Guangdong suffered a 15-point defeat in Game 3 of the quarterfinals on Wednesday night, falling to Beijing and being eliminated from the CBA playoffs. Although Guangdong entered the game as underdogs on paper, they held a 10-point lead early in the second quarter and kept the gap within single digits for long stretches. However, a series of controversial calls—most favoring Beijing—shifted the momentum. One particularly egregious error resulted in Beijing scoring five points in a single possession.
With 4:23 remaining in the second quarter and Beijing trailing 32-24, Jieman missed a three-pointer but grabbed his own rebound before hitting a corner three. Prior to Jieman’s shot, Zhou Qi pushed Zhang Haojia from behind—a clear foul that went uncalled. As Zhou and Zhang collided and fell to the floor, the referees blew the whistle on Zhang, deeming it a defensive foul. Jieman’s three was counted, and Beijing received two additional free throws, netting five points and cutting the deficit to just three. This 3+2 sequence significantly altered the game’s flow.
A refereeing expert (from “Referee’s Shortcut”) analyzed the play, calling it a “clear inversion of the call.” He stated: “Zhou Qi initiated contact from behind while boxing out for the rebound, delaying Zhang’s movement. The referees didn’t blow the whistle on that. Then, when the more obvious contact occurred, Zhang had almost no action—Zhou Qi grabbed his waist with his left arm and pulled him backward. It was clearly a pulling foul committed by Zhou Qi. At that point, the ball was already in the air, so the points should have counted. But the foul should have been on Zhou Qi, not Zhang. This was a wrong call.”
The misjudgment not only trimmed Beijing’s deficit from eight points to three but also visibly affected Guangdong’s morale. The team later surrendered an 18-3 run, a stretch directly linked to the controversial call.
