CHN – Guangdong meet Xinjiang in final for third year in row
BEIJING (CBA) - Thrice defending and six-time overall CBA champions Guangdong Tigers and runners-up in the last two years Xinjiang Flying Tigers will face off in the CBA Finals for the third successive year after the two completed 3-0 routs of their opponents in the semifinals on Friday. Xinjiang - regular season champions - cruised along to beat Jiangsu ...
BEIJING (CBA) - Thrice defending and six-time overall CBA champions Guangdong Tigers and runners-up in the last two years Xinjiang Flying Tigers will face off in the CBA Finals for the third successive year after the two completed 3-0 routs of their opponents in the semifinals on Friday.
Xinjiang - regular season champions - cruised along to beat Jiangsu Dragons 111-97 while second place finishers Guangdong fought off a late rally by DongGuan Leopards to win 115-111.
Xinjiang are on a roll after yet another win, extending their impressive winning streak.
A 33-24 lead at the end of the first quarter put Xinjiang firmly in control and Jing XingQuan’s team provided no further challenge for the remainder of the game.
Prolific American guard Quincy Douby returned yet another game-high of 35 points in 7/14 shooting – including a perfect 5/5 in three-pointers – also dishing out seven assists seven steals.
Fellow American James Singleton contributed 23 points and collected a game-high 14 rebounds. Xu GuoChong had 22 points.
Yi Li’s 31 points was the highest for Jiangsu. Meng Da had 19 points and Jerome Moiso 14 points besides 10 rebounds.
Guangdong, unlike Xinjiang, took charge of the proceedings against DongGuan only in the third quarter. But even after that, they had to be on their toes to thwart DongGuan’s fourth quarter rally.
A 37-22 run in the third – after nosing ahead 58-56 at the end of the first half – seemed to have put Guangdong in advantage. But DongGuan's late fourth quarter fightback, that saw them ourscore the eventual winners 33-20, fell just short.
Imports Lester Hudson and Marcus Haislip played their role well. Hudson scored a game-high 41 points and Haislip accounted for 20 points besides collecting half as many rebounds.
Twenty-year-old Chinese star Dong Hanlin provided the ‘local’ support with 16 points, in 6/10 shooting, and 11 rebounds.
Chinese star international Wang Shipeng too had 16 points.
Josh-Emmanuel Akognon’s 38 points was the highest for DongGuan and former Chinese international Zhang Kai had 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Guangdong have now competed in every CBA Finals series since 2003 season, when they lost to Bayi Rockets.
The first game of the best-of-seven Finals will be hosted by Guangdong on April 15.
FIBA Asia