Leader Xinjiang suffered its second straight loss on Wednesday, beaten by Shandong 110-100 in the 27th round of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Wednesday.
Michael Beasley and Pooh Jeter combined for 68 points for Shandong with Beasley also grabbing 17 rebounds.
Xinjiang's Shirelijan scored a team-high 25 points while Zhou Qi and Andray Blatche had 18 points each, with Blatche pulling down 17 rebounds.
Lacking precision, Xinjiang fell six points behind at the beginning, before Beasley extended Shandong's lead to 23 points in the first quarter.
Five domestic players of Xinjiang had better teamwork and managed to cut the gap to 10 points for a while in the second quarter.
Rising star Zhou Qi, 2.17-meter center, led Xinjiang to a strong fightback, but Shandong kept a 22-point lead thanks to super play by two international players.
Xinjiang cut the difference to nine points in the last quarter but there wasn't enough time left,.
Defending champion Beijing swept Qingdao 127-108, although the former NBA star Stephon Marbury was suspended as he had questioned referee in social media.
In Wednesday's other games, Sichuan beat Aolong 113-100, Zhejiang downed Guangsha 125-116, Bayi hammered Jilin 98-91, Liaoning defeated Fujian 119-102, Guangdong smashed Jiangsu 109-84, Shanxi tamed Tianjin 136-107, Shanghai won over Shenzhen 120-105.
In Tuesday's game, Foshan suffered its 14th straight loss, going down 112-120 to Tongxi and becoming the first team shut out of the playoffs.
