In Game 3 of the CBA playoff quarterfinals, the 11-time champion Guangdong team suffered a 73-88 road loss to Beijing, falling 1-2 in the series and being eliminated from the championship race, missing out on the semifinals entirely. With Guangdong’s exit in the quarterfinals, a 23-season streak—dating back to the 2002-03 campaign—where either Guangdong or Liaoning was guaranteed a spot in the semifinals has come to an end. For over a decade, these two powerhouses mirrored the NBA’s storied Lakers-Celtics rivalry, with both teams advancing to the semifinals nine times in the past 11 seasons and combining for seven titles. Now, both have crashed out before the semifinal stage, marking the definitive end of the legendary Liaoning-Guangdong playoff duel.
Let’s start with Guangdong. This season, the team went all out, bringing in stars like Sallinger, Samner, Quinn, McCall, Cui Yongxi, and Jiao Boqiao. However, due to injuries and other issues, the team never fully found its rhythm. In the first round of the playoffs (Round of 12), Guangdong suffered a shocking 17-point loss to Guangzhou but managed to rally and win two straight to advance to the quarterfinals. Against Beijing, their roster shortcomings were exposed, and their elimination came as no surprise.
As for Liaoning, after losing to Guangsha last season, the team fell apart last summer. Key players like Zhang Zhenlin and Fogg departed, Han Dejun retired, and Liaoning was no longer a championship contender. This season, they struggled even during the regular season. In the first playoff round, they won Game 1 on the road against Shandong, giving fans hope of reaching the quarterfinals. But they collapsed in the next two games, losing consecutively and being eliminated by Shandong in a dramatic reversal—their first time missing the quarterfinals in 14 years.
With Liaoning eliminated in the first round and Guangdong ousted in the quarterfinals, this year’s CBA semifinals will feature neither team for the first time in decades. Since the inception of the CBA in 1995, only three times (including this season) have both Guangdong and Liaoning failed to make the semifinals. In other words, for 28 of the past 31 seasons, at least one of them reached the final four. The 23-year streak, from the 2002-03 season through last season (2024-25), was a remarkable CBA record.
Over the past decade-plus, Guangdong and Liaoning have dominated. Both produced great generations and built their own three-peat dynasties—Guangdong winning three consecutive titles from 2019 to 2021, and Liaoning matching that from 2022 to 2024. In the last 11 seasons, they met in the semifinals nine times, with a peak stretch of eight straight years from 2014-15 to 2021-22. Their dominance was unmatched. But now, both teams have fallen. Liaoning’s collapse makes a return to the top seem distant, and Guangdong’s future is equally uncertain. This elimination night, while Guangdong fans mourn, it might be Liaoning supporters who feel even more pain. Farewell to the Liaoning-Guangdong rivalry. Farewell to an era that defined the hearts of their fans.
