BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Former NBA player Jordan Crawford scored 72 points in a match, but not enough to deliver Tianjin a victory over Sichuan in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Friday.
Tianjin wanted a win badly before the game, and their shooting guard Crawford got 20 points in the first quarter to help Tianjin take the lead.
In the following quarter, Crawford made efforts to take back the lead, but he could not tackle three international players of Sichuan. Tianjin would miss the playoffs with the 113-104 loss as they ranked 19th with five wins and 23 losses so far.
Five players of Sichuan made more than 10 points. Meanwhile, Chinese players of Tianjin only got 21 points.
Defending champions Beijing suffered a 108-96 loss to their old rivals Liaoning. Liaoning had the lead all the time, and their lead once reached 30 points in third quarter. Stephon Marbury of Beijing had 38 points, seven steals and six assists. Guo Ailun of Liaoning has a season-high 32 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds and four steals.
In other games, league leader Xinjiang beat Qingdao 109-100, Foshan lost to Jiangsu 116-109, Guangdong defeated Beikong 129-111, Guangsha beat Shenzhen 104-90, Shanxi stunned Bayi 95-67, Shanghai crushed Fujian 99-85, and Shandong outscored Tongxi 98-82.