Tracy McGrady scored 22 points as his team Qingdao Doublestars lost to Zhejiang 129-122 in the 30th round of Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) here on Friday.

McGrady wasn't in the startling lineup and earned only three points in the first half. Chris Daniels paced Qingdao with a team-high 34 points.

Five players of Zhejiang hit 10-plus points, and Forbes top-scored with 42 points.

Daniels, an ex-NBDL player, buried two three-pointers at the very beginning as Qingdao set up a 15-7 advantage. But Zhejiang bounced back and narrowed the gap to three points when the first quarter ended.

The visitors took the upper hand in second quarter and established a 20-point lead midway in the third quarter. Qingdao managed to cut down the deficit to seven points with three minutes remaining, but could not get closer thereafter.

"This game is of great significance in our bid to reach the playoffs, and we did a good job today," said Zhejiang coach Wang Fei.

Zhang Shizhang, head coach of Qingdao, blamed weak defense for the loss.

"We got more than 110 points, and it's enough," Zhang said. "However, we let Zhejiang score 129 points, so it is defense in which we should improve."