Allen Iverson is on the last leg of the 2012 China Legends Tour, a six city, seven game exhibition tour that has featured Iverson, Clyde Drexler, Dennis Rodman and some D-Leaguers as they’ve traveled around to play Stephon Marbury and the Beijing Ducks and some other Chinese teams. It’s been a big hit with  fans and with media, both of whom have been running wild with the idea of A.I. potentially playing professional ball in China next year, a scenario that some teams are apparently interested in realizing.

What happens with that will be settled another day, however. For now, the main focus is finishing up these last two games in the tour’s last city and making it safely back to the comforts of the United States.

That last leg, however, happens to be Taiyuan, Shanxi province. The city is well-known within Chinese basketball for a few reasons: It’s where Marbury got his start in the CBA. It’s where Jim Yardley wrote his book about the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons and their eccentric owner, Boss Wang. It’s where fans throw water bottles and lighters onto the court at the sound of a blown whistle. It’s also where they block opposing teams’ buses, hurl bricks at it and accuse former players (Marbury) of beating down its fans.

Luckily, Iverson and company likely won’t have to deal with the latter two during their stay. After Michael Jordan and possibly Kobe Bryant, A.I. is easily the most popular all-time NBAer in China. During the trip, he has been met by flocks of fans who wait at airports, hotels, restaurants, promotional events and stadiums with the hope that they can catch a glimpse of their beloved Answer.

At the Taiyuan airport today though, Iverson was greeted by some fans who wanted a little more than a glimpse…

Here’s the rest of the scene at the airport (and some more of this woman in the Yankees cap):

In Taiyuan’s defense, I’m sure there’s been other fans in other cities who are just like this. Well, except maybe the “I wanna have kids with you” sign. That’s just weird.

Beijing Ducks fans: If you want to see your team play inside the MasterCard Center (formerly known as Wukesong Arena) on Friday night, stop yelling “stupid cunt” at the top of your lungs towarsd anything with a Guangdong Southern Tigers logo on it.

At their limit over Beijing’s “uncivilized behavior” from their last two home games, the powers that be at the Chinese Basketball Association have declared that if  fans continue to scream cuss words and/or throw things onto the floor tomorrow night during Game 4, then the league will take away the team’s right to set the location of their own home court and force them to play somewhere else for Game 5 on Friday.

Where will that somewhere else be? According to CBA spokesperson, Xu Lan, it may not be in Beijing.

“As to whether it will be moved to another stadium [in the city] or to a third-tier city [outside Beijing], the league has not yet made a final decision,” said Xu yesterday.

During Game 1 last Wednesday, fans chanted cuss words at Guangdong the entire night and during the third quarter threw lighters onto the court in protest of a violent intentional foul on Stephon Marbury. Beijing was fined RMB 110,000 for the incident.

In the Sina report where Xu was quoted, the league specifically mentioned cursing and throwing things onto the court, but still stressed that if anything happens to interrupt the game or jeopardize stadium security, the CBA will move Friday’s Game 5 elsewhere. Given that Beijing is scheduled to play the next two in the 18,000 seat MasterCard Center, playing Game 5 in another stadium would take away what has literally become the biggest home court advantage in the history of the CBA.

Beijing general manager, Yuan Chao, came out and supported the league’s decision while also vowing that he will work hard to ensure that fans are behaving properly. Stephon Marbury has recorded a video to thank fans for their support and ask them to refrain from swearing loudly.

The seven-game series currently stands with Beijing up 2-1.

One of the best all-around big men in CBA history, Du Feng is retiring after 14 seasons. (Photo: Osports)

Du Feng is officially retiring from basketball. To mark the end of his career, the 14 year veteran will hold a farewell game on April 6 in DongGuan featuring several current CBA stars, including Wang Zhizhi, Sun Yue, Mengke Bateer and Tang Zhengdong.

Over the course of an illustrious domestic career that saw him pull down seven CBA championships, From his debut season in 1997-98, Du amassed career totals of 6720 points, 2327 rebounds, 730 assists, 442 steals and 184 blocks. His point total is good for ninth on the CBA all-time rankings. In the 2004 Finals, he averaged 21 points and 8.7 rebounds en route to his first and only Finals MVP trophy.

Du also served for the Chinese National Team, playing in the Olympics in both Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

After playing sparingly last season, Du gave up his spot on Guangdong’s 15-man roster this season to make way for younger players. He has instead been serving as an assistant coach for the team, a role that he is expected to continue for Guangdong next season and possibly beyond.

Casual and hardcore Western CBA fans alike will recognize Du Feng as the guy who was slapped to the ground by Charles Gaines, who played for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers at the time, after Du head-butted the American in the closing seconds of Game 2 of the 2010 CBA Finals. Motionless on the floor, Du was wrapped up in an Anta towel, carried off in a stretcher and given oxygen in the team’s locker room before being taken taken to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a mild concussion. No suspensions were given out by the league and both Du an Gaines played Game 3 in Urumqi.

Shanxi has been fined nine times in the last four years for incidents similar to the one that went down on Sunday. (Photo: Osports)

Yesterday, to provide some context for Sunday night’s craziness, we wrote a post listing all of the times fans league-wide have thrown stuff onto the court this season. Which then got us to wondering: Exactly how many times has Shanxi chucked stuff onto the court over the last few seasons?

Today, thanks to a NetEase report published late Tuesday night, we now know that answer. Since 2008-09, Shanxi has been fined nine separate times for their fans’ behavior, eight of which are listed below.

December 3, 2008 - Round 8 vs. Beijing: Fans throw lighters onto the court in two separate incidents, causing the game to stopped. The league gives the club a strong warning, fines them 100,000 RMB.

