ASIA – The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) season has advanced all the way to the finals. There will only be a few games left before a new champion will be crowned and another ticket to the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2019 will be secured. The two remaining contenders: Guangdong Southern Tigers and Xinjiang Flying Tigers.

CBA Finals 2019: The Teams

There is little to no surprise that the Southern Tigers are here at the final stage of the season. The mighty club started the season with an 18-game winning streak before finishing the season with only 4 losses in all of the 46 games. With that 42-4 record, the Guangdong Southern Tigers easily claimed the number one seed in the CBA Playoffs and will have homecourt advantage heading into this series.

Guangdong are ridiculously deep, loaded with among the top talents of the entire country in each position. Their balance and high-level personnel are the reasons why they’ve been able to smash the opposition with average margin of victory at 21.4 points per game. Coach Du Feng’s squad led the league in scoring with a blistering 120.4 points per game and were the most efficient team on offence, shooting 52.8 percent from the field while no other team even hit the 50.0 percent mark.

The Southern Tigers aren’t a three-point shooting reliant team, ranking among the bottom half in attempts, but they are deadly taking the three ball at 39.7 percent to be the best long range shooting team in that regard. It hasn’t been a case of just overwhelming talents taking over the game by themselves either, as Guangdong are second in the league in assists with 23.4 dimes per match.

The last time Guangdong lost a game was over two months ago, which has also been their only loss so far after New Year’s day.

Guangdong’s challengers are the Xinjiang Flying Tigers who were among the top-ranked teams throughout the season as well.

(Xinjiang Flying Tiger, Photo Credit: CBA)

The Flying Tigers have had their issues going through multiple foreign player changes and the current duo of Kay Felder and Jarnell Stokes were only late season additions. However, throughout the changes, Xinjiang has peaked at the right time on their way to the finals riding the strength and cohesion of their top players.

Guangdong have lorded over the CBA on offense this season, but Xinjiang are not that far behind. They are second in scoring (114.2 points per game) and 4^th in efficiency (49.3 percent from the field).

This finals matchup will be a battle stretching nearly the entire country of China with Xinjiang placed in the top left corner of the country and Guangdong based on the lower right coastal edge.

CBA Finals 2019: The Coaches

The CBA Finals will be an epic clash between Du Feng (Guangdong) and Adiljan Jun (Xinjiang). Both are natives of Xinjiang and both have claimed CBA titles as coaches; Feng in 2013 with Guangdong and Adiljan twice in 2003 and 2007 with the Bayi Rockets. In an interesting twist, between the two championships Adiljan won, he suffered three straight losses in the finals to Guangdong whose star point guard was none other than Du Feng at the time.

This is Adiljan’s first year with Xinjiang after a long time coaching the Bayi Rockets. Du Feng also returned to the helm with Guangdong this season, winning Coach of the Year for the team’s successful regular season campaign.

CBA Finals 2019: The Players

There will be no shortage of star power throughout this CBA Finals series.

The foreign players of Guangdong (Sonny Weems and Marshon Brooks) and Xinjiang (the aforementioned Felder and Stokes) all have extensive NBA experience and are producing with high quality.

The two local aces for each team are also annual award winners for the 2018-2019 season and both were in the running for the Most Valuable Player award that eventually went to Wang Zhelin.

(Yi Jian Lian, Photo Credit: CBA)

At 32 years of age, Guangdong’s Yi Jian Lian is still as dominant as he has been. In 38 games, Yi averaged 21.4 points on 61 percent shooting with 9.3 rebounds per game. He missed out on being named for his 4^th MVP, but was instead awarded as the Defensive Player of the Year with 1.4 blocks and 1.1 steals per contest. The former 6^th pick of the 2007 NBA draft has been proving that he is still at the peak of his powers, being only one of 4 players to average 2 dunks per game.

Guangdong have been a bit more conservative with Yi’s minutes in the playoffs and he’s been able to upgraded his numbers to 22.6 points, 11.4 boards, 1.4 blocks, and 1.7 steals on 68 percent shooting in the past 9 games.

(Abudushalamu Abudurexiti, Photo Credit: CBA)

Xinjiang will be countering with their budding star, 23-year-old Abudushalamu Abudurexiti. After three mild seasons of flashing potential, Abudurexiti took a leap as the team’s superstar and averaged 18.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game on 63 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Compared to modest numbers of 7.4 points and 4.4 boards per contest last season and it was no wonder he was awarded the Most Improved Player of the Year award.

Abudushalamu continues to improve even as the season progresses, now putting up 21.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, and 1.7 steals in these 9 games leading up to the finals.

The supporting cast for both teams are just as impressive and will be just as important to each team’s success.

(Zhou Peng, Photo Credit: CBA)

Zhou Peng (15.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists per game), Ren Junfei (14.6 points, 6.3 boards), and Zhao Rui (11.2 points, 3.5 assists) are all national team members and could be leading stars on other teams. While they might not be the leading man, they are key important pieces to Guangdong this year. The trio have the potential for at least one big game each in these CBA finals.

(Li Gen, Photo Credit: CBA)

Xinjiang’s other major contributors include Li Gen (12.1 points, 2.0 rebounds), Yu Changdong (8.5 points, 5.3 rebounds) and team captain Kelanbaike Makan (6.9 points). Xinjiang relies a bit heavier on the gaudy output of their top three stars, but the cohesion and familiarity of the core group could possibly be the team’s greatest strength.

CBA Finals 2019: Regular Season Matchup

Xinjiang holds claim to one of the four losses dealt to Guangdong this season, in a 130-126 home victory on New Year’s Day. It also took an overtime session for Guangdong to beat Xinjiang early in November to win by merely 2 points. So while Guangdong holds the regular season series record 3-1, it’s closer than fans might think.

(Photo Credit: CBA)

However, it also must be reminded that the Xinjiang win and the overtime game required supernova performances from Foreign Player of the Year, Darius Adams, who is no longer with the team. Adams scored 52 points in the New Year’s victory for the Flying Tigers and poured in a 61-point triple-double in the close overtime loss.

Xinjiang will need those big games from either Felder/Stokes/Abudurexiti to counter the multiple options Guangdong are ready to fire at them. In 3 of the 4 matchups, the Southern Tigers had 6 players score at least 10 points while the remaining game had “only” 4.

Another key figure the Flyinger Tigers will have to focus on is the three-point shooting of Guangdong. The Southern Tigers hit at least 10 three-pointers in 3 of their 4 games against each other while the only game they failed to reach double-digit long range shooting was their loss.

CBA Finals 2019: Past History

Both teams have plenty of history in the CBA Finals and will extend that legacy further this season.

Guangdong are arguably the most successful franchise in the CBA with 13 finals appearance, and an all-time tying 8 championships. Over an unbelievable decade of domination (with De Feng as floor general) from 2003 to 2013, Guangdong played in every single finals series.

Xinjiang, on the other hand, has been to 5 finals series, all of them in this past decade with one title to their claim.

What makes this year’s finals matchup so intriguing is the history between both teams with a championship on the line. For both teams, 4 of the last 5 finals appearances have been against each other. As a matter of fact, the three consecutive CBA finals from 2009 to 2011 were between these two clubs.

(Photo Credit: CBA)

In 2017, Xinjiang won their first ever CBA title in a 4-0 sweep against Guangdong. It was a big breakthrough for Xinjiang who had lost their first four finals series. Guangdong will surely have that season’s ending on their minds as they aim for revenge.

Will Xinjiang be able to double down and deal Guangdong their second straight finals defeat or will Guangdong get their first CBA title in 6 years?

More importantly: Who will get China’s ticket to the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2019?