Though the Shandong Heroes defeated the Tianjin Pioneers 84-83 on Sunday to claim their first win after the season restarted, their head coach Gong Xiaobin might not be too excited about it because the win came in such a difficult way.

Tianjin's Liu Shuai made a corner 3-pointer to tie the score 83-83 with 54 seconds left. Shandong which had the ball on the next possession were not worried, not only because they were fourth and their opponents were 19th on the ranking table, but also because Shandong already beat Tianjin three times this season.

However, after Chen Peidong missed a three, Shandong's Wang Ruheng tipped the ball to Wu Ke who then missed a free layup. Shandong scored nothing in this possession and gave the ball back to Tianjin with 25 seconds left in the game.

Fortunately, Wu in the next possession denied Shi Deshuai's shot before Shi was called for a foul on Tao Hanlin who then made the game-winning free throw for Shandong.

The difficult point in the last minute was not more than a miniature of the whole game for Shandong. Though coach Gong said he believed in the team's inside advantage before the game, Shandong failed to reach double-digit points after more than eight minutes in the first quarter.

During that period of time, Shandong's four big men, Tao, Wu, Zhu Zhenrong and Jia Cheng had only three points, all by Jia. Wu only buried the team's first 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter. Tao dropped his first point via free throw in the eighth minute of the second quarter.

By contrast, Tianjin, under the leadership of Shi, were totally unstoppable on offense. Shi put down 13 points by himself in the first quarter and Tianjian already established a lead of almost 20 points in the second quarter. They lost in the end only because Shandong had more game options and enjoyed more luck.

Before this season began, not many people expected Shandong to be impressive. Nonetheless, after 30 games, the team ranked No. 4 in the league and remained hopeful for top 3. Though their foreign players have not been able to return, many thought the team could become a dark horse after the season resumed.

However, the cruel reality is, Shandong is still way from able to compete with true heavyweights like Guangdong, Xinjiang and Beijing. None of their four big men was able to dominate the game with signature offensive moves and that's why they were outmatched by Guangdong's Yi Jianlian alone in the previous game.

Before Shandong dreamed of championship, they had a lot of work to do, like improving their free throw shooting (25-41 in Sunday's game) and limiting turnovers (19 in Sunday's game).

Wang Zhelin, Ty Lawson become Beijing's nightmare

The Fujian Sturgeons defeated the Beijing Royal Fighters 121-108 in their first game since the CBA resumption. The victory was possible thanks to the team's biggest and smallest players on the court, Ty Lawson and Wang Zhelin.

How dominant were Wang and Lawson? The two together put down 73 points, 20 rebounds, 12 assists, eight steals and stood on the free throw line 27 times. Wang's field goal rate was an intimidating 70 percent (14-20). As for Lawson, he was simply too fast for any of the opponents to catch and did both scoring and orchestrating well enough.

At the end of the second quarter, Beijing even had to double team Lawson and triple team Wang. The defense move was poorly conceived but it showed just how unstoppable the pair were in the game.

Beijing's foreign aid pair Kyle Fogg and Arnett Moultrie performed well too as they scored 32+6+7 and 25+10 respectively but they were simply outmatched by Lawson and Wang.

Marcus Hunter dominates game for Guangzhou Loong Lions

The Guangzhou Loong Lions beat the Bayi Rockets 104-88 thanks to the incredible performance of Marcus Hunter who claimed 47 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. The Daniel Webster graduate was magnificent from both inside and outside in offense. Not only did he create free throws (and made seven), he also made four shots from downtown. In fact, Hunter played 34 straight minutes in the game and only rested two minutes in the third quarter.

Though they could not stop Hunter, Bayi were persistent enough on the court. In spite of the 10-point trail in the first half, they managed to narrow the score difference down to one point in the third quarter before Guangzhou threw them behind again in the fourth quarter. Five of Bayi's players reached double-digit points and Fu Hao even put down a 13+10 double-double off the bench.

All-Chinese Zhejiang Golden Bulls crash Shanghai Sharks 115-97

Witnessed by 80-year-old Chinese basketball legend Jiang Xingquan, the young men of the Zhejiang Golden Bulls accomplished a big win over the Shanghai Sharks

Zhejiang saw three of their players, Wu Qian, Cheng Shuaipeng, Zhang Dayu all score 20 plus points. Cheng Shuaipeng took over the leading role from struggling Wu Qian in the first quarter by putting down eight points, two assists and two steals. Then Chen Shuaipeng exploded in the second quarter to go 3-3 for nine points.

Wu began to find himself back in the second half. Having scored five points in the third quarter, he went on full power to drop nine points, three rebounds and two assists in the last quarter, extending Zhejiang's lead to 20 plus points.

One interesting scene happened in the second quarter with Zhejiang. Coach Liu Weiwei called a timeout when they were leading 41-30 and what he said was heard by everyone watching the broadcast.

"Boys, it's a basketball, not a hot potato in your hands. You dribble to the ground, not to your foot or to your defender, okay? And don't pass the ball like you are throwing a bomb. Slow down, calm down. They can't get your ball, don't panic and don't pass the ball to your opponent. You are leading now, remember that," said Liu.

Young blood carries Jilin Northeast Tigers over Sichuan Blue Whales 97-85

The victory marked Jilin's second over Sichuan this season.

Sichuan's half-court defense helped send their team to a 10-2 lead at one stage in the first quarter by making Jilin very uncomfortable in the early exchanges. Their big man Li Yuanyu made a shot from downtown to score the first point for Sichuan and he was also the best-performing player of the team. Li went 10-15 to drop 31 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Jilin invested tremendous effort in trying to limit him – the three players defending Li committed a total of 11 fouls – but they just could not stop him.

However, Li alone was not able to carry the whole team. Three of Jilin's young players, Jiang Yuxing, Cui Jinming and Dai Huaibo put down 23, 15 and 25 points for their team. As the first selectee of the 2018 CBA Draft, Jiang led Jilin in coming back by scoring 15 points in the second quarter. Thanks to his explosive performance, Jilin reversed the situation with a 24-9 run.