Li Nan, former head coach of the Chinese men's national basketball team, failed to win his CBA debut as his Jianngsu Dragons lost to the Qingdao Eagles 102-94 on Saturday.

Having bumped against the wall continuously when signing foreign players, Jiangsu had to send an all-Chinese squad to the season opener. However, the team took another hit as their franchise player Wu Guanxi sprained his ankle in less than four minutes of the first quarter and quit the game.

Wu's post on Weibo after the game further upset Jiangsu and their fans: "I wanted to stay on the court healthy but I can't control everything. The last thing I want happened."

Despite the victory, Qingdao lost their shooter Zhao Tailong. In the sixth minute of the third quarter, Zhao fell onto the ground and stayed there for a long time before he was carried out on a stretcher.

To be fair, Jiangsu's young boys showed something in the game in spite of the loss. They once wiped out a double-digit trail in the third quarter, though the team still needed to be more consistent. Jiangsu's first-year rookie Zheng Qilong was given 30 minutes on the floor and dropped 20 points, four rebounds and three assists, refreshing the rookie debut score record of the CBA. Huang Rongqi who was traded to the team last season also did a good job by putting down team-high 22 points.

The new CBA season was extended to 56 games. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and Li's journey with Jiangsu has just begun.

In the other game on Saturday, the Zhejiang Golden Bulls crashed the defending champions Guangdong Southern Tigers 138-113. This victory put an end to the Golden Bulls' awkward 18-straight-loss record against the Southern Tigers.