Just days after announcing a three-year extension with head coach, Brian Goorjian, the DongGuan New Century Leopards are now looking to bolster their backcourt in an attempt to give him the tools he needs to achieve his long-term goal of a CBA title.
According to Sina, DongGuan is in heavy pursuit of Jilin GBT Northeast Tigers point guard, Yu Shulong.
“We have real interest in acquring Yu Shulong,” said DongGuan general manager, Wang Jue to reporters yesterday. “But whether we can succeed in that, we still need to continue to consult with Jiiln.”
Wang added that the team would be open to trading players in exchange for Yu.
A point guard on the National Team for both the 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, Yu was expected to continue his development in Jilin and build towards a run at London this summer. But to the dismay of many, Yu saw his minutes decrease dramatically this season after management elected to sign Jordanian National Team starting point guard, Osama Daghlas, as their specially designated FIBA Asia Import. Averaging 35.5 minutes per game with 29 starts in 32 games in 2010-11, Yu only played 15.5 minutes per game this year and started four games. He also accumulated eight DNP-CDs.
As a result, Yu was not selected for Bob Donewald’s National Team training camp roster and thus will not be playing in the Olympics in August. Instead, he was selected for the Olympic U-23 Team, which essentially acts as the development team for the senior squad.
Jilin finished the season in 12 place with a 14-18 record.
DongGuan’s desire to add Yu is consistent with their emphasis on acquiring and developing young Chinese players over signing high-priced foreign players. Though ownership is not short of cash, DongGuan has been the league’s lowest spenders on imports over the last two seasons. Two seasons ago, they signed Josh Akognon and Jackson Vroman. This past season, they brought back Akognon while replacing Vroman with Shavlik Randolph. But despite not throwing big money at foreign players, DongGuan has enjoyed tremendous success recently: Third place in 2010-11 and fifth in 2011-12.
Yu would be a good fit in DongGuan. The 22 year-old has National Team experience and is one of the better young guards in the CBA. Capable of playing both guard spots, he’d also add some versatility to a DongGuan backcourt that struggled at times with depth issues last year.
Qingdao’s Lester Hudson shot the ball way more than anybody else in China this year. (Photo: Osports)
The 2011-12 CBA season is officially in the books. And so are the different numbers and statistics that were accumulated over the years. Now, they’re on a computer screen in English for your enjoyment. If there were any numbers that stood out to you this season, feel free to write them in the comments.
More good post-season CBA wrap stuff to come…
59: Combined amount of field goals (38) and free-throws (21) attempted by J.R. Smith against Shanxi on January 8th. He finished the game with 58 points. Zhejiang lost the game at home 128 – 110.
60: Points scored by J.R. Smith against Qingdao on February 1st, the most scored in a single game this season and third all-time. Andre Emmett holds the league’s single-game record with 71, achieved in March 2010. In the game, J.R. hit 14 threes which is the second most ever made in a single game behind the 15 Leon Rogers made in 2008-09.
2: Number of altercations with opposing team fans J.R. Smith’s sister, Stephanie, got into this season. She was eventually banned by the team towards the end of the season in early February from attending home and away games.
24: Threes shot by Lester Hudson against Shanxi on January 18th. He made 10 of them and finished the game with 45 points. Qingdao lost at home 110-106.
481: Amount of three-point shots taken by Lester Hudson over 32 games, most in the league. Second was DongGuan’s Josh Akognon with 368.
851: Total number of field goal attempts taken by Lester Hudson, most in the league.
15-17 and 12-12: Shots made and attempted by Liaoning’s Han Dejun, the first of which came on December 23rd against Shanxi; the second against Foshan on January 11th. Han finished the year with a 57% field-goal percentage.
41: Points scored by Qingdao’s Li Gen against Beijing on February 11th, a season high for Chinese scorers. It was also a career high for Li. He finished the year as the league’s top Chinese scorer with a 17.5 point per game average.
1952: Career assists by Shanxi’s Lu Xiaoming, most all-time in CBA history. Lu passed Jiangsu’s Hu Xuefeng on February 15th against Guangdong.
8392: Career points scored by Bayi’s Wang Zhizhi, second most all-time in CBA history. Wang passed Liu Yudong, who finished his career with 8387 points, on February 12th against Liaoning.
8711: Career points scored by Zhu Fangyu, most all-time in CBA history. Zhu passed Liu Yudong on January 1st against Jiangsu.
9 and 10: The total number of wins for Jiangsu and Bayi this season respectively, both of which are franchise worsts.
18,000: Number of fans who attended Games 1, 4 and 5 of the CBA Finals, a CBA record for attendance.
59%: Marcus Williams’ three-point shooting percentage according to Sina.
After missing Wednesday’s Game 4 with an injury, Tim Pickett returned to rip apart DongGuan for 43 points and 15 rebounds as Xinjiang moved on to win do-or-die Game 5 in Urumqi. Xinjiang will face Guangdong for the fourth straight season, this time in the semi-finals.
After getting off to a slow start offensively with Ike Diogu on the floor, Xinjiang head coach, Jiang Xingquan, subbed Pickett in at the midway point in the first quarter and immediately the longtime CBA vet showed that his injury wasn’t going to affect his game, blowing by a DongGuan defender in transition for a lay-up. But, it was in the second quarter where Pickett made his mark, leading an 11-0 run that included a couple of deep threes. By halftime, the Flying Tigers had taken a 62-43 lead, and essentially the game.
For DongGuan, Josh Akognon scored a team-high 29 points, but his 1-12 shooting from the three-point line meant that the Leopards could never really get into a rhythm offensively. As a team, they finished the game 2-26 from the outside. Getting beat by 12 on on the offensive glass and turning the ball over 22 times didn’t help matters either. But for DongGuan, who are stocked with one of the most promising young rosters in the league, a Game 5 loss in Urumqi — arguably the toughest place to play in the CBA — the loss may just be a small bump in the road as head coach Brian Goorjian looks geared to build better things next season.
The Shanghai Sharks’ season is over following defeat to the visiting Shanxi Dragons in a thrilling 121-114 shoot-out. Marcus Williams and Charles Gaines came good in crunch time for the guests, who capitalized on Shanghai’s disorientation in the fourth quarter and will now advance to the next phase of the CBA playoffs.
When a three from Williams made it 100-89 to the visitors with a little over five minutes left on the clock, things looked grim for the Sharks, whose season looked to be fading away rapidly although Liu Wei wasn’t going to led the game slip away without a fight and his crisp bank shot gave him 30 points with four minutes left and the score at 105-98. Sensing the playoffs were within touching distance, the visitors then began running down the clock. Defiant cries of ‘lets go Shanghai’ rang out from out the Yuanshen but it was too late for the Sharks, who had to repeatedly send Shanxi to the line to try to get the ball back.
