We came, we saw, we lost. Again.
Once more did the Sharks hustle, fight and play good defence but once again, they found themselves on the losing side and now have a 0-3 record for their troubles.
Gerald Green, the source of more than one jib by yours truly due to the bizarre focus he receives via winning a novelty competition almost five years ago, came good in this one. The forward handled his business on the court like a real All-Star and ultimately was the deciding factor in Foshan, dropping 41 points in a swaggering, all-action display.
Indeed, there really wasn’t too much between the teams for the first three-quarters and accurate shooting from both sides meant that neithier team could pull away.
Enter the fourth quarter and things got interesting. Shanghai, having built up a lead, lost it, slowly and agonizingly as Green and his cohorts ate away at the deficit the Sharks had put together. With a little under three minutes left, Green nailed a booming dunk and the roar from the crowd exploded. It was on. Shanghai knew it and wilted under the pressure. A long range shot from downtown by Green was enough to do it and the Sharks drifted off into another frustrating defeat.
Panaggio looked pissed. Liu Wei looked crest-fallen. It was a tough reminder that only the full-time score counts and yet again, the Sharks found themselves dashed at the end. Liu made 30 points, Mike Harris got 18, whilst Ryan Kelly and Peng Fei looked lively and full of zip. However, the only stat that people will care about is 0-3. Shanghai have shown they can win. Now they need to do it.
Photo: sports.sina.com.cn/
CY
November 26, 2011
Hi, kudos for a very interesting and informative site!
I’ll be heading to Shanghai in December, and I’m planning to catch a couple of Sharks games. I write for an online basketball publication based in Singapore, and am hoping to do a write-up of the CBA experience then. Do you know where I can purchase some CBA and Sharks merchandise? I went over in June but didn’t manage to find any.
Really appreciate any information and advice that you have for me.
Would be nice to talk some Chinese basketball with you too.
Thank you!
funkmusketeer
November 26, 2011
to get some Shanghai merchandise, I’d check out the website’s shop. That will be the best place to but it as I haven’t seen it in any shops. I’d imagine you can buy it all at games too. Hopefully that will do the trick.
http://www.shanghaisharks.cn/EShop/ProductList.aspx?pid=11
When you roll into Shanghai, give me an e-mail and we’ll talk some CBA.
Nice website by the way!
CY
November 27, 2011
Ahhh, thank you!
Your kind comments are very much appreciated, but I’m afraid I’m just a minion of the system and the site doesn’t exactly belong to me!
That’s a nice site indeed, think I can just order from there if I don’t manage to find any at the games! Certainly would like one with player’s name and number on it, though.
I’ll be in Shanghai in late December, will be sure to catch the X’mas game between Shanghai and Beijing. Will be great to see you there then!
funkmusketeer
November 27, 2011
No problem, man. E-mail me ahead of time and we’ll make something happen. Good luck with your article.
Alex
November 29, 2011
My god! Gerald Green scored 41 points! The CBA’s totally bizarre.
Anyway, also dropping by to lend my kudos on an awesome site. I was happy/relieved/a little jealous to find it.
I’m American recently moved to Shanghai to write for the Shanghai Daily (secretly to watch professional basketball). Sadly, I’ve been told the paper’s audience doesn’t care about the CBA, but it looks like I’ll be able to go to tomorrow night’s game and write something about it.
If you’d like to meet up sometime and talk CBA I’d be down!