CHN – Guangdong closer to fourth successive Championship

BEIJING (CBA) - Defending CBA champions Guangdong Tigers moved a step closer to winning their fourth successive CBA Championship as they moved ahead for the first time in the Finals series against Regular season champions Xinjiang Flying Tigers 110-104 on Sunday.

Guangdong, who twice already have bounced back to level the series, notched their second win on the trot in the Finals to bring the scores to 3-2, having won Game 4 on Friday to nullify the defeat suffered in Game 3.

Guangdong are now only one win away from securing yet another title as the series moves to Xinjiang for Game 6 on Wednesday.

Wang Shipeng, whose scoring form has been key to Guangdong’s win in the Finals fired in a team-high 29 points.

The 28-year-old Chinese international, expected to spearhead the National Team in the 26th FIBA Asia Championship later this year, converted four of his 8 attempts from the paint and had a staggering 6/8 conversion rate from the perimeter.

Guangdong persisted with the 20-year-old Dong Hanlin, who came in for the 10-year older Du Feng in the previous game, in the starting line-up and were ahead 25-20 at the end of the first quarter.

Xinjiang, having learnt their lessons from the previous defeat, bounced back in the second quarter and even managed to take a 55-50 lead going into the cross-over.

But Guangdong’s offense took over in the third, unleashing a 36-21 run, which perched them firmly in control of proceedings.

There were no major hiccups thereafter.

American Lester Hudson pulled down seven rebounds to go with his 27 points. Zhu Fangyu also had seven boards and scored 10 points.

Marcus Haislip had an 18-point game, as Zhou Peng made amends for Su Wei’s lack in form with 10 points.

Xinjiang’s scoring machine Quincy Douby had a 25-point game, but only 6 of his 13 attempts on the paint found the mark. Douby continued to struggle with his long rangers with only 3 of his 8 three-pointer attempts succeeding.

James Singletonled the way both in points (33) and rebounds (12), but his effort fell short of preventing defeat.

Mengke Bateer and Zhang QingPeng each scored 11 points, the former also pulling down 10 rebounds.

FIBA Asia