February 11, 2009 – Round 34 vs. Guangsha: With 3:41 to go in the game, fans pelt the court with lighters and other objects and shout obscenities at the referees. Afterwards, the league publicly criticizes the team, fines the club 10,000 RMB and fines the arena 50,000 RMB.

March 15, 2009 – vs. Round 48 vs. Shandong: With 27.3 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, fans throw bottes, lighters, fruit and other objects which causes the game to be interrupted for five minutes. During that interruption, Shanxi’s owner “Boss Wang” Wang Xingjiang, gets into the referees’ face and violently kicks a courtside advertisement. The team is given a strong warning, a public criticism and is fined 100,000 RMB. The arena is fined 50,000 RMB for their failure to control the crowd.

February 5, 2010 – Round 20 vs. Guangdong: Fans throw objects onto the court during the game. The club is strongly warned and is fined 80,000 RMB, the arena is fined 30,000 RMB. On February 2nd, Shanxi was fined for a similar offense, making this the second time in the last three days that Shanxi has been penalized by the CBA.

December 22, 2010: Round 5 vs. Guangsha

Shanxi’s Shang Ping hammers Guangsha’s Javaris Crittenton and and gives out an additional elbow after the while. Guangsha’s P.J. Ramos, who is trailing the play, runs over and pushes Shang Ping down to the ground. Fans lob anything they can get their hands on, causing the game to be stopped for several minutes. Shang Ping and Ramos are suspended a game each. Both teams receive a public criticism. Shanxi is fined 10,000 RMB and Guangsha is fined 20,000 RMB.

December 23, 2011 – Round 15 vs. Liaoning: A water bottle is thrown at Liaoning’s players from behind their bench and lands on the nearside foul-line. The CBA dishes out a strong warning to both the team and the arena, and fines the team 10,000 RMB.

February 12, 2012 – Round 33 vs. Guangdong – 2012

Shanxi’s Zhang Xuewen is called for a foul on Guangdong’s Wang Zheng. Not happy with the call, Zhang punches the basket support and is called for a technical. Seconds later, fans begin to throw lighters onto the court. As Guangdong normally does in these situations, the coaching staff orders the team into the locker room. Despite orders from the game’s technical director to come back, Guangdong insists that they will do no such thin until order has been restored. Shanxi an the arena are both levied a strong warning and the team is fined 20,000 RMB.

March 13, 2012 – Semi-Finals Game 4 vs. Beijing: Fans throw water bottles and lighters towards the end of the fourth quarter after a no-call on Marcus Williams’ drive to the basket. After the game, fans block the Beijing bus while throwing things at it, and prevent it from leaving for one hour and 20 minutes. Shanxi and the arena are fined 30,000 RMB each.

(Thanks to Beijing Cream for the video)

For all of the coverage and commentary that has flooded Chinese media since Sunday’s ugly scene in Taiyuan, it’s been the three words that were smugly offered by Beijing Ducks head coach, Min Lulei, that have stuck out to me the most (which can be seen at the very end of the above video):

Hen zheng chang.

This is normal.

Shady officiating? Been there, done that. Blocking of an opposing team’s bus? Check. Throwing stuff onto the floor? Yep and then some.

The latter is so common in fact, that by our count the league has either warned or fined teams no less than nine 10 times for fan behavior this season. Go ahead see for yourself. (Big tip of the cap to my xiongdimen at hoopCHINA, whose CBA News section — an indispensable resource for all you Chinese readers out there — was huge in searching up all of this.)

December 4, 2011: Unhappy with the officiating, fans throw lighters onto the court midway through Beijing and Xinjiang’s game at Shougang Gymnasium. Beijing is fined 10,000 RMB. In another game, Shandong is warned for their fans’ bad behavior.

December 11, 2011: Fujian is fined 70,000 RMB, Fujian foreign player, Will McDonald, is suspended for one game and Shanghai head coach, Dan Panaggio, is warned by the league after an on-court fracas in the game’s final seconds. With one second left, McDonald spat in Panaggio’s face while the two were having words in front of Shanghai’s bench. McDonald later alleged that Panaggio had cursed at him. Fujian’s fans responded by pelting Panaggio and the Shanghai team with objects as they left the court.

December 23, 2011: Shanxi is warned by the CBA after a water bottle is tossed onto the court midway through their Round 15 matchup against Liaoning.

December 30, 2011: Jilin is fined 10,000 RMB for their inability to control their fans and for their criticism of in-game officials at a post-game press conference.

January 1, 2012: Liaoning is fined 30,000 RMB after their fans throw water bottles and cups at the court during Liaoning’s Round 17 game against Beijing. On the CBA official report, the league calls out stadium security for not managing the situation well. Liaoning had been warned about fan behavior prior.

January 6, 2012: Fans inside Shougang Gymnasium hurl lighters at the court for the second time this season, and Beijing is fined RMB 20,000.

January 29, 2012: Fans in Tianjin throw things onto the court after J.R. Smith’s sister, Stephanie Smith, gets into a verbal altercation with fans during Zhejiang and Tianjin’s Round 27 matchup. The team is fined 10,000 RMB.

February 12, 2012: In Round 33, Shanxi is fined 20,000 RMB after their fans throw lighters onto the court midway through the third quarter in their game against Guangdong. They weren’t the only ones upset with the referees, however. Guangdong’s players aggressively confront a referee during the fourth quarter and head coach, Li Chunjiang, is publicly criticized by the league for not keeping his players under control.

March 2, 2012: Xinjiang is warned after fans throw lighters and other objects onto the court during Game 5 of their first-round series against DongGuan. According to the CBA’s official report, fans were unhappy with the way the game was being called by the referees.

