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Marbury's debut: Angry fans and a blown save

Sunday, 31st January 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (4)

UPDATE: The "journalist friend" mentioned below is Anthony Tao, who was in Taiyuan on assignment for Deadspin. He wrote and reported The Lone Wolf in China, along with a photo gallery.

Stephon Marbury just finished his first game in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Here are a few quick observations:

+ According to a journalist friend who was at the game, Shanxi fans were not happy with the referees, and not shy about showing their disgust. They threw lighters and shouted "Hei shao" (black whistle), accusing the officials of taking bribes.

+ Was the refereeing actually bad? I wouldn't know because only the last few minutes of the game were broadcast on CCTV-5. The national sports channel stuck to its regularly scheduled programming, a home game for the Bayi Rockets, the People's Liberation Army team led by Wang Zhizhi (first Chinese player in the NBA). You don't mess with the PLA's airtime.

+ Marbury clearly was not informed of his role on the team. With 22 seconds to go and down one point, he dished the ball from the top of the key to a man just above the baseline who didn't have much of a scoring opportunity. The play ended up in free throws, which the Shanxi shooter split to tie the game. A Marbury foul at the other end, followed by a made free throw, put Dongguan New Century up 102-101. With 5 seconds left and down one point, Marbury brought the ball up and dished to forward Maurice Taylor for... wait for it... the three! Psst: Stephon, your job was just to drive and score or get fouled. And Mr. Taylor, you had no excuse for being so far from the basket.

+ Shanxi team huddles during timeouts looked chaotic. Coaches spent more time talking to, and apparently arguing with, each other than they did talking to the players.

+ I've never seen a CBA gymnasium so packed. Less than 50 percent attendance seems to be the norm, but Taiyuan had a full house for Marbury's debut.

+ Apparently, even with a sellout crowd, Chinese gyms are still uncomfortably cold. Most fans wore heavy winter coats.

+ The bottom line: Marbury played 28 minutes, had 15 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls, plus two blown chances to be the savior in a 1-point loss.

Tags: CBA, Maurice Taylor, NBA, Shanxi Zhongyu, Stephon Marbury, Taiyuan