The CBA regular season has reached its 33rd round, and last night's four games have caused a significant shake-up in the standings. With Beikong defeating Shenzhen, Shandong easily overcoming Jiangsu, Tianjin narrowly beating Ningbo, and Liaoning being overturned by Zhejiang, the CBA rankings have become chaotic once again! Shandong has risen to second place, Zhejiang has returned to the top four, and Guangdong is gradually catching up with Liaoning. The league has entered a white-hot stage, with teams striving for better rankings. Let's take a look at the details:
Shandong hosted Jiangsu last night, and before the game, the team was already facing injury issues, with key players Chris and Yu Dehao absent. However, the game progressed relatively smoothly, with Jiangsu managing to reduce the gap in stages but never overtaking Shandong from the first quarter onwards. Shandong ultimately defeated Jiangsu 102-86, completing a double-kill for the season. In this match, Gao Shiyan scored 22 points with 5 rebounds and 6 assists, while Moore contributed 30 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Their performances were crucial, especially considering the absence of key players.
With this victory, Shandong's record stands at 23 wins and 10 losses, propelling them to second place in the league. Currently, Shandong is on a strong upward trend, and their schedule before the end of this phase is favorable, which means they are likely to solidify their ranking. After this loss, Jiangsu remains second-to-last in the league.
Zhejiang faced Liaoning at home last night. In their first meeting of the season, Zhejiang lost by 11 points away. In last night's game, Zhejiang only had two foreign players as the main force, with Liu Zeyi and Simmons returning to play only four minutes each. Unexpectedly, Zhejiang took the lead early by capitalizing on Liaoning's struggles, and Liaoning managed to overtake in the second quarter thanks to Weber's performance, leading by 2 points at halftime. However, the second half saw a dramatic change, with Liaoning being overwhelmed on both offense and defense. Zhejiang won the third quarter by 10 points and the fourth by 5, resulting in a final score of 101-88 in favor of Zhejiang. York scored an impressive 31 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assists, including a remarkable 23 points in the second quarter alone! Jones also contributed 25 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 assists, completely dominating Liaoning's frontline.
For Liaoning, although five players scored in double figures, they struggled with a poor shooting performance from beyond the arc, going 9 for 34. Their star guard Zhao Jiwei had a disappointing game with only 6 points and 6 turnovers, one of the worst performances of his career. The only bright spot was new foreign player Weber, who shot 4 for 9 to score 10 points and grab 8 rebounds.
After this game, Zhejiang's record stands at 22 wins and 11 losses, surpassing Liaoning to rise to fourth place. Liaoning, with the same win rate, dropped to fifth due to a lower point differential. This game was a calculated effort by Zhejiang, as they lost by 11 points in their first encounter but won by 13 points this time, just enough to overtake Liaoning and return to the top four.
In other matches of the same round, Beikong defeated Shenzhen 112-102 at home. Salinger, facing his former team, scored 21 points with 18 rebounds and 7 assists, while Zhang Fan's form improved as he scored 22 points with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Two veterans from Shenzhen played well, with Weems scoring 22 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Zhou Peng contributing 16 points, 1 rebound, and 3 assists. After this game, Beikong's record stands at 18 wins and 14 losses, ranking tenth, while Shenzhen ranks thirteenth.
Tianjin narrowly defeated Ningbo 120-115 last night, with James exploding for 41 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists. Even though Tianjin ended their losing streak, their record of 10 wins and 23 losses keeps them at fourteenth place, with little hope of reaching the playoffs.
Unbeknownst to many, Guangdong has been gradually closing the gap with Liaoning in terms of record. Both teams have now lost 11 games. Liaoning played a day earlier in this round, and tonight Guangdong will face Nanjing away. If Guangdong loses, they will be only 1 point behind Liaoning in the standings. If Guangdong wins, they will equal Liaoning's points. However, since Liaoning won their first meeting, even if Guangdong wins tonight, they will still be ranked behind Liaoning, but both teams' win rates will be back on an equal footing.
The current CBA standings are as follows:
1-5: Guangsha, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang, Liaoning
6-10: Qingdao, Guangdong, Xinjiang, Beijing, Beikong
11-15: Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Jilin
16-20: Ningbo, Sichuan, Guangzhou, Jiangsu, Fujian