March 4, 2012: Two days after being warned by the CBA, Xinjiang is fined 10,000 RMB after fans throw lighters and other objects onto the court in protest of a bad call during Game 1 of their first-round series against Guangdong.

Meanwhile, Shanxi has been fined 60,000 RMB for Sunday’s water bottle throwing contest as the investigation continues. Judging from all of the other fines already dished out this season, the fine should act as a really huge deterrent for fans in the future.

Beijing – 100 @ Shanxi – 102

An intense and hard fought Game 4 was won in Taiyuan by Shanxi, setting up a do-or-die Game 5 on Wednesday night in Beijing — the first time in CBA history that a semi-finals series has ever gone the distance.

However, Shanxi’s big win and the exciting development that it set up was marred by the behavior of their fans, both during and after the game. In the fourth quarter, Stephon Marbury drove hard to hoop against Shanxi’s guard/forward, Makan. On Marbury’s extension and follow through on the layup, his elbow hit his defender’s face, opening up a cut over his eyebrow. Makan, however, was called for the foul. Angered, Makan and his teammates started to yell at the referee, who promptly whistled a technical foul. With Makan bleeding, both the Brave Dragons and their fans went into a frenzy as Marbury stepped up and hit three of four free-throws.

With tensions running high and the game close late in the fourth, Marcus Williams drove hard left to the hole with 43 seconds left with the score 100-97 in favor of Beijing. Marbury swiped and missed at the ball before Randolph Morris came over for both the block and — William’s head — after the big center crashed over Williams under the basket. There was no foul called, and to show their thoughts on the matter, spectators starting throwing lighters, water bottles and other objects onto the court. Both benches cleared with several scuffles ensuing. By the time the dust had settled and the court cleaned up, no technicals had been called and the game resumed.

When it did, Charles Gaines stepped up with a huge and-one lay-up. After converting the free-throw to tie the game at 100, Marbury came down and missed a three with 26 seconds. Williams milked the clock and drove hard to the basket, where he was fouled. He converted the free-throws to make it 102-100. Beijing called time-out and Lee Hsueh-lin got a look at three, which came up short.

But apparently not satisfied by their bottle-tossing, Shanxi fans blocked Beijing’s bus from leaving the arena while hurling yet more objects at the vehicle. Beijing was eventually able to leave, but not without Brave Dragon fans leaving a black mark on their already notorious reputation within the CBA.

For Shanxi, Gaines lead the way with 39 points and 16 rebounds, Williams finished with 34 points, 10 rebounds and four assists and Lu Xiaoming had seven points and nine assists. Morris was huge in the second half, particularly the fourth quarter when Beijing practically went in to him on every possession to finish with 36 points and 13 rebounds. Marbury had 25.

–Jon Pastuszek

Box Score

Basketball with Chinese characteristics is the motto of this website, and quite possibly there is no better example of someone who upholds those four words better than “Boss Wang,” the owner of the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons.

Luckily for you, Jim Yardley’s new book, Brave Dragons: A Chinese Basketball Team, an American Coach, and Two Cultures Clashing, covers Boss Wang and his basketball team in the fullest (and most entertaining) manner possible, so if you haven’t already go out and cop that. The gist is this: Super rich and super in love with basketball, Boss Wang wants nothing more than to put an NBA-modeled winning team out on the floor. He wants the best players, the best coaches and of course, the best results so that his dream of owning a championship squad can someday be realized.

Up until this year, however, he and his Brave Dragons have failed to even put together a .500 team.

There are a few reasons, but none perhaps are bigger than Boss Wang himself, who often decides to show his enthusiasm for the game by directly involving himself with the team’s day-to-day operations, acting in such positions as head coach, assistant coach, general manager, scout, strength and conditioning coach, doctor, sports psychologist and more.

This year, things have changed in Taiyuan. First, the team decided to erase one of their biggest problems over the years — the constant in-and-out of foreign players — by signing two talented CBA veterans, Marcus Williams and Charles Gaines. Together, they’ve combined to average more than 60 points a game. More importantly though, they’ve stayed with the team the whole season, building a level of chemistry and continuity with their Chinese players that had never existed before.

Then, for the first time in team history, the team brought back their head coach from the year before. Yang Xuezeng, who took over midway through last season, was re-signed in the off-season and has stayed on the bench the entire year — another first. Assisting him has been American Beau Archibald, a former assistant at the University of Connecticut who has also stayed on the entire year. Reportedly giving Yang and Archibald some freedom to coach, Boss Wang supposedly backed off from his usual meddling ways and allowed people to do their job. The result: A 20-12 regular season record, a first round series victory over Shanghai, and a semi-finals matchup against Beijing — all firsts in team history. And though he is still definitely involved with the team (he can be seen sitting on the bench during games), he’s not as involved.

Or so you thought, until you read this amazing interview he held with Titan Sports Weekly (via QQ.com), published on February 27:

“This season, I’ve kind of been like an assistant coach,” said Boss Wang to a reporter midway through Shanxi’s first round series with Shanghai. “The team has been playing well, I feel like I’ve made a bit of contribution.”

Of course technically, or at least officially, he’s not. In China, where stamped certificates that can (usually) only be obtained by completing some kind of training or course work, some kind of zigezheng are required in many different professions, basketball coaching very much included. According to the article, Boss Wang wanted one of those certificates so that he could officially place himself on the Brave Dragon’s staff as an assistant coach. But the process was too mafan or too much trouble, so he did the next best thing: Ignore all the official stuff and just declare himself assistant coach anyways.

“So what if I don’t have a coaching certificate? That means I can’t be a coach?”

According to Wang, this season’s unprecedented success is “…because I’m the one coming up with the ideas, Coach Yang lays everything out and the team goes out and implements everything.” He proves that point by bringing up a game against Bayi in where the team was down by double-digits.

