There is always at least one opponent a team just can't beat, no matter how good that club is.

Tianjin appears to be our nemesis for the 2012-13 CBA season.

Tianjin is a decent team, and we are considered one of the best in the league.

To date, our record is 15-5 and we are in second place, while Tianjin is in 11th and has a 10-12 record.

Even though we have won most of the games this season we were supposed to win, coming back from double-digit deficits night in and night out, we just cannot get it done against Tianjin.

That team has swept us this season!

I won't make any excuses about why we lost to Tianjin at home and on the road. However, I will say that I think long lapses between games definitely contributed to those defeats.

We had five days off before both encounters with Tianjin, and it sure showed.

During Sunday's loss, we were flat from the first jump ball.

Worse, we couldn't knock down many 3-pointers as a team - not even for all the tea in China! We shot 30 percent from behind the arc - 30 percent!

To make matters worse, Tianjin implemented a zone defense, and we wound up shooting ourselves right out of the game.

I have learned over my 30-plus years of playing basketball that these things happen.

Sometimes a team shoots really well and it is as though the basketball is being shot into an ocean.

Other times, no matter how hard a team tries, it shoots nothing but bricks, and it feels as though the basketball is being forced through the eye of a needle.

That is exactly how we felt on Sunday afternoon, when we couldn't buy a bucket on the road.

I have to give those guys credit though. They came to play, and play well they did.

What's done is done, and our last game against Tianjin is history.

Now, our focus is our next opponent: Shandong.

Usually, following a loss, we play well, so, I hope that happens during Wednesday night's road game.

Shandong is playing well, especially at home. It added three foreign players this season - an Asian and two Americans - which is a plus.

Shandong was able to upgrade its roster after finishing near the bottom of the standings last season.

No doubt my teammates and I will have a fight on our hands, but we will be ready.

We just hope our preparations and focus are actually enough to get us the "W".

Stay tuned because this matchup should be fun, and all-out war.

Love is love!

Always, Starbury

Stephon Marbury can be reached at sports@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/15/2013 page24)