Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) ballclub Guangdong Southern Tigers has gained a lot from a recently held pre-season match against the PBC CSKA Moscow during the EuroLeague China Tour this week.

With the Chinese superstar Yi Jianlian  not playing anymore for the Guangdong Winnerway (Hongyuan) Group-owned professional basketball club, head coach Du Feng has stated that his team has picked up an ample of lessons from its 101-75 loss to the Russian professional basketball team, who are the reigning EuroLeague champions. Yi is set to play for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA.

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"It's actually a victory for us, though we are 26 points behind on the scoreboard," Du said. "You don't often have chance to challenge a world-class team such as CSKA, and our players learned a lot."

According to Xinhua, Chinese guard Zhao Rui led the eight-time CBA titleholder team by scoring team-high 19 points. The 20-year-old is playing his first season with Guangdong and is likely to fill the shoes of Yi for the upcoming 2016-17 CBA season.

"Zhao is a smart player," said Du. "Sometimes he might be a little unstable but he can really do a lot of things."

Guangdong kicked off the first quarter with a strong start being in the front seat for most of the duration of opening period before the visiting Russian club pulled away with the lopsided victory win, with three-time All-Euroleague First Team member Milos Teodosic on the hardwood for 27 minutes. Both teams delivered high-level performances which excited the crowd time and time again.

Guangdong has recently hired the services of the former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer for the league's new season. The Southern Tigers is said to be ready to compete for its ninth CBA title, according to China Daily Asia.

EuroLeague China Tour concluded with the Moscow-based basketball club obtaining two straight victories. The friendly matches have been covered by China's CCTV, Tencent and LeTV.

Tagschinese basketball association, CSKA Moscow, Yi Jianlian, guangdong southern tigers, euroleague, carlos boozer, NBA