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E-mail Xinhua, March 21, 2024
The Guangdong Southern Tigers sailed past the Shandong Heroes 127-101 for their sixth consecutive victory, while the Beijing Ducks brought the Shanghai Sharks' six-game winning streak to a halt 118-102 in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Wednesday.
Guangdong avenged its 112-88 loss to Shandong on the road on Nov. 8, 2023. With a 31-14 win-loss record, Guangdong breaks into top four. The top four sides after the regular season will directly advance to the quarterfinals, while teams ranked fifth to 12th will vie for remaining four spots in the last eight.
Three Guangdong players scored at least 20 points, with Clarence Weems leading the way with 23 on 10-of-15 shooting. Zhou Qi and Hu Mingxuan chipped in with 21 and 20 points respectively.
"We hoped to continue our defensive intensity and offensive flow like what we had shown in previous games," said Guangdong coach Du Feng.
In a high-pace first quarter, Guangdong shot 66.7% from the field to jump to a 39-23 lead. Through constantly attacking the basket and earning free throws, Shandong kept the game within striking distance.
He Siyu and Marial Shayok combined for three 3-pointers on the bounce as the visitors cut the deficit to five points late in the second quarter, while Hu's shot from 3-point range and Xu Jie's basket helped Guangdong regain a double-digit lead. Xu added a 3-pointer in the last seconds as Guangdong went ahead 71-55 at halftime.
Jordan Bell, who had joined Guangdong one week ago, provided a highlight-reel moment of the match with an alley-oop one-handed dunk on Ren Junfei's assist with 4:31 to play in the third quarter.
Carrying a 16-point lead into the final period, Guangdong was never threatened from there in pushing its winning streak. Bell added another alley-oop putback dunk on Xu's assist down the stretch, notching 12 points on his home debut.
"As we aimed to get Bell more familiar with our style of play, we offered more time to him in the second half. I think the team can build better chemistry in defense," Du said.
Shayok and Chen Peidong each contributed 21 points for the sluggish Shandong side, which is placed 15th in the standings.
"Playing against a strong team like Guangdong, we just wanted our players to learn how to showcase their characteristics on every possession in a highly physical game," commented Shandong coach Ding Wei.
Leading 67-50 at the break, Beijing extended its advantage to 21 points early in the third quarter. Shanghai forward Dwayne Bacon shone in the quarter with 11 points, while Zhang Cairen connected on two shots from beyond the arc to help steady Beijing for a 19-point advantage heading into the final frame.
Beijing's lead ballooned to 30 points three minutes going into the last period, but Shanghai used a 20-2 run in a span of around six minutes to pull within 109-97, while Zhang sank another 3-pointer afterward to thwart Beijing's skid and the home side cruised to its victory.
Six Beijing players hit double figures in scoring, led by Askia Booker's 22 points. Fan Ziming and Zhang Cairen had 14 apiece. Beijing improves to 23-22 and climbs to 10th place.
Bacon finished with a game-high 36 points, and Wang Zhelin registered a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds in a losing cause.
