CBA has bid farewell to another regular season, and as the eight best teams in the Middle Kingdom get ready for postseason basketball, for 22 imports the season in China is already a thing of the past. No matter how gaudy their stats are, missing the playoffs is always bad news. The good news, however, is that they’re now available for NBA action. The timing couldn’t be better: playoff (or playoff-hopeful) NBA teams are absolutely OK with bolstering their second units with
While the star-studded Xinjiang Flying Tigers, previously led by the Andray & Andrew Show, are stumbling out of the All-Star break, the Chinese Basketball Association playoff picture is shaping up quite clearly. Eight teams qualify for the postseason. Zhejiang is eighth and has a three-game advantage over ninth place. And there are three teams climbing with impressive late-season winning streaks. For those of you who have kept a watchful eye on our China updates, we’ve already discussed the three top CBA teams here. As
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
Let’s face it: talking about NBA castoffs now playing in China is too easy sometimes. They get all the shots, be it on the floor, in the photo sessions or from the critics. Heck, my first column for this site focused on a few of them, including MarShon Brooks and Michael Beasley, putting up ridiculous numbers. But what about the locals? And above all else, who is the next big thing – the next Great Wall, if you will – bound to
Well, you do expect former NBA players to perform in the Middle Kingdom, right? We are three games into a new and promising Chinese Basketball Association season, where we may finally have no clear-cut favorites ahead of schedule while players with long resumes are now affordable for every team in the league. Among the top 25 scorers, 19 have been in the CBA in some form or fashion. Only one is Chinese, however. It’s an unlikely name, too: Cui Jinming, a 23-year-old smooth shooter