In the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) Playoffs, three-time defending champions the Liaoning Flying Leopards crushed the Xinjiang Flying Tigers 101-79 on Friday to sweep their quarterfinal series 3-0, and reach the semifinals for the 11th year in a row.
Montrezl Harrell (L) of the Xinjiang Flying Tigers drives against James Webb of the Liaoning Flying Leopards in Game 3 of their best-of-five quarterfinal series in the CBA Playoffs in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 18, 2025. /CBA
Montrezl Harrell's dunk put Xinjiang ahead 24-22 in the first quarter, before Xerzat Samat dished to Dedric Lawson for a layup that extended the Flying Tigers' edge to 37-33 in the second period, with their backs against the wall at home.
But Dez Wells drove in for a lay-up and the first half ended with Liaoning leading 49-46.
Returning from the break, the American guard added another lay-up to help the Flying Leopards increase the lead to 12, on his way to scoring a game-high 25 points.
Zhao Jiwei drilled a couple of three-pointers in the fourth quarter, as Liaoning to enlarged the gap to 96-68.
The Flying Leopards went on to win 101-79, as they swept the rematch of last year's CBA Finals, and reached the last four for the 11th straight season.
Lu Junhu (#27) of the Qingdao Eagles take a shot against the Guangsha Lions in Game 3 of their best-of-five quarterfinal series in the CBA Playoffs in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, April 18, 2025. /CBA
The Qingdao Eagles hosted the Guangsha Lions in the night's other contest, and continued their bid for what would be a shocking series upset, after claiming a narrow 85-83 victory.
Duan Angjun nailed a three-pointer from the corner, and eighth-seeded Qingdao led 63-48 in the third quarter.
But top-seeded Guangsha battled back, and Zhao Jiaren cut the deficit to five points, 63-58 with a minute remaining in the period.
Barry Brown gave the Lions the lead in the final quarter with three of his team-high 25 points. The American guard then drained another triple to tie the score at 83-83 with 42 seconds to go.
But Quinndary Weatherspoon, who finished with a game-high 30 points, put the Eagles ahead with 16 seconds left.
Brown air-balled a last-second three-pointer before Hu Jinqiu grabbed the rebound and appeared to score. But a review by the referees showed that the follow-up effort came after the final buzzer, and Qingdao escaped with a heartstopping two-point win to take an unexpected 2-1 lead in their best-of-five series against regular season champion Guangsha.