In the closing seconds, Mike Harris was sent to the bench after losing his cool with the referees (albeit to the sounds of an ovation from the home fans) before Liu fired home the final shot of the game but neither incident mattered to the final outcome of the game, which was now clearly out of reach for the home team. When the buzzer sounded, Shanxi quietly left the court to celebrate in their dressing room, leaving the Sharks to embark on their lap of honour now that the season was officially over. A visibly upset Liu acknowledged the applause from the crowd, as did Harris and Marcus Landry, who may well have played their final games for the Sharks.
Liu scored 32 points whilst Landry picked up 28 and Zhang got 18 in a gutsy, exhausting defeat. Shanxi will now play Beijing in the semi-finals thanks to the accuracy of Williams (35 points) and Duan Jiangpeng (22) and the brute force of Gaines (28 points, 22 rebounds).
Down 31-7 at one point in the first quarter, DongGuan somehow found a way to comeback and snatch a shocking win to send their series with Xinjiang back to Urumqi for a do-or-die Game 5 on Friday night.
Xinjiang’s Tim Pickett was out with an injury, but the team seemed poised to overcome the loss of their high scoring import by storming out to a 24-point lead in the first quarter. In need of a change, DongGuan head coach, Brian Goorjian, inserted Josh Akognon into the lineup, who quickly went on a one-man tear to cut the lead to 13 by the end of the quarter. DongGuan cut the lead to 10 by half before finishing the third once again down 13.
But in the fourth, Shavlik Randolph took over. Hitting a couple of huge threes to go along with several buckets around the hoop, the former Duke star help spur a run that saw the home squad take the lead midway through the quarter. With the floodgates completely open, the points kept on rolling and by the end of the game, DongGuan had outscored their opponents 40-19 in the final frame to take an eight point win.
Randolph finished with 26 points on 10-17 from the field, Akognon had 38 and Gu Quan had 15. For Xinjiang, Ike Diogu had 29 and seven, while Xirelijiang continued his strong offensive play with 29 points on 6-10 from three.
Xirelijiang came up with one of the games of his life, scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in 45 minutes to help lead Xinjiang stave off a 0-2 deficit. In his second game in China, Ike Diogu looked much more comfortable shooting 12-19 from the field to finish with 29 points and nine boards. Tim Pickett added 12 and Mengke Bateer had 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
With Tim Pickett feeling the effects of a hamstring injury that caused him to miss morning shootaround, Ike Diogu took the reigns and then some, pouring in 42 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to give Xinjiang a 2-1 series lead over DongGuan. Showing a well-rounded offensive game, Diogu displayed an array of spins, drives and post-ups to score while also showing his ability on the perimeter by splashing 4-7 from three. Mengke Bateer added a double-double of his own with 15-10 and Xirelijiang scored 24.
In a furious fourth quarter that saw both teams score 37 points, Josh Akognon did his best to try and will his team to a win. But his 42 points ultimately came up short as DongGuan could never get over the hump. Down 2-1 in the series, they’ll have to win the next one in Guangdong to keep themselves from crashing out of the post-season.
Despite a furious fight back in the final stages of the game, the Shanghai Sharks fell to their hosts, 99-95, meaning that Shanxi are now a game away from the playoff semi-finals. The Dragons owe tonight’s win to Charles Gaines, who emerged from the shadow of Marcus Williams to illustrate how important he was to Shanxi’s championship aspirations. The no-nonsense forward was a willing battering ram for the home side, who had to hold on for dear life in the dying seconds of the game whilst Shanghai, for the second successive game, just didn’t have the rub of the green that could have otherwise gifted them victory.
The middle stages of the game were controlled by Shanxi until, with barely two minutes left on the clock, Shanghai got themselves within a basket of tying the game and the Dragons were staying ahead of their guests only through some generous calls from the officials. The game went back and fourth until, with less than twenty seconds on the clock and Shanxi leading 96-95, Charles Gaines, who had been the Brave Dragons most dependable player, missed a set of free-throws and suddenly things got really chaotic. The Sharks, taking a time-out, restarted on the halfway line and whipped the ball over to Marcus Landry, who was creeping around by the Shanxi perimeter. With the game up for grabs, time seemed to stand still as the American’s shot hung in the air only to clip the front of the rim and bounce away to safety. Shanghai, desperate to get the ball back, fouled Pan Jiang and sent the guard to the free-throw line, where the Chinese converted his first attempt before scuffing the second one. Gaines, eager to finish the game on a high note, then acrobatically collected the rebound and whilst still in the air, forcefully jammed the ball home to the delight of the home crowd.
Gaines’ 31 points and 17 rebounds were critical in ensuring victory for the Dragons whilst his American team-mate, Williams, scored 28, and point guard Lu Xiaoming got 15. For the Sharks, Landry stood out with a fantastic 31 point haul whilst Harris picked up a 20 point, 10 rebound double-double as Shanghai came close to snatching victory but must now win the next game between the two sides or their season is over.
There are big games, there are huge games and then there are games where you are two-nil down in a playoff series and come back to win in the final seconds having been down by almost twenty points down at half time. Tonight was in the third category and the result means that the Sharks will be taking Shanxi back to Shanghai for Game 4 of this topsy-turvy series following an absolutely HUGE second half that saw the visitors find themselves with their backs to the wall only to respond with a performance of the highest order
It would be well into the fourth quarter but the Sharks eventually reached daylight and from that point onwards, an increasingly nervy Brave Dragons side looked awestruck by what was going on around them. Though Charles Gaines was chipping in with lay-ups, Marcus Williams looked like he was in pain after an earlier collision with Meng Lingyuan. In the meantime, the Sharks had not only tied the game, but taken the lead when Marcus Landry coolly dispatched a three-pointer with less than a minute to go. Gaines dispatched a set of free-throws shortly afterwards but with less than twenty seconds left, the game was tied at 99-99 and the Sharks, with momentum on their side, had the ball.
The moment of truth was now upon the Sharks and having restarted on the halfway line after the obligatory time out, the Sharks dished the ball out to Landry, who let the clock run down for as long as he could before charging into the paint, drawing the foul and dispatching the two free-throws. 101-99, Shanghai. Following the Dragons’ own restart, Shanxi then implausibly chose to put the ball in the hands of Williams, who hadn’t looked like himself all night as opposed to the red-hot Duan Jianpeng, who had already buried eight shots from downtown. The American’s effort clipped the edge of the rim and then fell into the hands of Harris, who held it for the final second or two to confirm the Sharks’ improbable victory.
