CBA Semifinals: Guangdong take 3-0 lead over Shenzhen

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The Guangdong Southern Tigers are just one victory from a record-extending 14th trip to the Chinese Basketball Association Finals after beating the Shenzhen Leopards 111-106 on the road on Saturday. Thanks to the hard-fought victory, they have now taken a 3-0 lead in the semifinal series. Yi Jianlian led the way with 33 points and 14 rebounds for the eight-time champions.

Earlier, Center Li Muhao's leg injury left Shenzhen shorthanded at home. The Leopards got off to a strong start and took a 5-0 lead in the first minute of the game. But Marshon Brooks found Yi in the paint, and the four-time Domestic MVP's dunk got Guangdong on the board. The man who spent five seasons in the NBA later sunk a long jumper, which helped him tally 15 points in the first quarter alone.

The Southern Tigers continued to surge in the second and Sonny Weems pulled up for two of his 20 points, increasing their edge to 11. Brooks joined in the fun with a reverse off the glass, on his way to 15 points and 14 rebounds. Zhou Peng then started a fast-break that Brooks completed by finding Yi for an alley-oop shortly before half-time.

Shenzhen tried to battle back after the break. With Yi blocking his path to the bucket, Shen Zijie dished to Gu Quan who drilled a couple of his 14, closing the gap to nine.

But Guangdong pulled away again. Three of Hu Mingxuan's eight points increased the advantage to 16 for the top-seeded visitors. The margin was down to nine as the third ticked to a close, but the spinning lay-up by Brooks made it double-digits again.

The Leopards staged a rally midway through the fourth as three of Kenny Boynton's 13 reduced the deficit to seven. Boynton then found Lu Yiwen for one of his four triples, and the hosts were down.

Yu Dehao then set up Gu for a fast-break lay-up, and Shenzhen were within three with five minutes to go. That forced Southern Tigers coach Du Feng to call the time-out. Brooks subsequently missed a triple after the pep talk, but Yi was there to grab the rebound and threw down the second chance dunk.

Guangdong went on to win by five and needed just one more victory to sweep the best-of-seven series.

Guangdong coach Du Feng said later, “Some of our players still have problems on defense, and the plans we drew up before the game were not executed in full, so we need to adjust that.”

Meanwhile, Shenzhen coach Wang Jianjun mentioned, “Our players are not giving up. They are still trying their hardest until the last second of every game, so I am satisfied with their attitude, and I hope we can keep fighting like that.”