I am not going to say that I thought my team, the Beijing Ducks, would not lose a single game this season. I know we are a good team, but every team in the CBA can be beat. To be honest, it was not a matter of if my team would lose, but when.

Unfortunately, we dropped our last four out of five games after starting the season red hot.

Yes, we made history, winning 13 straight games, and going undefeated in the first two months of the regular season. The global spotlight even shined upon us because of our storybook beginning.

Our fast start was important because we are such a young team, and we really needed time to gel. But, how you start is not as important as how you finish.

Take our last game, on Friday against Liaoning, for example. Liaoning was up by 22 points at halftime. I kept telling my teammates, "It's a long game, and regardless of the score, two halves are played in a basketball game, and we can still win."

Believe it or not, we came back and tied the score at 100 with five minutes to go. Then, something unfortunate happened to us. Someone threw water bottles onto the basketball court, and the game had to be stopped for approximately 20 minutes. I am convinced that incident broke our momentum, and the home team was able to pull out a tough win against us.

No one likes to lose. It is not a good feeling. I have lost more games than I wish I had over my 15-plus years of playing in the NBA and CBA.

But I feel like my teammates and I have a real shot at winning big this season.

We still are tied for the best record in the league at 14-4. We want to keep that top spot, which means we will have to make some adjustments, and make them real fast.

For one, we have to play better defense. I am a firm believer that great defense creates even better offense, which leads to easy baskets.

When we were on our 13-game winning streak, we always got off to a quick start. That was our norm. Lately, however, we have been starting games slowly. I think if we pick up our energy and intensity as a team - playing like we are in the playoffs - that will help us get back to our fast start.

Foul trouble has killed us lately, especially with our big men. We just have to work more on moving our feet, and that, I think, will make us less foul-prone.

Something else we have to get better at - making free throws. We have been missing too many free throws, and it is an absolute must that we begin knocking them down. I know I have missed my share, and I am a much better free-throw shooter than that.

As a matter of fact, I know I am a much better 3-point shooter as well. My shot has been off. That is why I am putting in extra time shooting after practice.

As long as we make these adjustments, I think we will be fine.

Like the saying goes, you win some and you lose some.

Hopefully, when it is all said and done this CBA season, we will have won more games than any other team. But most importantly, we will be the last team standing. Love is Love.

Sincerely,

Starbury

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