Landry scored 24 points, whilst Liu Wei (23), Mike Harris (22), Zhang Zhaoxu (12) and Wang Yong (11) all made crucial scoring contributions to the Sharks’ last gasp victory. Despite, Duan’s game high haul of 36 points that included eight three-pointers, the Dragons must now come back to Shanghai for Game 4 of this series against a suddenly rejuvenated Sharks outfit.
Zhu Yanxi and Randolph Morris each scored a team-high 20 points and Stephon Marbury, Chen Lei and Zhai Xiaochuan all put down double-figures as the Ducks used a team effort to comfortably handle the visiting Lions in Game 2. 21 Lion turnovers contributed to the lopsided scoreline, six of which where commited by Wang Zirui.
Rodney White was better than his Game 1 performance with 23 points and 10 and P.J. Ramos had 22-10, but Guangsha’s Chinese players weren’t able to offer much in support.
After six years since their last appearance in semi-finals, Beijing is once again a Final Four squad. Beijing raced off to a big lead in the first quarter and gave it up in the second before putting the game away with a huge run in the third to sweep Guangsha out of the playoffs. Randolph Morris finished as the game’s high scorer with 31 points and Stephon Marbury had 24.
Starting Rodney White, Guangsha managed just 13 points in the game’s first frame and found themselves down 11 by quarter’s end. But with Ramos on the floor in the second quarter, Guangsha looked much more balanced and in control on offense, fighting back to take the lead heading into half-time. Beijing took the lead again in the third, but waited until midway through the quarter to make their big move. With the score at 60-55 with a little over six minutes to go, the Ducks stormed to a 20-11 run to make the score 80-66. They never looked back — now they’re looking forward to a semi-finals series against either Shanxi or Shanghai.
Seven Southern Tigers scored double-figures as Guangdong used its familiar home court to take a commanding 2-0 lead against Fujian. Adding to Anthony Roberson’s injury that will keep him out for the remainder of this series, all-around defensive ace Zaid Abbas missed this one with an ankle. Will McDonald tried to carry the Sturgeons with 24 points and 17 rebounds, but this game was pretty much over before it started after Guangdong hung up 37 in the first quarter to take a 15 point lead into the second quarter. Aaron Brooks lead all Guangdong scorers with 23.
Guangdong picked up the brooms, scored 137 points and swept Fujian to an early vacation. The 137 points stands as the second most amount of points scored in the CBA this season. The only team who scored more this season was Jiangsu, who won 142-127 against Jilin on February 15th. (H/T hoopCHINA)
Down one heading into the locker room at halftime, Guangdong outscored their opponent by nine in the third and 24 in the fourth to get the big win. Injured, both Anthony Roberson and Zaid Abbas missed the game, which forced Will McDonald to deal with the four-time defending champs basically on his own. With all attention on him, he scored 13 points. Aaron Brooks finished with 31 points, James Singleton with 21 and Zhu Fangyu 25.
A wretched third quarter and some dire shooting from the free-throw line condemned Shanghai to a painful 90-85 home defeat in game one of their playoff series with the Shanxi Brave Dragons. The hard work now beckons for the Sharks, who must now go to the north of China and win at least one of the next two games in Taiyuan to remain in the playoffs. For the Brave Dragons, Marcus Williams made 37 points, Charles Gaines picked up a beefy 27 point, 19 rebound, double-double whilst Duan Jianpeng got 10. For Shanghai, Mike Harris scored 22 points whilst Zhang Zhaoxu got 18.
‘We executed out game plan, we kept the score in the range we wanted to keep it in but unfortunately we didn’t make our free-throws’, acknowledged Shanghai head coach, Dan Panaggio, at his press conference. Though acknowledging that his side could have won the game had they been more clinical when they went to the line, Panaggio also stressed the unique situations that come with postseason games. ‘This is playoff basketball, and if you look at the history of playoff basketball, statistics decrease during a playoff series’, he stated in response to a question about the team’s scoring in the second half. ‘Teams have a week to prepare for one team, not three teams in a week- you’re preparing for one. [Shanxi] know our personal and we know theirs’.
The Sharks’ coach also made it clear that his side were nowhere near out of the series after one game and that he fully believed in his players’ ability to rally back from tonight’s defeat. ’We’ve got ourselves in a tough spot but we’re going to go up [to Taiyuan] and battle’. Having underlined his own intensity and determination, now Panaggio’s players must do the same on Friday when the Dragons host Shanghai in game two of the series.
Widely seen as a major underdog in their opening round series, DongGuan came away with an important Game 1 victory at home against Xinjiang.
After being dominated on the offensive glass in their Round 33 regular match-up in Urumqi, DongGuan limited Xinjiang to a small +3 advantage. The home squad also got pretty hot from downtown, hitting 13-28 from three as a team. Shavlik Randolph 31 points and 14 rebounds, Zhang Kai came up with 16 points and nine boards, and Josh Akognon put in 24.
Meanwhile, Xinjiang struggled to find a consistent rhythm playing their first game without Gani Lawal. The team shot just 39% from the field and came up with only 11 assists. Newcomer Ike Diogu scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds in his CBA debut. Tim Pickett struggled to get going, scoring 19 points on 6-22 shooting, while Mengke Bateer had 18 and 11.
The series will move back to Xinjiang tonight, where the Flying Tigers have only lost twice all season.
Without the injured Anthony Roberson, Fujian was no match for Guangdong, who turned up the intensity to record an easy blowout victory. Wang Shipeng, who has largely been in hibernation for most of the winter, came out of his cave for team-high 24 points. Aaron Brooks came up with 22 points and eight assists, and Zhou Peng had 18 points.
For Fujian, Will McDonald did his best, playing a full 48 minutes for 33 points and six rebounds. Zhao Tailong had 25 points.
Once towards the top of the standings, is Guangsha even going to make the playoffs? That’s the question after the Lions were blown out in Urumqi on Friday. After rebounding with a strong game in Round 28, Wilson Chandler reverted back to passively shooting jump shots, finishing 4-16 for 10 points.
The game was never close. Xinjiang’s Tim Pickett got off to a hot start and continued to stay aggressive on offense, scoring 35 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Gani Lawal contributed with 15 points and eight boards and Mengke Bateer put in 15. The win is Xinjiang’s fourth straight and puts them in seventh place, while Guangsha drops to sixth.
Guangsha feeds of Chandler, who when he wants to be is the toughest individual matchup in the league. However, a long-term NBA deal likely on the table whenever he returns to the NBA, Chandler’s priority appears to lie within maintaining his health in preparation for his big payday.
The Shanghai Sharks came, they saw, they got lit up. Shanxi’s high scoring duo of Marcus Williams and Charles Gaines did exactly what their guests were hoping they wouldn’t and blew Shanghai away with some red-hot shooting. After a plucky first half from the Sharks, the Shanxi Brave Dragons’ demolition men coolly stepped up a gear and promptly ripped the Sharks asunder with a devastating final twenty minutes of huge threes, marauding drives to the basket and some deft low post action. It was not pleasant viewing for a Shanghai fan.
