Sports
14:53, 23-Mar-2018
CBA: Flying Leopards advance to semifinals by beating Beijing 3-1
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Beijing Ducks hosted the Liaoning Flying Leopards in game four of the quarterfinals of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) playoffs on Thursday night, with the visitors closing out a 3-1 triumph.
Beijing needed a win as they trailed 2-1 in the best-of-five but lost 75-72.
One of the main takeaways from the playoff series between the two sides is that no lead is safe until the final buzzer.
The Flying Leopards trailed by 14 points in the opener but battled back to win 92-91. The Ducks then rallied from 6 down to take Game Two 95-87, prior to falling behind by 31 before forcing the third contest into double overtime, only to be edged out 123-119.
Justin Hamilton of Beijing Ducks in action during the match. /VCG Photo
Justin Hamilton of Beijing Ducks in action during the match. /VCG Photo
After scoring the first 12 points of the evening unanswered, the sixth-seeded Ducks surged ahead by 18 late in the second quarter. But determination and resiliency helped Liaoning to weather the storm for a while.
The second-seeded Flying Leopards found themselves playing catch-up, for the most part, until the final three minutes of the fourth quarter when foul trouble and turnovers helped lower the boom on Beijing.
The Ducks then began the process of trying to get their roster fully healthy – a luxury they rarely enjoyed this season – while the Liaoning Flying Leopards rode a series-clinching 75-72 victory to a showdown with long-time nemeses the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the CBA semi-finals.