The Ducks, Led by Stephon Marbury, Head into the Playoffs Tonight

The basketball playoffs are upon us – and I’m not talking about the NBA or March Madness, I’m talking about something that could be even more exciting: the CBA semifinals. 

While you might guffaw, let me make an argument for why the best-of-five series that begins tonight pitting the Beijing Ducks vs Guangdong Southern Tigers could be one worth watching.

The backcourt features former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury for the hometown Ducks and former Detroit Piston Will Bynum for Guangdong. Both of them have shown the ability to score more than 30 points in an NBA game.

Meanwhile the front court clash features China's premier player, Yi Jianlian, for Guangdong, while the Ducks counter with Randolph Morris, last season's finals MVP.

For the last few years, Beijing and Guangdong have been captivating the attention of all Chinese basketball fans. One or the other has have won every CBA title since 2008. Guangdong has won five of those seven titles, while the last four years has seen the two teams trade the top slot – the Ducks winning it all in 2012 and 2014 while the Tigers won in 2011 and 2013.

On paper, top-seeded Guangdong (34-4) is favored over Beijing (27-11), seeded fourth. In addition to Bynum (23.5 points, 8.9 assists) and Yi (27.3 points, 8.1 rebounds), the Southern Tigers also feature Jeff Adrien (14.1 Points, 11.1 rebounds). As the top seed, Guangdong has home-court advantage.

However, the Ducks are the reigning CBA champions and have never been afraid of being the underdogs. In fact, both their championships (in 2012 and 2014) came at the expense of the heavily-favored Tigers. 

The centerpieces of the Ducks for this year are still Marbury and Morris. Marbury (16.2 points, 6 assists) has been inconsistent in the regular seasons and failed to make as large an impact as he has in the past, but we’d never want to underestimate his determination and leadership.

Morris (25.6 points, 10.4 rebounds), the former Atlanta Hawk and New York Knick, well-known for his midrange shooting ability, is the Patrick Ewing for Beijing. He will likely score most of the points for the Ducks.

Following is the full series Ducks vs the Southern Tigers:

Game 1: Feb 25 at Beijing MasterCard Center, 7.35pm
Game 2: Feb 27 at Guangdong, 7.35pm
Game 3: Mar 1 at Guangdong, 7.35pm
Game 4: (if necessary): Mar 3 at Beijing MasterCard Center, 7.35pm
Game 5: (if necessary): Mar 5 at Guangdong, 7.35pm

You can watch the games on TV at CCTV Sports and Beijing TV, or over the Internet at LeTV and PPTV.

Tickets for the Ducks' home games can be purchased online at multiple online ticket outlets such as Maipiaotong and Jixiangpiao. We recommend Maipiaotong. Prices range from RMB 80 to RMB 3,000. Tickets are usually released two or three days prior to the game, so keep an eye on the sites a few days from now to secure your ticket for the fourth game on March 3.

Given that it’s now the playoffs, it might be hard to get tickets from scalpers outside the stadium without paying premium prices.

To get to the MasterCard Center, you can take subway Line 1 and get off at Wukesong Station, come to the ground from exit B1.  If you are taking a cab, tell the driver that you are going to wukesong lanqiuguan.

If you want to be a true Ducks homeboy, wear a Ducks’ jersey that can be purchased on all major online shopping sites, or at least wear the team colors, white or blue. Also remember to shout "MVP" (I know it sounds stupid) every time Marbury scores (extra credit by doing it with a Beijing accent).

Whichever team wins the best-of-five series will go on to face the winner of the other semifinal, between the second-seeded Liaoning Flying Leopards (33-5) and the third-seeded Qingdao Eagles (28-10). While picking the winner of the Guangdong-Beijing series is tough, it might be even harder to predict this one.

While Liaoniang, with former regular season MVP Lester Hudson, is in theory the better team and will have home-court advantage, Qingdao is the only team in the final four that can play with three foreign players, due to the weirdly specific rules of the CBA. Most teams are limited to carrying two foreign players on their roster; however the teams that finish at the bottom of the league each year get to add a third foreign player, though that player must be Asian. By virtue of being a bottom dweller last year, Qingdao now has 3 foreign players on their roster.

Image: Sina.com