Although the Sharks limped their way over the hundred-point mark themselves, the margin of defeat was telling and the visitors now make their way back to Shanghai after eventually losing 119-108 to a rampant Shanxi team that is almost certainly bound for the playoffs. Williams finished on 44 points, Gaines got 37 of his own whilst Ren Junhui’s 11 points meant he also got in on the double-digit party for Shanxi.
Meanwhile Mike Harris picked up a double-double of 37 points and 12 rebounds for Shanghai, Marcus Landry got 23 points and Liu Ziqiu continued his quiet resurgence with a gutsy 14 points but the Sharks now have to win four from their final five games to have any chance of making it to the postseason. Tough times just become a lot tougher.
DongGuan got 35 points and 16 boards from Shavlik Randolph and Josh Akognon had 27 as they beat visiting Liaoning by 13 at home. Thanks to Randolph’s activity in the frontcourt, DongGuan went +7 on the offensive glass and forced the visiting squad into 10-27 from the three-point line. The Jaguars, who have won just two road games the whole year, got nothing out of Josh Powell, who played only 16 minutes, picking up four points and three rebounds. At 14-13, they have put themselves out of the playoff picture and could slip further if they lose tonight at Fujian.
Alan Anderson shot an amazing 42 shots to tally 54 points, but his individual shootaround wasn’t enough for Shandong to come up with the win. J.R. Smith shot 29 shots to get 41, but Zhejiang’s balanced support in Josh Boone (19 points), Ding Jinhui (15) and Chang Chunjun (13).
J.R. Smith scored 60 points and broke a CBA single-game record with 14 threes. I’ll let the video to the rest of the talking.
–Jon Pastuszek
Fujian – 132 @ Guangsha – 125 (2 OT)
Wilson Chandler’s 36-21 wasn’t enough to keep visiting Fujian from getting a much needed split on their Shanghai-Guangsha road trip to keep their playoff hopes very much alive. Zaid Abbas, Will McDonald, Anthony Roberson and Gong Songlin combined for an insane 121 points as only Zhou Qixin and Yang Genglin were the only other two players to score.
11-loss Guangsha now faces a critical road test at Xinjiang on Friday. A win will put them squarely in mess that is the CBA playoff race, a win will give them some breathing space.
–Jon Pastuszek
Shanghai – 84 @ Xinjiang – 89
A Shanghai Sharks team got close but couldn’t win against a Xinjiang Flying Tigers side that showed flashes of real talent and menace but also looked brittle at times. Having stayed with the Flying Tigers throughout the game, a crucial ninety seconds decided everything. Firstly, Shanghai’s Mike Harris fouled out and Mengke Bateer converted his second free-throw from the foul to make the scores 82-82. A clutch three from Xirelijiang and then a lay-up form Shanghai’s Zhang Zhaoxu made it 85-84. With 17 seconds on the clock, the Sharks then managed to turn the ball over not once but twice and the Tigers confirmed victory in farcical fashion and that frankly was a little harsh on a visiting side that played with 100% effort.
Lawal scored 19 points and picked up 15 rebounds whilst Picket also got a 15 point, 12 rebound double-double. For Shanghai, Landry got a game high 20 points, Harris made 15 and Zhang got 10.
A tough loss for the Sharks mean that they fall out of the post-season places with another tricky away game (Shanxi Dragons) waiting for them on Friday. (What’s worse is that they’ve lost the tiebreaker to Xinjiang — their head-to-head record is even, but their head-to-head point differential, Xinjiang +1, gives them the edge in the event that they finish with the same record. You can thank that last steal by Pickett on Liu Ziqiu for that one. — Jon) Shanghai will need to regroup and play with the same zest against the Dragons that they showed in Urumqi if they are to have a shot at keeping their playoff dreams alive.
–Andrew Crawford
Liaoning – 108 @ Guangdong – 122
34 points from Aaron Brooks and 28 from James Singleton gave the Southern Tigers a rare game of total import dominance, as the only Chinese players to check in with double figures were Zhou Peng and Zhu Fangyu. It’s Guangdong’s 10th straight win.
–Jon Pastuszek
Jilin – 98 @ DongGuan – 120
Jilin makes it 0-2 on what will soon be an 0-3 Guangdong-DongGuan-Fujain road trip as they start to plan their spring off-season. And hey, maybe Jilin knows that more than we do — Cartier Martin only played 14 minutes and Osama Dahglas played 10. Wait, did I say off-season? I mean months and months of burning out their bodies with mindless practices. For the Chinese players.
DongGuan’s Josh Akognon continues his hot post-Spring Festival break with 31 points. If he stays hot, DongGuan will be a tougher team to beat come playoff time.
A nervy Shanghai Sharks held on to beat the Fujian Sturgeons after a flurry of clutch three pointers pulled the home side away from danger in the closing seconds of the game. Anthony Roberson was a constant menace for the visitors and lit up the Sharks at times in the second half. A commanding performance from Liu Wei and some gutsy three-pointers from Wang Yong were critical to giving the Sharks victory but this was a game that could have gone either way in the crucial stages but for once, the luck was with Shanghai.
Roberson scored a game high 39 points that included 7 three-pointers, whilst Zaid Abbas (17 points, 16 rebounds) and Will McDonald (17 points, 11 rebounds) got themselves double-doubles. For Shanghai, both Liu and Mike Harris made 20 points, whilst Wang got 15, Marcus Landry scored 13 and Zhang Zhaoxu got 10 in an evening of high drama.
A relieved Coach Panaggio was happy with a tight victory but knows that away games against Xinjiang and Shanxi are coming round the corner and that his side can’t relax for even a second. ‘I’m very happy with the win but we were somewhat lucky’, he noted in a concise press conference. With the squad still adjusting to the loss of Ryan Forehan-Kelly, the Sharks’ boss was also quick to praise a number of players who have stepped up since the forward injured himself in December, particularly Liu Ziqui, who had a strong defensive game and made the crucial shot to ensure victory for the Sharks; ‘we’re a better team when he’s playing at the level he’s at [right now]‘. The Sharks’ will need all the big contributions they can get now that the post season is getting closer and closer.
The battle of third and fourth place ended with a big home win by Guangsha thanks to a bounceback 28 point, 10 rebound effort by Wilson Chandler. Jin Lipeng, coming off his usual spot on the bench, had a much improved 18 point performance, while Lin Chih-chieh cashed in 23. P.J. Ramos clocked in with a double-double – 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Josh Akognon went off for 40 points, Shavlik Randolph had 29 points and eight rebounds.
