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E-mail Xinhua, December 30, 2023
Six players scored double-digits to lift the Guangdong Southern Tigers past the Zhejiang Lions 106-95 at home, while the Guangdong club retired former center Yi Jianlian's No.9 jersey on Friday.
Trailing behind after the first half, Guangdong outscored the visitors 35-15 in the third quarter to turn around and maintained the momentum in the last quarter to secure victory.
"They did not concentrate enough in the beginning, no matter on the offensive end or the defensive end. The win is the best gift for Yi Jianlian," Guangdong head coach Du Feng said after the game.
Throughout 625 CBA games, Yi amassed 12,781 points and 6,159 rebounds, becoming the league's all-time leading rebounder. He was the first domestic player to reach the 10,000-point milestone in regular season play.
Yi, 36, won the title of CBA regular season MVP five times and was named CBA Finals MVP on three occasions.
The 2.13-meter tall center was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft. Besides the Bucks, Yi's NBA tenure included the New Jersey Nets, the Washington Wizards, and the Dallas Mavericks.
Elsewhere, the Shandong Heroes suffered their third straight defeat after losing to the Shanghai Sharks 106-100 on home court.
Gao Shiyan made six out of seven attempts for 15 points in the first half, but it was not enough to prevent the home side from losing.
Wang Zhelin had 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Liu Zheng added 16 points for Shanghai.
Coming off an injury layoff, Guo Ailun had 13 points and eight assists as the Liaoning Flying Leopards beat the Fujian Sturgeons 97-85.
In other games, the Zhejiang Golden Bulls routed the Beijing Ducks 116-79, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers smashed the Tianjin Pioneers 118-96, the Shenzhen Aviators beat the Sichuan Blue Whales 120-108, the Qingdao Eagles defeated the Guangzhou Loong Lions 92-85, and the Ningbo Rockets edged the Jiangsu Dragons 112-110.
