Beijing Ducks begin life without Jeremy Lin by storming off court in protest

CBA side took issue with late call in game against Shenzhen Aviators, refusing to play for 10 minutes

Coach Xie Libin refused to comment on his actions before team appeared to protest in cryptic post on social media

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Beijing Ducks head coach Xie Libin reacts during the match against Qingdao Eagles earlier this month. Xie led his team off in protest against the Shenzhen Aviators. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 4:05pm, 11 Jan 2021Updated: 4:05pm, 11 Jan 2021

The Beijing Ducks began life without Jeremy Lin by storming off the court after a late refereeing call in their loss to the Shenzhen Aviators on Sunday, in one of the biggest controversies of the Chinese Basketball Association season.

Playing their first game since Lin confirmed that he was moving to the NBA G League with the Santa Cruz Warriors, the Ducks were level at 92-92 with 1.7 seconds left of the fourth quarter.

Shenzhen’s Askia Booker missed a buzzer beater and the game appeared headed for overtime but the referee whistled play back to check for a possible foul after Booker claimed he was impeded.

After consulting the video playback, the match official decided that despite Booker landing on Liu Xiaoyou, it was a foul by the Beijing player. He fouled him out for the technical foul and awarded Shenzhen three free throws.

Askia Booker (right) of the Shenzhen Aviators breaks through against the Beijing Ducks in the Chinese Basketball Association. Photo: Xinhua

Cue controversy as the Beijing players protested with the referee against the decision.

They were then led off by coach Xie Libin. The players spent 10 minutes off the court before the game was resumed for Booker’s free throws, which he sank to settle the game 95-92 to Shenzhen and extend their winning run to eight games.

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