“One time we were down 15, the team was following Coach Yang’s gameplan. We were running a lot of off-ball screens and getting a lot of shots from long range, but nothing was going in. I remember that at one point we had missed seven shots in a row. Once I looked at it, I knew right away we needed a change. So I told Coach Yang to call a time-out. I went into the huddle and drew some stuff up myself.”

According to the report, he told the team to abandon shooting from the outside and instead to focus on giving point guard Lu Xiaoming some freedom so that he could drive to the rim.

“Five minutes later, the game is tied up. We ended up winning that game. We were down and Lu Xiaoming was passing the ball. Lu Xiaoming is better than them. Our other domestic players aren’t as good as Bayi’s, so our offense was weak. Letting Lu Xiaoming have some offensive freedom really kick started our offense and we were better than them on that end.”

“[I told] Big Yang, you need to watch more NBA. All of the good teams rely on their point guard to ignite their offense.”

Boss Wang knows that his heavy involvement with his team has drawn a lot of opinion. All that talk, however, doesn’t concern him in the least. Because as owner, he can do whatever he wants. And he wants nothing more than to win and coach the game he loves.

“I know over the last few years I’ve been criticized by a lot of people, but I don’t care. When you have an owner and his team is winning, then his reputation is good. Wait until we’re making the Final Four every year. Even if I’m wearing rags, who will look down upon me?”

No way out.

That was the way it was supposed to be when the Chinese Basketball Association passed a rule in August barring locked out NBA players from including back-to-the-NBA opt-out clauses into their Chinese contracts.  The move was made to prevent a potentially destabilizing mass China-to-U.S. exodus that would have sent teams scrambling for replacement players once the lockout ended, and in a year where the Chinese National Team is preparing for the 2012 Olympics, officials decided it would be in Chinese basketball’s best interest to avoid a mid-season upheaval of foreign talent. The rule’s language was clear: Any player who wanted to sign with any other professional team, NBA or not, had to wait until their Chinese team played its final game of the season. If you were going to sign in China, you were going to have to commit to a full season.

But to the shock of many, Kenyon Martin, one of the NBA players who signed in China this year, has found a way out.

Last Friday, Martin signed a one-year $2.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers despite the fact that the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers, the team who he signed with in September, still has three more games to go in the regular season.  Considering the CBA’s consistent hardline stance on the opt-out issue throughout the year, the one question that begs answering is: How could that have happened?

The Year of the Dragon, that’s how. According to Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo! Sports, Martin’s clearance was sent from FIBA to the CBA in late January. As Andrew Robotham, a spokesman at FIBA’s headquarters in Geneva who spoke with the New York Times’ Jim Yardley over the weekend, the process was handled just like the thousands of other requests they receive each year. Like every other FIBA application, the international organization formally notified the CBA of Martin’s request. Per FIBA rule, they had seven days to respond. If there was no answer within that period, then FIBA would grant his clearance.

But with the Chinese New Year falling on January 24th this year, nobody was in the office to receive that request. Like everybody else in China, the CBA completely shut down for a about a week to go home and celebrate the country’s most important holiday with their families. While officials were on vacation, Martin’s letter sat untouched, unread and unanswered and by the time they got back from their break, the seven day period had already passed, giving FIBA the right to open Martin’s road back to the NBA.

Not surprisingly, CBA officials are upset that the letter was sent in during New Year, a move that they are deeming unethical due to what they feel was a deliberate attempt to take advantage of the Chinese holiday. Using Martin’s signed letter of commitment that was turned into the CBA when he was bought out from Xinjiang in late December, the league originally considered appealing the decision. According to a top CBA official, Gong Luming, the letter stated that Martin promised not to play in any other professional competition until after Xinjiang’s season was over.

The February 7th appeal date has come and gone without an official appeal however, and the CBA, knowing full well that they had little if any chance of winning their case, have moved on to the more pressing matter at hand: making sure the league’s other NBA players stay in China.

Because the effects of Martin’s return to the NBA are not just limited to the CBA’s Beijing office. Besides CBA government officials, Martin’s unexpected return to an NBA roster has raised the alarms for both players and individual team general managers, both of whom are equally unhappy over the development. Upset that one NBA-to-China player has broken free of their CBA chains, several foreign players reportedly want out immediately, which in turn has lead to increased pressure on their GMs, who have themselves become angry over their suddenly sulking high-end investments.

“Who cares how [Martin's release] happened. Our team and the rest of the other teams [with NBA players] are now in a tough spot. Once this precedent is set, what can we do?” asked Ye Xiangyu, general manager of the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions, the team Wilson Chandler plays for. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“About this, I can only say we are very angry,” she added. “Before the season we made a lot of preparations. We talked for a long time about all the different steps we would need to take to make this work. Now this whole thing has been blown wide open. This year our team invested a lot of money. We had big plans for this season. We spent human and material resources to make it happen. But if this is how this situation is going to be handled, we’ve spent everything for nothing.”

After starting the season 13-4, Guangsha now finds itself out of the playoffs for the first time all season after losing at Shanxi on Sunday. The loss puts them at 2-9 over their last 11 games, 15-13 overall.

In an effort to maintain control over the exact explosive situation the league tried to avoid by making the no opt-out rule in the first place, the CBA on Saturday took the rare step of publicly admitting their own failure to properly handle the clearance procedure.

Said Gong, “…the event that occurred during the Chinese New Year vacation period was something we did not anticipate. The failure falls within ourselves.”

With speculation running wild in Chinese media the last wek, the CBA announced yesterday that they will not change their rule on opt-out clauses, which means players will still have to wait until their respective teams’ seasons are completed.

