CBA highlights on July 1: Yi Jianlian becomes regular season scoring leader
Updated 22:33, 01-Jul-2020
Li Xiang
Yi Jianlian #9 of the Guangdong Southern Tigers dunks in the game against the Beijing Royal Fighters in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Yi Jianlian #9 of the Guangdong Southern Tigers dunks in the game against the Beijing Royal Fighters in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province, July 1, 2020. /VCG

In the last CBA game on Wednesday, the Guangzhou Southern Tigers beat the Beijing Royal Fighters 136-91. Yi Jianlian, who scored 20 points for the Southern Tigers, surpassed Liu Wei to become the regualr-season career scoring champion . From this moment, Yi became the leader in career score, regular season score, career rebounds and regular season rebounds in league history.

The Royal Fighters' head coach Stephon Marbury put his three franchise players, Sun Yue, Wang Shaojie and Kyle Fogg, on the bench from the beginning, giving up the competition on purpose. As a result, the Royal Fighters watched the Southern Tigers score 81 points in the first half and turn the game into a forgone conclusion.

Ekpe Udoh of the Beijing Ducks dunks in the game against the Guangzhou Loong Lions in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Ekpe Udoh of the Beijing Ducks dunks in the game against the Guangzhou Loong Lions in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Lin, Udoh destroy Guangzhou Loong Lions

The Beijing Ducks achieved a big win over the Guangzhou Loong Lions 96-72 on Wednesday night. Ekpe Udoh enjoyed his way in Guangzhou's paint to put down 31 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks – the opponents did not what to do about him in either offense or defense. Lin scored 16 points, eight rebounds, nine assists, but he also committed an awkward eight turnovers.

On Guangzhou's side, Sun Mingyang went 5-10 to get a team-high 12 points. Marcus Hunter fell into scoring drought to miss nine of 12 shots, scoring only eight points. After the first three quarters, Guangzhou already trailed by 26 points (78-52). The team saw this game as an opportunity to refine their young players and it seemed like they still have a lot to learn.

Ty Lawson #1 of the Fujian Sturgeons defends Antonio Blakeney of the Jiangsu Dragons in the game in Dongguan, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Ty Lawson #1 of the Fujian Sturgeons defends Antonio Blakeney of the Jiangsu Dragons in the game in Dongguan, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Jiangsu Dragons fail to create miracle

The Fujian Sturgeons defeated the Jiangsu Dragons 107-96 in Dongguan on Wednesday. Ty Lawson put down 30 points, five rebounds, nine assists, and three steals to make the biggest contribution to Fujian's win. Chen Linjian and Wang Zhelin got 28 and 21 points, respectively.

Fujian gained a huge advantage and established 22-point lead (84-62) in the first three quarters, but under the leadership of Liu Yuxuan, Jiangsu fought back in a very aggressive way in Q4 (34-23). Though they did not reverse the situation, in the end, narrowing the score difference down by 11 points was good enough.

Liu Yuxuan shot down team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds for Jiangsu.

Zhou Qi (R) of the Xinjiang Flying Tigers denfends Dong Hanlin of the Shanghai Sharks in the game in Qingdao, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Zhou Qi (R) of the Xinjiang Flying Tigers denfends Dong Hanlin of the Shanghai Sharks in the game in Qingdao, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Xinjiang Flying Tigers smash Shanghai Sharks 108-77

Having lost to the Bayi Rockets to everyone's surprise in their last game, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers held the Shanghai Sharks as a punching bad on Wednesday. Xinjiang led in every quarter and beat Shanghai in every statistic except steals before claiming a 31-point big win.

Xinjiang's ace big man Zhou Qi dropped 25 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks. Fan Ziming also contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds. The two together turned Xinjiang's paint into a no-fly-zone for Shanghai.

Ray McCallum scored team-high 17 points for Shanghai, but he went 6-21 in total. The team made only three shots from downtown at a 3-point rate of disappointing 14.29 percent. They only made 12 free throws, and the whole team together delivered eight assists. None of these put them any closer to winning.

Sun Minghui #17 of the Zhejiang Lions in the game against the Qingdao Eagles in Qingdao, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Sun Minghui #17 of the Zhejiang Lions in the game against the Qingdao Eagles in Qingdao, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Is Sun Minghui China's best orchestrator?

The Zhejiang Lions achieved an easy win of 100-88 over the Qingdao Eagles on Wednesday. Zhejiang saw five of their players score double-digits, and the biggest contribution to the win came from Sun Minghui, who dropped 10 points and a career-high 16 assists.

Thanks to Sun's orchestrating and the team's 23 steals, Zhejiang pinned Qingdao down solidly in the first three quarters. Hu Jinqiu had 19 points, five rebounds, and Li Jinglong sank six 3-pointers to get 18 points, all contributing to the team's 20-point lead before the last quarter.

Qingdao, as a team, committed 33 turnovers in Wednesday's game, wasting their better field goal, 3-point, and free throw rates. Wang Ruize had 12 points, the highest of the starting lineup. This was already Qingdao's fourth loss in a row, and the team dropped to 11th on the ranking table.

Shen Zijie #11 of the Shenzhen Aviators shoots the ball in the game against the Sichuan Blue Whales in Dongguan, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Shen Zijie #11 of the Shenzhen Aviators shoots the ball in the game against the Sichuan Blue Whales in Dongguan, July 1, 2020. /VCG

Shenzhen Aviators beat Sichuan Blue Whales to remain hopeful for playoffs

The victory came so easy for the Shenzhen Aviators that the Sichuan Blue Whales only had one player score more than 10 points – 17 points, 11 rebounds by Li Yuanyu. Sichuan's field goal rate was only 32.5 percent, partly explaining why they lost 92-76 despite having more 3-pointers and steals.

Shenzhen's Gu Quan put down game-high 25 points, and Shen Zijie scored 18 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and two blocks. Both earned 10 free throws. Shenzhen established a safe 19-point lead after the first quarter and stood against two waves of counter-strike in the second and fourth quarters, taking the win and following close the playoff zone with only 0.5 games behind.