By CGTN's Mu Dan and Wang Meng
As Zhou Qi realized his NBA dream after officially joining the Houston Rockets on Thursday, another young Chinese player, Ding Yanyuhang, continues to try.
The 23-year-old guard and MVP of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) was invited to the Dallas Mavericks training camp in May and helped the Mavericks win the title of the Orlando portion of the NBA Summer League on Thursday.
Big "D" had won all four previous games and came from behind to beat the Detroit Pistons in the last one. The Shandong guard contributed 13 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Ding Yanyuhang (L) of the Dallas Mavericks drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons during the Mountain Dew Orlando Pro Summer League Championship game in Orlando, US, July 6, 2017. /VCG Photo
The Mavericks trailed 0-7 in the opener before Ding got his team on the board by scoring a triple. Later, he assisted Johnathan Motley, who finished underneath.
Ding shot another triple and cut the deficit to two in the third quarter. But then the Pistons widened the gap again and led the Mavericks by 10 points after three quarters.
The two teams entered overtime after tying 74-74 at the end of the fourth quarter. As a second overtime period seemed inevitable with a tie of 81-81, Ding gave a crucial pass to Motley, who scored a game-winning jump shot with just 0.3 seconds left on the clock.
Ding Yanyuhang's performance in the five NBA Summer League games. /CGTN Graphic
Ding played in all the five games. He scored eight points in 18 minutes in his debut against the New York Knicks. Then he only managed a single point in 10 minutes of work against the Orlando Magic. But his minutes and score rate continued to improve, tallying nine, 10 and 13 points respectively in the next three games.
He averaged about eight points a game in the Summer League, below the 24 he managed in the CBA, but he did prove he can play against NBA stars.
Will that be enough for Ding to stick with the Mavs?
(CGTN's Wang Lei also contributed to the story.)
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