CBA: Guangdong, Beijing nail playoff opener victory respectively

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Regular season winner the Guangdong Southern Tigers was at home to take up the Jiangsu Dragons at the first round of CBA playoffs on Monday night.

Guangdong dominated the game with four players scoring over 20 points while their coach Du Feng was honored before tipoff.

Before the game, CBA president Yao Ming presented the best coach award to Du who led Guangdong to a 42-4 record in 2018-2019 regular season.

With less than five minutes to go in the first quarter, Zhou Peng drained a three to give the Southern Tigers a six-point lead. Marshon Brooks sliced in for two of his team-high 27 points to go with 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Ren Junfei's hook made it 33-22 Guangdong early in the second quarter. The Southern Tigers are also strong on defense and this fast break culminated in a layup from Ren. The hosts led by nine.

In the third quarter, Wu Guanxi's dunk got Jiangsu within ten, but Guangdong quickly went back the other way and Brooks sank a three. Guangdong pulled further away in the final quarter and went on to win 137-108 to take a 1-0 lead in their best of five quarter-final series.

After the game, Guangdong's captain said, “Jiangsu played well in the first quarter. We are not very comfortable with this kind of confrontation. We have not played for a long time so it's normal.”

Fang Shuo put the Beijing Ducks up 25-16 against the Shenzhen Leopards. Quincy Acy dunk got Shenzhen within five. The 29-year-old Fang hit a fade-away three.

Shenzhen later took the lead and Yu Dehao put them up by three then put on a gun show. Beijing's guard Wang Xiaohui fouled out in the third quarter and will serve a one-game suspension for two violations.

Fang stayed hot from distance and one of his six threes this game saw the Ducks trail 76-75 late in the third. Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Fang stepped back for a triple and Beijing led by two. Then Zhang Cairen made it 90-84 for the Ducks. Zhang sank another from the corner and Beijing went on to win 106-96 for a 1-0 lead in their quarter-final series.