“We’ve already had discussions with both the NBA and FIBA, they’ve made it very clear that they respect our rules on this matter,” said Gong. “The foreign players who haven’t received their letter of clearances won’t have another opportunity to go play in any other professional league, including the NBA.”

“In regards rules on foreign players leaving the CBA, we won’t change anything due to [Kenyon] Martin’s release. After we explained our stance on the situation, the NBA and FIBA both understand and will respect CBA authority on all releases.”

As Gong went on to elaborate, that includes players who have already split ways with their Chinese team. Patty Mills, who played with Martin in Xinjiang, was released by the team in early January after their team president accused Mills of deliberately faking a hamstring injury, a charge which Mills resolutely denied. According to Gong, he and other players who are released before the end of the season will not be granted a release back to the NBA before the end of their team’s season.

“Even if they break off of their contract here in China, the CBA will follow the rules we set prior. We won’t be granting any letters of clearances before the end of the season. Another Martin scenario won’t happen again.”

The CBA regular season ends on February 15th. The first round of the playoffs start on February 22nd.

While other teams were either on vacation or doing two-a-day practices during the Spring Festival, Tianjin Ronggang used the period to welcome back a familiar foreigner to the team.

In a move that was rumored for a while before officially coming to fruition just before the holiday, Tianjin released center David Harrison and signed forward Herve Lamizana as his replacement. This will be Lamizana’s fifth year in China and third with Tianjin. He played with Shandong for two seasons from 2006-08 before signing with Tianjin for both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

In 24 games, Harrison averaged 15.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

The timing of the move is odd. With a mere eight games left in the season, Tianjin is currently in 14th place with an 8-17 record and has no chance of making the post-season. Officially, team representatives are saying that the season ending injury to Asian import guard Rony Fahed, who broke his second, third and fourth metatarsal on his right hand in a game against Shanghai on December 28th, left the team without a reliable ball-handler. Lamizana, a versatile forward who plays on the perimeter, can help to offset that issue. Though Tianjin was in search of a new import after Fahed’s injury, they were initially optimistic that his hand would heal by the Spring Festival.

The hand did not heal, however, and the team was forced to make a move. Tianjin has gone 3-6 since Fahed has gone out of the lineup.

But even more odd than the timing is the decision to bring back Lamizana himself. After playing a full season for Tianjin in 2009-10, Lamizana came back last season to play under head coach Bob MacKinnon Jr. Playing alongside Lee Benson, the two never meshed with either each other or their Chinese teammates and the team managed only four wins in their first 26 games.

During Tianjin’s 27th game of the season, a road game against Shandong, Lamizana went 7-20 with 16 points and nine rebounds in a 97-87 loss. After the game, Tianjin announced that Lamizana would be released from the team immediately and gave no official explanation as to why.

Though Tianjin still hasn’t commented on the reason, Chinese media wrote that team management became convinced that Lamizana purposely threw the game for money so that his old team could make a final push for the playoffs.

Though it still floats around in Chinese basketball circles today, the rumor has never been officially proven. And with Lamizana now back to Tianjin, it seems as if the team doesn’t have much time for that story either.

Last year, Lamizana 24.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1. 9 steals and 3.6 blocks. He is currently tied for the CBA single game blocks record with Yao Ming and Sean Williams with 13.

Contrary to common belief, Chinese New Year is not a one day holiday. Which means, we’re not late in offering our Happy Year of the Dragons. In fact, the Spring Festiva is 15 days long — good if you like eating dumplings, bad if you hate being kept up by late night firecrackers.

But Chun Jie is about more than eating food, giving and receiving hong baos (red envelopes filled with New Year cash) or watching the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. It’s about spending time with the family (or your adopted Chinese family, if you’re a foreigner), reflecting on the year past… and watching commercials featuring various CBA and NBA players butchering the Chinese language in a good-hearted attempt to wish China a happy and prosperous New Year.

It’s a yearly tradition in China, one that we here at NiuBBall try to honor by posting online videos of the many New Year promotional spots that play in between telecasts on CCTV-5 and other Chinese sports outlets.

First, the waiyuan of the Chinese Basketball Association:

Steph, going on his third year in China, fluently spits Wo shi Ma Bu Li (I’m Marbury) while Aaron Brooks does a surprisingly decent job saying Wo shi Bu Lu Ke Si (I’m Brooks), especially when you consider that he neither knew the city he was living in, nor its pronunciation.

Next, it’s Wilson Chandler, who goes with the trusty xin nian kuai le (happy New Year). J.R. Smith follows with gong xi fa cai (rich and prosperous New Year). Both do respectably.

Four for four so far with one more Mandarin utterance to go. And with Marbury, the longtime China vet stepping up, a correct pronunciation-to-attempt efficiency rate that would make John Hollinger blush looks all but wrapped up. But Steph does the unthinkable, badly mispronouncing bai nian, bai nian (happy New Year) to both end the five-for-five dream and the commercial.

It’s surprising because Marbury nailed the same exact phrase last year. Why the step back? Was it just an off day? Is Steph finding less time to brush up on his Chinese this year in comfortable Beijing? Or is it because he’s focusing all of his efforts towards locking up the No. 2 seed for the Ducks this season, and a possible NiuBBall MVP award? Whatever the case, fans, teammates and coaches won’t mind because the latter looks like a very real possibility at the moment.

Foreign CBAers aren’t the only ones to speak Mandarin this time of year. Last season, the guys at PEAK, a Chinese shoe company, tried their best to give their season greetings to the Chinese masses. Their attempt to speak Mandarin at an even semi-comprehensible level failed miserably, as did their attempt to say their lines in unison. Their attempt to entertain, however unintentional though it may have been, definitely did not.

