SHANGHAI - Shandong Heroes beat Shanghai Sharks 90-86 Wednesday in a warm-up game before the restart of the 2019-2020 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) season.

The CBA season is set to resume on Saturday after nearly a five-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The beginning of the game witnessed a seesaw battle. Shanghai's defense has bolstered with captain Zhang Zhaoxu having returned from a nine-month injury layoff. However, Shandong managed to take the lead thanks to their inside scoring after Zhang was off the court.

In the second half, Shanghai readjusted its defense strategy without the leadership of their captain and once established an eight-point advantage in the fourth quarter. But the Heroes couldn't hold onto it and were finally reversed by Shandong.

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"Although it's not a formal game, it helped me get back a little confidence since I haven't played with a CBA team for a long time. I'll get ready for the compact schedule in the next few days," said Zhang.

The CBA season is set to resume on Saturday after nearly a five-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Matches will be played behind closed doors in a championship-style format in Qingdao, in east China's Shandong province, and the southern city of Dongguan in Guangdong province.