With the win, Guangsha is now even with DongGuan in the loss column. But because DongGuan has a larger head-to-head point differential, they own the tiebreaker in the event that both teams finish the year with the same record.
In a shock upset, 14th placed Tianjin took out J.R. Smith and the Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls. In his first game for Tianjin, newly signed Herve Lamizana thrashed the visitors for 37 points and 12 boards. Donnell Harvey also got into the 30-10 act with 34 points and 12 rebounds.
J.R. Smith went for 37 points on a staggering 19-22 from the free-throw line, but once again it was his sister, Stephanie, who stole the show. Midway through the third quarter, she got into it with several Tianjin fans and before finally exiting, threw up two middle fingers to the entire stadium.
Zhejiang has now lost six out their last eight are currently out of playoffs sitting in ninth place.
Jiangsu remains winless on the road and Beijing continues to take steps to lock up the No. 2 seed with plenty of time to spare in the 2011-12 season. Zhai Xiaochuan set a career high with 25 points, a nice accomplishment that was only made nicer by the 12 rebounds he snagged. As they have for most of the year, Beijing got it done with balanced scoring as five players put in double-digit point totals.
Still on the shelf with injuries, Chen Lei an Lee Hsueh-lin did not play. But their returns are expected within a week or two and when they do finally hit the court, they’ll give the Ducks a much needed boost in depth that they sorely lack at the moment.
The Brave Dragons’ Year of the Dragon got off to a terrible start in Shandong after they lost in convincing fashion to team all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. In one of the rare games where you’ll see both teams trot out an all Chinese lineup for the first quarter, Shanxi went into the intermission down 16 points before scurrying into the locker room at halftime down 25. Shandong’s Wu Ke, who is averaging 8.5 points on the season, looked like a superstar with a highly efficient 25 points on 7-11 shooting and 13 rebounds. Alan Anderson had 21 and Othello Hunter pitched with a double-double of 19 and 12.
Stephon Marbury put down arguably the best single-game performance of the season — and his case for CBA MVP — with a super efficient 45 point, 12 rebound, 11 assist triple-double as the Ducks took out J.R. Smith and the visiting Golden Bulls in Beijing.
Losing by five heading into the fourth quarter, Beijing outscored their opponents 28-14 to snatch the win. Much of that was through Marbury, who put in two separate personal runs of five and seven straight points. Marbury, who played 43 minutes in all, turned the ball over only once, shooting 15-29 from the field and 10-12 from the free-throw line.
J.R. had himself a nice individual game with 39 points and eight rebounds, but only finished with one assist.
Once considered title contenders, Guangsha slipped further down the standings after losing their sixth in seven games, with the latest loss being dealt by league powerhouse, Guangdong.
Up for most of the first half, Guangsha seemed poised to put their string of bad results behind them. But, Guangdong came out firing in the third quarter with 38 points to put them up by a comfortable margin before the home team made it slightly interesting in the fourth. Wilson Chandler continued his offense anemia, shooting a ghastly 1-10 from three en route to a ho-hum 24 points.
Aaron Brooks finished as Guangdong’s high scorer with 26, while Wang Shipeng and Zhu Fangyu did their job offensively with 24 and 23 points respectively.
With the win, Guangdong becomes the first team to clinch a playoff spot and once again look like the strong favorites to win the title.
For now at least, normal service at the Yuanshen has been resumed as the Shanghai Sharks eased to victory over the DongGuan Leopards. Mike Harris returned to the line-up after the death of his brother and conjured up a sensation performance to help Shanghai beat their guests, 110-97. The away side struggled to contain their hosts’ forwards and Shavlik Randolph failed to get any momentum going in a game where he was mercilessly heckled by the home crowd from start to finish. The Sharks keep their winning record going into the New Year break and now stand at 13-11 with eight games to go in the regular season.
To top of an emotional night, a last-second substitution allowed Harris to get an ovation from the crowd, the coaching staff and the owner himself, Yao Ming as the game clocked faded to zero. The returning Sharks forward had picked up 38 points and 12 rebounds while Marcus Landry (24), Liu Wei (18) and Liu Ziqiu (14) also had themselves double-digit shooting nights. For DongGuan, five Leopards players also got significant hauls; Josh Akognon (24 points), Randolph (23), Qiu Biao (15), Qu Guan (11) and Zhang Kai (10).
In his press conference after the game, Dan Panaggio was keen to congratulate Harris on his gutsy performance, noting that the forward had arrived back in Shanghai at around 3:30pm that day and had got himself to the game 30 minutes before the tip-off. ‘He just wanted to get back to his team’, added the Sharks coach, before revealing that Zhang Zhaoxu had persuaded him to sub Harris off so that the American could get his ovation from the crowd. Equally, Panaggio looked relieved to have got the victory to keep the Sharks in contention for a play-off spot but was also keen to stress that there was still several crucial games to come once the season restarts on January 29th. ‘I’m grateful to have won this game…but our job is still in front of us and it is a difficult one’.
The Flying Tigers made it 0-2 on their two-game Shandong roadtrip, losing to a struggling Shandong team three days after getting spanked by Qingdao. Xirelijiang, who kept Alan Anderson under 10 points in the two team’s first encounter earlier in the year, wasn’t given a chance to guard the former Michigan State standout and Anderson responded with 32 rather effortless points. Othello Hunter pitched in with 22 points and 10 boards.
It was Xinjiang’s 11th road loss of the year, tying them for the worst road record in the league.
Liaoning’s inconsistency reared its ugly head again in Jilin after the Jaguars came up empty against non-playoff outfit Jilin on the road. Cartier Martin did it to the visitors with 38 points and seven rebounds. Osama Dahglas nearly missed out on a triple-double, going for 15 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists.
Josh Powell, who has been the subject of constant rumors the last couple of weeks, managed only two points and nine rebounds. Though Liaoning has one of the more talented domestic rosters, they’ll need much more from their American big man if they’re to have any shot of advancing in the post-season in March.
Xinjiang and Zhejiang played a very physical and intense match that ended with Xinjiang coming out on top. Gani Lawal, who sat for most of the first half after the Flying Tigers got off to a slow start offensively, came back with a vengeance and then some in the second, scoring 20 points and grabbing 21 rebounds, 14 of which came on the offensive end, in just 28 minutes. Tim Pickett had a nice game as well, finishing with 32-6-6.
Entertaining throughout, the game ultimately unraveled in the end for Chouzhou because Josh Boone and J.R. Smith both fouled out with over four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the latter fouling out on an offensive foul. Frustrated at the referees, who let a lot of physical play under the basket slide, Smith whipped the basketball at the nearest referee, which resulted in his second technical of the game. He got his first earlier in the third quarter after he jawed back and forth with Lawal. Smith had a number of incredible individual plays, including an off-the-wrong-foot slam that he powered home after dismissing three defenders with a slick crossover. He finished with 41 points, but came up goose eggs in the assist department.