Not one to throw in the towel though, PEAK is back with a new spot for the Year of the Dragon, which casts a new lineup lineup featuring Kyle Lowry, JaVale McGee and Dorrell Wright. Too bad for us though, I can’t find video anywhere online. For now at least, this picture will have to do:

Lastly, it’s the NBA’s turn. Though David Stern has made the league’s development in China a huge priority over the last decade, this is the first season where the NBA held an official celebration of the Chinese New Year. The NBA and its Chinese broadcasting partners announced the first ever “Chinese New Year Celebration” shortly before the New Year. Over an eleven day span, a total of 21 games will be shown live in China with customized Year of the Dragon coverage.

To help ring in all of the hoops, almost every NBA superstar appeared in this spot that runs throughout the course of each game:

Ni hao. Ni hao. Ni hao. Ni hao. Ni hao. Ni hao. Boring. And disappointing. Because NBA players have a history of using the local language to wish their Chinese fans a happy New Year. In 2011, the league’s two biggest stars, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, let fly with some Mandarin and though it was positively terrible, the effort was appreciated in these parts.

So yea, we’re bummed at the NBA — not because their non-Yi Jianlian/Jeremy Lin players can’t speak Mandarin — but because they didn’t even give it a shot this year. At NiuBBall, as foreigners who have toiled in front of our teachers and textbooks for several years in an effort to speak Mandarin, we totally support our laowai brothers and sisters who have the willingness to give the language a whirl. No matter how poor the first try may be.

So from all of us at NiuBBall, Happy Year of the Dragon, and all the best in the new year!

Both Chinese and Western internet has been ablaze the last couple of days after J.R. Smith’s sister, Stephanie, got into a physical confrontation with spectators midway through Zhejiang Chouzhou’s away game at Bayi Fubang on January 11th.

According to Chinese media reports filed the morning after the game, Smith’s sister, who apparently was unhappy with a no-call that went against her brother as he went up for a layup during the final minutes of the third quarter, threw a water bottle onto the court before getting into a fight with nearby spectators. Once aware of the situation, Smith ran off of the court in an attempt to climb into the stands, but was blocked by teammates and security.

After security broke everything up, Smith’s sister and Smith’s two other friend who were seated with her were escorted to the team locker room by security. But, the trouble did not end there. At the conclusion of the game, Bayi fans surrounded Zhejiang’s bus and refused to let them leave the stadium until J.R.’s sister came out and apologized. The bus stayed put for 45 minutes before fans finally left the premises.

That’s the story, at least according to the Chinese. Neither Smith, his sister or the team has publicly gone on the record to tell their side of the story since the incident.

Obviously, there’s a big problem with that because Chinese media is notoriously sensationalist and one-sided. There are elements of the story that are undoubtedly true, such as the fight itself, but the events leading up to everything are, at least in my mind, far from crystal clear.

And unfortunately, it appears that those events in question will continue to be hazy. At present, there isn’t any definitive footage of the incident that’s available for the public to see. Though the game was being broadcast on local television, the camera was positioned on the same side as J.R.’s sister. With the altercation happening directly below, the cameraman missed most of the action. And with the game’s announcer (as is usually the case with Chinese sports) calling the game from inside a studio, there was nobody to give a play-by-play from the scene.

So far, this video, taken by a fan sitting across from the section where Smith’s sister was seated, is the best video we have to work with. The video starts after Smith was fouled on the other end. Smith’s sister is dressed in purple and is seated in the first row in center court.

Though the video starts after Smith’s no call, we can see that at no point did Smith’s sister throw a bottle. We do see, however, a lot of people pointing at her. The fight starts at around the 40 second mark and J.R. can be seen trying to enter the stands.

On Friday, the Chinese Basketball Association posted a report on its official website that detailed the results of its investigation. According to the report, Smith’s sister never threw a bottle.

With 3:45 left in the third quarter, Zhejiang’s J.R. Smith went up for a fast-break layup after a steal and was blocked by a Bayi defender. The ball did not go in. Both players hit each other in mid air, causing Smith to fall down. But the referee ruled the contact was not a foul.

Because they disagreed with the ref’s call, Smith’s sister and female friend, who were seated in the courtside VIP seating section, started to yell loudly and hit the table violently, which caused a bottle of water to spill out onto spectators seated below them. Unhappy with the two’s words and actions, a woman sitting next to them tried to dissuade them from carrying on, but because of the language barrier the two sides got into a physical altercation. Stadium workers separated the two immediately.

Once Smith became aware of the situation, he raced into the stands, but his progress was blocked by teammates. Smith did not have an altercation with the crowd. Afterwards, stadium workers and security guards escorted Smith’s friends and relatives into the locker room. The game was stopped for three minutes.

At the conclusion of the game, the woman who fought with Smith’s sister appeared outside Zhejiang’s bus (along with a large crowd) to demand an apology and would not let the bus leave the stadium. However, Smith’s sister and friends were not on the bus. Bayi general manager, along with stadium workers and an on-site game manager patiently addressed the crowd. Finally, after Zhejiang’s general manager came out to apologize, the fans dispersed and the bus left the stadium.

The lesson as always — do your research and don’t believe everything you read in the papers. Still, I don’t think we can make any definitive conclusions about what exactly happened because again, neither J.R., his sister or any other member of their entourage has commented publicly to either Western or Chinese media.

Amazingly, neither Bayi, Zhejiang or Smith were fined, and both teams and the league seem to be moving on.

But what I can’t move on from is how this could have been avoided. How there wasn’t a bilingual Chinese-English speaker sitting next to J.R.’s friends and family is beyond me, especially during a road game against an inter-province rival. It’s impossible to know what was said because it’s impossible for anyone to know what was being said. I just know that it’s easy to get frustrated when people are yelling an incomprehensible language at your face. Perhaps I’m being to optimistic, but I think the situation could have been diffused if someone could have been there to bridge the language and cultural differences.

