BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) -- As Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league's first stage regular season competitions concluded on Saturday, it was clear that the absence of a large number of foreign players was beneficial to some teams and detrimental to others.
The Guangdong Southern Tigers and the Xinjiang Flying Tigers have shown their roster depth to strengthen their status as the top two teams in the league.
Guangdong won all eight matches since the league restarted on June 20 with a dominant point differential of 37.1 points. Taking previous matches into consideration, the reigning champions are riding a 21-game winning streak.
With several games put to bed by the third quarter, or sometimes by half time, Guangdong has been able to offer more playing time to young players such as Zeng Fanri, Wang Xinkai, Liu Quanbiao and Zhang Haojia. In a tight schedule, veterans such as CBA all-time leading scorer Yi Jianlian and Zhou Peng, who recently recovered from a serious foot injury, have benefitted from the added rest as they prepare for the business end of the season.
With no dip in form after the league's restart, Guangdong is still regarded as title favorites.
Without their overseas players, Zhou Qi has spearheaded Xinjiang in their march towards the playoffs. The China's national team center registered a double-double performance in every one of Xinjiang's last eight matches. His long-range shooting ability has given the team more options on the offensive end.
Xinjiang's role players have also got the chance to shine. Zeng Lingxu, 33, has become their driving force by dishing out eight assists per game since the CBA restart. His astute running of the game has led to major statistical progress from Fan Ziming and Tang Caiyu. Fan has been a regular presence alongside Zhou in the paint, while the 22-year-old Tang has contributed an average of 13.1 points per game, compared with 6.4 points before the league's suspension.
Contrary to Guangdong and Xinjiang's steadiness, the jostling for positions below them in the standings has seen a lot of reshuffling since the restart.
After winning four games in a row, Beijing Ducks have managed to secure a place in top four, meaning they can enjoy a bye in the round of 12 in the playoffs if they can maintain the position until the end of the regular season.
With the overseas duo of Jeremy Lin and Ekpe Udoh leading the charge in offense and defense respectively, Beijing has also witnessed contributions from key domestic players such as Zhai Xiaochuan, Zhu Yanxi and Fang Shuo.
Playing with an all-domestic roster, the Zhejiang Lions have climbed to fourth on the back of Sun Minghui and Hu Jinqiu's strong play.
Already a national team member, Sun gave fans further reason to watch by taking the league by storm to average 19.0 points and 9.4 assists in his last eight matches. Apart from his athleticism, Sun has also vastly improved his vision on the court. Hu has shown efficiency in the paint by contributing an average of 25.4 points and 14.3 rebounds, earning him the Player of the Month award.
The Zhejiang Golden Bulls succeeded in rising up the standings thanks to a good balance in their young squad. Led by China's international guard Wu Qian, Zhejiang has seen improvement from both Lu Wenbo and Zhang Dayu. 21-year-old guard Cheng Shuaipeng even scored a career-high 43 points against the Nanjing Monkey Kings.
Without formidable scorer Dominique Jones, the domestic trio of Jiang Yuxing, Jiang Weize and Dai Huaibo have powered the Jilin Northeast Tigers to eighth on the table.
Perhaps the most disappointing side so far, is the 2017/18 champions the Liaoning Flying Leopards, who have dropped from third to seventh.
Newly-recruited star O.J. Mayo has struggled to fit tactically into the team's system, combined with several prominent names suffering a slump in form, seeing Liaoning to lose three out of four games, which resulted in head coach Guo Shiqiang's resignation on June 28.
Following his uncle's departure, Liaoning's guard Guo Ailun bounced back to post 32 and 31 points in back-to-back wins, but overall the team has fared below expectations.
The Shandong Heroes is another team that lost momentum after the resumption. Without playmaker Lester Hudson, one of the most successful overseas players in China, Shandong's domestic players failed to live up to expectations, suffering a slide from fourth to 10th and on the brink of the playoff threshold.
With eight matches left to play, fierce competition for playoffs berths is anticipated in the second phase which commences on Tuesday, as the third-placed Beijing Ducks and the 12th-ranked Fujian Sturgeons are separated by just six wins.
Despite seeing little hope of making the playoffs, other teams can still get something positive from domestic players.
Born in 2000, Sichuan Blue Whales point guard Yuan Tangwen registered 16 assists against the Tianjin Pioneers, tying the record by an active domestic player, and recording the most assists since Zeng Lingxu in the 2012/13 season.
A recent explosion in form earned Yuan a place in the Most Improved Five in the first week after the CBA's restart. Looking up to NBA star guard Chris Paul, the 20-year-old Yuan is moving step-by-step towards his role model.
In the injury-riddled Nanjing team, Li Hongpeng is a player to watch. He scored 23 points on the back of seven 3-pointers, both career-highs, against the Zhejiang Lions. Boasting sharp shooting ability beyond the arc, he has more than filled Nanjing's offensive void when leading scorer Joseph Young was held at bay.
The CBA is the first major league in China to resume action. As CBA chief executive officer Wang Dawei put it, the league takes safety as its top priority.
Using two competition sites, Qingdao in the eastern province of Shandong and Dongguan in south China's Guangdong province, games were played behind closed doors and anti-virus measures were strictly implemented to ensure a safe environment for participants, who have been offered green, yellow and blue credentials according to different roles.
Two players have received penalty for violating anti-virus regulations, with the CBA inflicting a three-match suspension on Guangdong guard Zhao Rui and issuing a warning to Liaoning guard Guo Ailun.
'Anti-virus' is an important theme throughout this stage, the CBA even released a poster in homage to anti-virus heroes including renowned respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan, whose team gave professional guidance for the league's resumption.
Zhong was also invited on Friday to watch a game on site along with his wife Li Shaofen, a former national basketball player in China. Enditem