The Leopards stayed in second place thanks to 40 points from Josh Akognon, 23 from Shavlik Randolph… and a translating error from Foshan.
With the shot clock off in the fourth quarter, the Dralions saw themselves down two with the ball. Foshan head coach, Jay Humphries Shi Liping, called a time-out to draw up a a last second play. The Dralions came out of the huddle and went pick-and-roll for Michael Maadanly, a play which resulted in a miss and ultimately the loss. But after the game, Humphries Shi told reporters that his team wasn’t supposed to run pick-and-roll — instead, Maadanly was supposed to pass to Marcus Haislip for the game winning shot — and blamed the miscommunication on the team’s translator.
How do you follow up a season low 12 point performance on Friday night? If you’re Wilson Chandler, you kick up a notch with an eight point Sunday night on 3-12 shooting. The loss is Guangsha’s fourth in a row, a particularly head scratching development after the team had beaten every contending team but Guangdong over the first half of the season.
Rodney Carney had 29 for the winners, who were also helped by 18 points from han Dejun, 15 from Zhang Qingpeng, and 11 each from Liu Shunan, Yang Ming and Li Xiaoxu. Liaoning are now streaking to the tune of three games in a row. Liaoning’s 12-2 home record means that if they can get into the top four, they’ll have a very sizable advantage over their first round opponent.
–Jon Pastuszek
Bayi – 98 @ Beijing – 112
Calling a win against Bayi a “bounce back win” is pretty redundant when almost every team in the league has bounced them around this year, but Beijing did get a much needed victory to keep the pressure on DongGuan in second place.
Randolph Morris lead all Duck scorers with 27, rookie Zhu Yanxi hit for 25, and Stephon Marbury ran wild with 24 points and 10 assists on only one turnover. Perhaps in a move aimed to save their best guns for another day, Bayi head coach Adijiang rotated 11 players, choosing to rest key starters Zhang Bo and Han Shuo for their upcoming game on Wednesday against 16th place Tianjin. In 26 minutes, Wang Zhizhi scored 27 and grabbed nine boards.
Despite the noise from packed Yuanshen Gymnasium and a frisky first-half performance, the Shanghai Sharks couldn’t pull off an upset victory against the Guangdong Tigers. With Mike Harris out of the line up due to family reasons, the Sharks needed maximum focus from their remaining squad but after a solid start, but Shanghai condemned themselves to another defeat after a poor third quarter allowed the Tigers take control before going on to win by the resounding margin of 101-85.
By the start of the fourth quarter, the one-two punch of Zhu Fangyu and James Singleton had opened up a twenty point lead. The Sharks were fighting to keep their heads above the water and Guangdong’s 80-60 lead underlined the Tigers’ dominance. A furious Shanghai rally at the start of the quarter, led by Liu Wei’s 10 point flurry only served to enrage the champions further, and Singleton went on a mini-scoring spree of his own to punish the Sharks for their obstinacy. The former Clippers/Mavericks/Wizards forward had no qualms with baiting the crowd and at one point gestured to the Yuanshen to keep on booing him after perfectly sinking a brace of free-throws, neatly reflecting both the ruthlessness and swagger of the champions’ performance.
The final buzzer rang shortly afterwards and sparred the Sharks any further embarrassment considering that the scoreboard was already at 101-85 to Guangdong. For the Tigers, Singleton earned himself a double-double (27 points, 10 rebounds), as did Zhou Peng (16 points, 10 rebounds) whilst Zhu (21) and Aaron Brooks (17) made it into double figures from the floor. Marcus Landry made 23, Liu got 19 and Tseng Wen-ting picked up 15 but once again, Shanghai were kicking themselves after another bad third quarter and the Sharks’ losing streak now stands at three-in-a-row.
–Andrew Crawford
Xinjiang – 97 @ Qingdao – 115
Xinjiang’s miserable season continued with a miserable loss on the road to Qingdao, pushing their miserable road record to 3-10. Lester Hudson contributed the most to the Flying Tigers’ sorry performance on both ends of the court by baptizing their entire backcourt with nine splashes from downtown en route to 41 points overall. Playing against his former team, Xue Yuyang also got into the act by netting 20 points, 12 of which came from behind the arc.
The Flying Tigers have been simply atrocious on defense recently, giving up 100 or more points in four of their last five games. Forget championship, now officially out of a playoff position at 11-11, they’ll need to fix things up on that side of the ball if they even want to make the playoffs in March.
The city of Shanghai got exactly what it wanted this Christmas as it’s basketball team defeated the Beijing Ducks in a gritty, compelling match that saw both sides have their chances to win the game. Beijing had the lead going into the fourth quarter but a comeback win was made possible when Ryan Forehan-Kelly helped eat up the seven-point deficit before Mike Harris almost tore the rim down with a go-ahead dunk, before the Sharks made the win safe with cooly taken chances on the fast break.
Three Shark players got themselves double-doubles; Forehan-Kelly (25 points; 13 rebounds), Harris (21 points; 13 rebounds) and Zhang (16 points; 13 rebounds), whilst for Beijing, Randolph Randolph scored a game high 26 points and Stephon Marbury got a double-double of his own, racking up 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Guangdong survived a home scare against always dangerous Shanxi. Down 109-106 with 17 seconds left, Guangdong’s Chen Jianghua went to the line with a chance to put the game on ice. He missed both, but unfortunately for the visitors, Charles Gaines missed the rebound and turned the ball over right back to the home squad. Zhu Fangyu followed by hitting both of his free-throws to put the game out of reach to give Guangdong their 12th win of the year.
James Singleton put up 20 points and 17 rebounds, Aaron Brooks dropped 21 and Zhu Fangyu and Wang Shipeng each contributed 15. The super foreign combo of Gaines and Marcus Williams each scored 35 points, but the team got little from anyone else, including the game’s biggest offender, Duan Jiangpeng, who was bottled up for just four points in 40 minutes.
Life after Bob Donewald and Kenyon Martin took on an added obstacle on Sunday night as Patty Mills, the team’s lone import at the moment, sat out with a hamstring injury. Playing with an all-Chinese lineup, the Flying Tigers put up a good fight in DongGuan and even took the lead in the second half. But ultimately, the lack of a true point guard came back to get them in the end as Xinjiang turned the ball over 21 times, including a few crucial ones down the stretch, resulting in their second straight loss in Guangdong province.