And I’m also in disbelief at how lucky we all are that this didn’t turn into a full-scale brawl. As some know, Chinese fans have a really, really, really bad reputation in regards to this kind of stuff. I’m actually amazed that the situation didn’t escalate further.

Zhejiang was off on Friday. They play at home tonight against Jiangsu. Heading into tonight’s game, Smith leads the league in scoring at 34.3 points per game and also leads the CBA in fan voting for the All-Star game, which will be played in Guangzhou at the end of February.

This article was originally posted on Sheridan Hoops

BEIJING — J.R.Smith nearly got involved in a fight with some fans at a road game in China after his sister, a spectator, tossed a bottle onto the court to protest a hard foul.

With 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Smith was blocked by Bayi’s center Xu Zhonghao, and fell against an advertisement board. No foul was called.Sitting in the crowd of fans, Smith’s sister and girlfriend were irritated because it appeared dangerous. To show her anger, Smith’s sister threw a bottle into the court.

One female fan who sat in front of them turned back and criticized Smith’s sister for the behavior. A fight broke out between the two women. When Smith saw it, he immediately rushed to the audience area. A Chinese version of the Palace brawl was averted when Smith was stopped by his teammate.

After the game, the woman who fought with Smith’s sister stepped on Smith’s team bus and asked to apologize. But Smith and his sister were not there. She started to instigate other fans. More than one hundred fans encircled the bus for about 40 minutes until local police came. Deadspin has photos.

In the conflict with the fans, Smith’s girlfriend’s hand was injured, and there were rumors she cried in the locker room. Many people worried that Smith would leave China before the end of this CBA season, using this incident as an excuse. Even before this took place, it was rumored that Smith and Wilson Chandler would not be back to the CBA after the break for Chinese New Year.

According to Zhao Bing, the GM of Zhejiang, Smith will not leave China before the end of season. “He will go to Hong Kong after the game with Bayi for the extension of his visa. Then, he will absolutely be back.”

Smith’s sister said via Twitter: “This CBA season is ending, Smith will of course finish it.”

Multiple sources said Chandler plans to return to the U.S. during the Chinese New Year, and may not come back.

Before the season, the Chinese Basketball Aassociation talked big about improving the consistency and quality of its officiating, but like most things related to hoops and China, failed to actually address the main problems (corruption, under-qualified referees) and instead chose to focus on player/coach behavior.

The “Iron Rules,” which were released to public on November 10th, were enacted to“cut down on exaggerated gestures, going up to the referee and pretending to count money and the other little tricks players and coaches use when they are dissatisfied with a referee.” Of course, none of them actually mentioned anything about the referees themselves, because that would be admitting there’s a problem. And in the harmonious CBA, there are no problems. At least as far as league officials are concerned.

Beyond sending international level referees to each team’s city before the season to introduce the new rules and answer questions, the CBA took another step to ensure that everyone was on the same page by handing out a CBA Rules Test to each player and coach a few days before each team’s opening game. All participants were required to take and pass the test in order to officially register for the new season. Luckily for Stephon Marbury and every other foreign player, there was an English version in addition to the standard Chinese one.

Veteran laowai should know though, that (for the most part) there’s no such thing as an “English version” in China. Especially in the CBA, where Robert Downey Jr. occasionally acts as the head coach of the Chinese National Team.

Behold, via NiuBBall sources, selected questions from the English version of the CBA Rules Test. In case you’re wondering, yes this 100% real.

• When players vituperate each other, push each other or any action may lead to fight occurs, can referee charge disqualifying foul directly? YES/NO

• A coach crosses the team bench area or goes to the scorer’s table, pointing at a referee or commissioner and even vituperates them. Should the coach be called a technical foul? YES/NO

Whoa, whoa, whoa. And even vituperates them? Yes, the coach should definitely be called a technical foul. Merely calling him a “meanie” would not go far enough in punishing vituperation.

• Substitutes and team followers speak insulting words, such as ‘fuck’ loudly, in the team bench area to complain to the referee. Technical foul should be called at once. YES/NO

Frustrated by years of coming in second place, the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers brought in the man who has lead the Chinese National Team to the top of Asian basketball this summer, coach Bob Donewald Jr., to get them to the top of the Chinese Basketball Association. To everyone’s shock, Donewald couldn’t even get the team past the Round 13.

In a move that defines basketball with Chinese characteristics, the Flying Tigers have relieved Donewald of his head coaching duties after just 11 games. He will be replaced by the man who was forced to step down in the summer, Jiang Xingquan, who coached the team for the last five seasons. Jiang had been with the team as a consultant after Donewald had been hired. He will coach tonight during Xinjiang’s Round 14 home game against Liaoning.

The decision is a highly surprising one. Fed up from losing in the CBA Finals the last three seasons, Xinjiang went out in the offseason and invested almost roughly US $10 million to upgrade the squad on a number of levels. Their first major change, however, was on the bench. Dissatisfied with the way Xinjiang lost in the Finals last year after going 31-1 in the regular season, management signed Donewald, who has been head coach of the Chinese National team since April 2010, to a record contract to replace longtime coach, Jiang.

The hiring seemed like an excellent move. Beyond having coached Team China to a Round of 16 appearance in the 2010 World Championship, a gold medal at the Asian Games the following November, and a title at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, Donewald has also had success in the CBA. Two seasons ago in his first stint in China, he coached the Shanghai Sharks up from a disastrous 6-44 last place finish in 2008-09, to a magical 25-7 turnaround that resulted with an appearance in CBA semi-finals.

