Antonio Blakeney (center) of Jiangsu Dragons vies for the ball during the playoff 1st round match between Shanghai Sharks and Jiangsu Dragons at the 2022-2023 season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in east China's Shanghai, April 9, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

The ugly side of competitive sports reared its head in China's top-flight basketball league last week, with two prestigious clubs fined heavily and punished for unsportsmanlike play during the playoffs.

The Chinese Basketball Association on Monday imposed the harshest-ever punishment in league history on the Jiangsu Dragons and Shanghai Sharks for "lack of competitive effort" during their 2022-23 playoff first-round series last week, according to a league statement.

Both clubs have been disqualified from the ongoing season and each will be fined 5 million yuan ($728,000), with their season rankings canceled, according to the penalty issued by the CBA's disciplinary and ethics commission on Monday.

The Sharks' head coach Li Chunjiang, a former mentor of 11-time league champion Guangdong Southern Tigers, and Jiangsu's head coach Li Nan, a former Chinese national team coach, have been banned from registering as basketball coaches for five and three years, respectively, beginning from Monday, the association said.

The penalties were imposed as a result of a league investigation into the best-of-three playoff series, where the Jiangsu Dragons and Shanghai Sharks were found to "have intentionally thrown games "in favor of their opponents, according to the Chinese Basketball Association's statement

Shi Linjie and Jiang Yusheng, general managers of Jiangsu and Shanghai, have been suspended from involvement in any basketball-related jobs for five and three years, respectively.

The penalties were imposed as a result of a league investigation into the best-of-three playoff series, where both teams were found to "have intentionally thrown games "in favor of their opponents, said the league statement.

After dominating Jiangsu 119-95 in the series opening game on April 9, Shanghai unexpectedly rested most of its starters and foreign players in the decisive Game 2 two days later, conceding a 97-90 loss to Jiangsu for the Dragons to tie the series 1-1.

A supposedly do-or-die battle for both clubs, Game 3 on Friday ended up as something of a dramatic farce, which saw Jiangsu players turn the ball over five times in a row during the final 96 seconds in the fourth quarter to squander a 100-96 lead and allow Shanghai a 10-0 run to secure a 108-104 win and advance to the next round.

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During the mistake-prone stretch, Jiangsu's grim-faced head coach Li Nan stayed silent and didn't use any of the team's remaining three timeouts to settle the team, triggering widespread speculation by fans on social media on Friday night that the game result had been fixed.

The hashtag "match-fixing in the CBA" was among the trending topics on China's social media right after the game.

A supposedly do-or-die battle for both clubs, Game 3 on Friday ended up as something of a dramatic farce, which saw Jiangsu players turn the ball over five times in a row during the final 96 seconds in the fourth quarter to squander a 100-96 lead and allow Shanghai a 10-0 run to secure a 108-104 win and advance to the next round

The CBA announced on Saturday that it had launched an investigation into the "suspicious way "the game ended and promised to severely punish any unsportsmanlike conduct.

"It's been quite a saddening weekend," CBA president Yao Ming said during a media briefing on the investigation on Monday. "Both teams have long histories … both teams have developed milestone figures for Chinese basketball. We feel quite grieved speaking of this yet having to make the decision (of the penalty).

"We conducted a very prudent investigation into the matter to help us make precise and legitimate decisions based on facts," said Yao, who took over the CBA as president in 2017 and won reelection in December to continue leading the governing body.

"For sports games, the most important thing is reputation and integrity, rather than ability. Credibility is what everybody, every team, the league and the association is based on.

"We need to draw a profound lesson from this and make some radical changes for the future."

The Shanghai Sharks apologized to fans in a statement on Monday afternoon and said it will launch an internal investigation to further correct any wrongdoings. "We will do whatever it takes to repair the club's tarnished image and try to win back fans with fair and professional performances," said the Sharks in a statement.

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The Jiangsu Dragons said in a statement on Monday that it accepts and will carry out the punishment, adding that an interim group has been named to deal with the aftermath while recruiting a new head coach and a new general manager to prepare for next season.