Josh Akognon scored a game high 24 points, Shavlik Randolph added 17 and Qiu Biao had 15 for the Leopards, who move into sixth place with an 8-7 record. Xinjiang’s consolation may have been Tang Zhengdong, who had his strongest game of the year with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
We’re not so much shocked by the fact that the Lester Hudsons Eagles won a game on the road, but rather that they won with three non-Hudsons (Olumide Oyedeji, Xue Yuyang and Li Gen) scoring more than 15 points.
Xinjiang, coming fresh off a disappointing loss on the road against Shanghai in Round 11, failed to come up with a bounce back win in Hangzhou on Friday night, losing to Guangsha in a game that was never really in doubt. The loss brings Xinjiang down to a disappointing 6-4 start to the year, and it also marks the team’s first losing streak in five years.
Besides featuring a clash between two three loss teams, the match-up also pitted former Denver Nuggets teammates, Wilson Chandler and Kenyon Martin, against each other. In the fourth quarter the two guarded each other for most of the frame. K-Mart made nothing easy for Chandler, forcing him into to several tough shots, some of which the talented forward made and some of which he missed. Chandler finished with 31 points and 13 rebounds on 11-28 shooting. Six players for Guangsha finished in double figures, including P.J. Ramos who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
For Xinjiang, Patty Mills did all he could with a game-high 39 points and 6 steals, but he didn’t get much help elsewhere. Xu Guozhong had 17 points, most of which came via Mengke Bateer’s precise passing from the post (11 assists) and Xirelijiang had 10, but the Flying Tigers struggled to get double-digit production from elsewhere.
–Jon Pastuszek
Shanxi – 90 @ Shanghai – 92
Shanghai continue to make the Yuanshen a difficult place to come to (they are now 4-1 in Shanghai) and tonight claimed another scalp in front of their home crowd. A fantastic spell of basketball over the course of two-and-a-half quarters was almost undone when the Sharks allowed the dangerous duo of Marcus Williams and Charles Gaines to get up a head of steam. Shanxi had their hosts against the ropes in the fourth quarter and clutch performances from Mike Harris and Meng Lingyuan were vital in keeping the Sharks ahead when the full-time buzzer blew.
Harris made 30 points and 11 rebounds, “Max” Zhang Zhaoxu also got himself a double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) whilst Meng got 10 points and six rebounds. Worryingly, Ryan Forehan-Kelly left the game injured and could be out for a while. This means the Sharks could go into their next game Bayi without Liu Wei, Tseng Wen-ting and now Forehan-Kelly, who has argueably been their most consistant player so far this season. For Shanxi, Williams picked up a game-high 31 points, six rebounds and six assists whilst Gaines got himself a double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds).
–Andrew Crawford
Beijing – 107 @ Tianjin – 101
Zhu Yanxi had a career day with 26 points and 11 rebounds, Stephon Marbury scored 35 points and Randolph Morris added 21 as Beijing went to 11-0 on the season. Tianjin got the game within five points at around the five minute mark, but some timely stops and good work on the defensive glass kept Beijing in front for good. Donnell Harvey lead Tianjin with 26 points and 15 rebounds.
–Jon Pastuszek
DongGuan – 117 @ Liaoning – 95
DongGuan dealt Liaoning their second home loss of the year and catapulted themselves into a playoff spot. The Leopards are now 7-2 since opening up the season with three straight losses. Shavlik Randolph paced the winners with 32 points and 10 boards, Josh Akognon netted 26 points and Qiu Biao had 21.
*Last night’s game featuring Liaoning and Shandong was not counted. These rankings are as of yesterday afternoon.
1. Beijing Shougang Ducks (4-0)
Last week – 8: An undefeated start to the year that includes a win over four-time defending champs Guangdong? That’s more than enough in our book for our vaunted number one spot. Whether the Ducks can stay here will depend on what happens when they host Xinjiang on Friday.
2. Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers (3-1)
LW – 1:The loss to Beijing (at home nonetheless) stings, but it’s the loss of Yi Jianlian, who is heading back to the re-opened NBA in about a week, is the loss that will linger the longest. Or maybe not — after all, Guangdong has been winning titles for the last four years without Ah Lian.
3. Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers (1-1) LW – 2: Lost in the J.R. drama — the Flying Tigers have already equaled their loss total from last year. As evidenced by their shocking season opening defeat against Shanxi, no team relies on its imports more than Xinjiang. But the good news is that Quincy Douby’s replacement, Patty Mills, who came in and blitzed Bayi for 28 points and 8 dimes on Friday, looks like the real deal.
4. Zhejiang Guangsha Lions (3-1) LW – 5: Hangzhou’s favorite Puerto Rican 7’3 center, Peter John Ramos, is back for another go after having officially replaced the struggling Dwyane Jones. Assuming that he’ll be his usual enormous self under the basket, Guangsha just got better — a scary thought when you put that in context with Wilson Chandler’s dominant 33 point and 13 rebound start to the year.
5. Shandong Kingston Gold Lions (3-1) LW – 13: Thanks to Othello Hunter, Shandong has been destroying opponents on the offensive glass, grabbing 20 or more in all three of their wins. Alan Anderson has opened up a masonry (35% from the field), but Sun Jie and Sui Ran have picked up the slack to put the Lions — at least for now — in second place in the official CBA standings.
6. Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons (1-1)
LW -6: If Shanxi’s up-and-down two-game swing against a sub-par Fujian team (loss) and a championship contender Xinjiang outfit (win) is any indication of what’s in store for the Brave Dragons this season, it’s going to be another unpredictable year in Taiyuan.
7. Jilin GBT Northeast Tigers (2-2) LW – 9: As expected, Cartier Martin has turned into a scoring machine, averaging 29.2 points in his first four games. But if Jilin is going to stay in the playoff discussion, they’re going to need more production and in some cases, more minutes (that’s you, Yu Shulong) from their Chinese guys, none of whom at the moment are hitting double figure scoring.
8. Tianjin Ronggang Golden Lions (2-2) LW – 17: Want more proof that this season’s opening week has been arguably the most surprising in league history? Tianjin, who we picked as the CBA’s hands down worst team heading into the season, is sitting in a playoff spot four games into the year.
9. Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls (2-1) LW – 3: J.R. Smith’s very well documented near break-up-to-make-up stole all the storylines last week, which is a shame because Josh Boone’s out-of-nowhere 40 point, 8 rebound explosion against Fujian deserved more press than it got.
10. Bayi Fubang Rockets (2-1) LW – 10: Adijiang has taken the reigns off of the previously plodding Rockets offense, allowing them to play faster and freer. Games against Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Beijing will tell us whether or not that change is going to allow them to move into playoff contention.