But Donewald was unable to match the insanely high expectations of an impatient Xinjiang team who demands excellence in the regular season almost as much as they do in the Playoffs. Their 7-4 record is the Flying Tigers’ worst start to the season since 2006-07 and in the eyes of management, was unacceptable given the level of investment they put in during the offseason. Faced with a potential reality of a mere top four finish, the team ultimately felt a championship was unobtainable under Donewald’s leadership and the team thus opted to go with the familiar face in Jiang.

According to Sina Sports, the decision was geared by the Xinjiang Provincial Sports Bureau. On Friday December 16th before Xinjiang lost to Guangsha, Li Guanming, the Number One at the Sports Bureau, said at an annual meeting that the success of the Flying Tigers represents the glory of the province, and that losing is unacceptable.

“Xinjiang basketball isn’t just about one man,” said Li. “It’s about the hopes of the 20 million people who live in Xinjiang. We can’t allow this kind of season to continue. If we lose again, then we have to consider making a change.”

Donewald won his next game on Sunday against Jilin, but by then it was too late. During the game, fans could be heard chanting “Fire Donewald!” their volume increasing in the second half when Xinjiang gave the lead away. That may have been the final straw for both the team and the Xinjiang local government, who feel it’s the team’s duty to win glory for the area.

The four losses to start this season were not up to par with other Xinjiang teams from years past, but unlike in previous years, the franchise was undergoing a massive transformation on all fronts that arguably needed some time to gel. In addition to Donewald, the team overhauled the roster with seven new players, including Kenyon Martin, three-time CBA MVP, Tang Zhengdong, who transferred over from Jiangsu, sharp-shooter Zhao Yonggang, who came over from Foshan, and Meng Duo who is on loan from DongGuan. Martin, one of four high-profile NBA-to-CBA players who opted to sign in China during the NBA lockout, was signed to a record breaking deal that made him the highest paid player in CBA history.

Beyond all of that, the team was also coping with the unexpected loss of Quincy Douby, who suffered a season ending wrist injury during the pre-season against Shanghai. Douby, the 2010-11 NiuBBall.com MVP, enjoyed one of the most singularly dominant seasons in CBA history and was considered by many to be the best CBA import of all time after he set single game scoring records for both the All-Star Game and the Finals. In the summer, he was signed to a one-year$2 million dollar deal, which was the richest contract in league history at the time.

Xinjiang, however, was apparently not in any mood to hear excuses, no matter how valid some of them probably were. Their quick trigger in replacing Donewald is indicative of the volatile and unpredictable nature that has come to define this league over the last decade. The people who run the team, similar to people who run the league, are businessmen and government officials who have little knowledge of basketball. The only factors that ultimately matter are the ones on the win-loss record. In the eyes of Xinjiang management, the team went 31-1 last season with a roster that was less talented than this current one. Though they probably weren’t expecting an undefeated season, they were expecting another dominant run towards a championship. For whatever reason, however, the team wasn’t blowing out teams like they were last year. Added to the four losses and Xinjiang felt that the Donewald-era simply wasn’t going to work.

The team will now move forward with Jiang. He is known for leading National Team through their “Golden Age” period from 1991-95 that peaked with a top eight finish at the 1994 FIBA World Championship, an accomplishment which still stands today as China’s best finish in major international competition. In 2002, he headed Xinjiang’s successful promotion campaign that saw the team get promoted from the league’s second-tier B-League up to its premier league. He returned to the team in 2006 after spending time as an assistant with the National Team and a head coach in Liaoning.

Jiang is known as a no nonsense old-school Chinese coach who demands the utmost discipline out of his players. Last May, Sina Sports released Jiang’s strict set of rules that he applies to all of his Chinese players, which include a curfew and a set time for lights out. His inflexible style has been known to create issues amongst players, specifically foreign ones. Last year, his relationship with forward James Singleton got so bad that the two barely talked during the end of the regular season an into the Playoffs.

What Donewald will do in the short-term isn’t clear, but his dismissal from Xinjiang will not affect his status as head coach of the National Team. Said CBA comissioner, Bai Xilin, ”In regards to the current situation this season, his position with the club is a club decision. It has nothing to do with the National Team.” Donewald reportedly signed a four-year deal worth US $4 million with Xinjiang. At present, it is not known as to how that will be dealt with.

Xinjiang plays Liaoning at home tonight before going on the road to play against the team they’ve been trying to get past the last years, Guangdong, on Friday.

Starting your day right with China’s favorite street breakfast and a bunch of links…

• We’re not sure if this “extreme form of basketball” can actually be considered as basketball since there are no baskets… but, it’s still pretty lihai nonetheless.

• Gerald Green wasn’t good enough for the Foshan Dralions, but he’s apparently good enough for the 16-time NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers have reportedly agreed on a deal to bring Green into the Staples Center this season. And Earl Clark, who was with the Guangsha Lions for about seven minutes during pre-season, is back with the Orlando Magic.
• But the most shocking signing of all? Bonzi Wells, who Shanxi Zhongyu fans are quite familiar with, has signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

• Stephon Marbury talking to the New York Times: “I never thought in my life that I’d end up going to China and wanting to spend the rest of my life here.”

• The Triangle offense may be dead in the NBA, but it’s definitely alive (and sort of) kicking in China. The Shanghai Sharks are doing their best to run it with longtime Triangle-disciple Dan Pannagio at the helm, and longtime Phil Jackson assistant, Jim Cleamons, is in Zhejiang running some of its elements at Guangsha.

• Basketball with Chinese characteristics, as Mitch Moxley writes for the Huffington Post, definitely carries over to the Chinese pick-up courts.