11. Jiangsu Nangang Dragons (2-2) LW – 4: Once again, the Dragons are off to a slow start and once again, there’s a lot of talk about switching imports, mainly Mardy Collins. After dropping their first two games to Guangdong and Liaoning, the Dragons rebounded with two straight wins against DongGuan and Fujian. Jiangsu’s got the local talent (Yi Li, Meng Da and Hu Xuefeng) to stay relevant and once they get their import situation in order, they’ll be an upper-echelon team.
12. Liaoning Hengye Jaguars (2-2) LW – 7: Liaoning is off to a mediocre up-and-down 2-2 start, but the real news here is that we’ve finally cracked the case of their English mascot. Goodbye “Innovators” and hello “Jaguars!” We’re happy with our top-notch investigative work, but we’re even happier that we successfully anticipated the forward-thinking Liaoning provincial powers that be that came up with Jaguars. With the addition of the Jags, the league now has one jaguar, two dragons, three tigers, three lions and one half-dragon/half-lion.
13. Fujian SBS Sturgeons (1-3) LW- 12: The Sturgeons followed up a highly promising home win against Shanxi with three straight losses on the road to Bayi, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Anthony Roberson has shown an ability to both win and lose games for his team single-handedly with his volume shooting. If Fujian has playoff ambitions, he’ll have to become more consistent and/or a bit choosier with his shot selection.
14. Qingdao Double Star Eagles (1-3) LW – 14: Just like we thought, Lester Hudson is going to put up an outrageous number of shots and points, but the Eagles’ domestic talent isn’t going to be enough to lift them to anything beyond a middling team. Ivan Johnson has looked good in all three of his games with the Eagles so far.
15. Guangdong Foshan Dralions (1-2) LW – 16: A favorable early season match-up against Shanghai is the only thing keeping the Dralions from bringing up the rear right now. Gerald Green is arguably the league’s best first-half player, but when he’s matched up against better import guards in the second half, Green has come up empty almost every time.
16. Shanghai Dongfang Sharks (0-3) LW – 15: Late game giveaways to Foshan, Shandong and Qingdao have left people scratching their heads for the second straight year in a row as to why the Sharks can’t get it done in the fourth quarter.
17. DongGuan New Century Leopards (0-4) LW - 11: As longtime commentator Su Quan generously put it during the Leopards heartbreaking loss to the Ducks on Sunday, Shavlik Randolph is a level below Jackson Vroman. Josh Akognon’s shot selection isn’t helping either. Unless a change is made, it promises to be a long season in DongGuan.
Two games, Zhejiang Chouzhou at Xinjiang and Bayi at Shanghai first postponed until Monday before finally being cancelled due to… fog. Yeah, fog. Urumqi’s world renowned heavy white stuff rolled into town on Saturday morning and didn’t leave until Monday morning. During that time, no planes were able to get in our out, which meant Bayi was stuck in Urumqi and Zhejiang was stuck at home.
Believe us, we’re just as disappointed about missing CBA hoops action as you are — a J.R. Smith-Kenyon Martin match-up at Hongshan more than made the list of our must-see games this season. No word has been given from the league about when the games will be made up. If everything goes to plan, the CBA will announce the make-up dates two hours in advance.
Beijing 101 – @ DongGuan – 100 (OT)
Beijing’s Randolph Morris used his patented coast-to-coast dribble drive to get all the way to the rim, draw a foul and convert both free-throws in the closing seconds of overtime to keep Beijing’s undefeated season alive. Morris finished with 26 points, 16 of which came from the charity stripe, and 21 rebounds. Stephon Marbury 25 points and 7 rebounds. Zhu Yanxi had 16. Beijing overcame 29-80 (36%) from the floor by converting on 33 of 40 free throw attempts. DongGuan shot 31 themselves, but only hit 19. No, not the best game we’ve ever seen.
Shavlik Randolph saw two 20s himself, 22 points and 20 rebounds. Josh Akognon was able to get out in transition a bit more and as a result had a more efficient game, going 7-11 from two and 3-8 from three for 25 points. DongGuan will be kicking themselves for losing an eight point lead with less than five minutes left.
In sole possession of first place for the first time in franchise history heading into Round 4, the Gold Lions put up… 66 points on 34% from the field. Needless to say, they’re not in first place anymore. Alan Anderson lead the assault on the rims going 4-19. Othello Hunter had another double-double, 18 points and13 rebounds.
Jilin’s Osama Dahglas dimed out 11 assists and put up 12 points, while Cartier Martin had 21 points and seven boards. Key to the Northeast Tigers’ win was their success in limiting their opponent on the offensive glass. In Shandong’s four previous wins, they crashed the boards for 20 offensive rebounds. On Sunday, they only had 11. Yu Shulong continues to get his minutes yanked around. The Team China point guard only saw seven minutes of action, a stat that probably won’t please his summertime coach, Bob Donewald.
Jiangsu won at the buzzer on a run-of-the-mill side out of bounds alley-oop that was called good after Zaid Abbas was called for a goaltend on Yi Li’s mid-air lay-up attempt. Like we said, run-of-the-mill.
Mardy Collins, however, put up a not so run-of-the-mill stat line, stuffing the box score with 26 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 steals. More stuff like that will have Jiangsu thinking twice about cutting him. Then again, maybe not. Yi Li had 26 and 6 boards.
David Harrison’s return to Guangdong was as expected spoiled because he was in a Tianjin uniform. Harrison won a championship with the Southern Tigers in 2009-10 before breaking his fibula just a few games into the 2010-11 campaign. He finished with seven points and eight rebounds and seven turnovers of Tianjin’s 28 turnovers. Donnell Harvey had 28 and 10 rebounds.
Guangdong spread out their offense, getting seven guys in double figure scoring. Aaron Brooks played better in his second game, getting 14 points and seven assists. James Singleton continued his strong play with 21 and 15.
Josh Powell went 11-12 and hit 8-9 free throws to net a highly efficient 30 point and 10 rebound performance. Yang Ming added 26 points and 8 assists and Rodney Carney put in 15.
2. Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers (3-1)
3. Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers (1-1)
4. Zhejiang Guangsha Lions (3-1)
5. Shandong Kingston Gold Lions (3-1)
6. Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons (1-1)
7. Jilin GBT Northeast Tigers (2-2)
8. Tianjin Ronggang Golden Lions (2-2)
9. Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls (2-1)
10. Bayi Fubang Rockets (2-1)
11. Jiangsu Nangang Dragons (2-2)
12. Liaoning Hengye Jaguars (2-2)
13. Fujian SBS Sturgeons (1-3)
14. Qingdao Double Star Eagles (1-3)
15. Guangdong Foshan Dralions (1-2)
16. Shanghai Dongfang Sharks (0-3)
17. DongGuan New Century Leopards (0-4)