CBA Recap, November 25th: Brooks, Mills Debut; Yi Injured

Before I begin I have to clear something up. In my last two recaps most of the shooting stats were probably incorrect because I can’t read Chinese and I may have been reading the box scores wrong. They seem to list total shots made/missed and then three-point shots made/missed, but total shots apparently translates into “two points.” For that reason I thought it was like a European box score with two-point and three-point shots listed separately, but the numbers don’t always add up that way… yet sometimes they do. Honestly, I don’t really know how I’m supposed to read the shooting percentages. Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out little things like this, so please bear with me. I’m doing my best!

Beijing 104, Guangdong 92: Stephon Marbury and his Beijing Ducks have looked good thus far, but I’d have to call this an upset considering Guangdong was last year’s champion and had steamrolled it’s first two opponents. Guangdong has bigger problems than their loss, though. Their best player so far this season has been Yi Jianlian, and he went down just before the half with a right knee injury. You can see it here…

There has been no official word yet on the severity of the injury, but Yi had to be helped off by two teammates and never returned to the floor. Hopefully it isn’t serious… that would be a huge blow for Guangdong to absorb.

Guangdong dominated the offensive glass early on in this game, but despite that Beijing took an early 15-6 lead. Yi was struggling prior to his injury (had just one bucket), and Beijing built a double-digit lead by the time the first quarter came to a close. James Singleton entered the game and helped Guangdong turn it around… they led 46-40 at the half, but at that point they’d lost Yi.

Aaron Brooks started the second half and hit his first shot (baseline jumper), but he’d only end up scoring one more basket. He and Stephon certainly upped the tempo in the third, and this seemed to benefit Beijing. At 3:16 in the third they came up with a steal, and Marbury found Randolph Morris for a dunk to get the lead back for the Ducks. Brooks answered with a jumper, but Marbury closed the period with a driving layup to put his team back up by one. Beijing pulled away in the fourth and pretty much had it in the bag with three or four minutes to go. Marbury was hit with a bogus flagrant foul with about a minute left, but Guangdong bricked one of the freethrows and then turned the ball over.

James Singleton stepped up in Yi’s absence and put 33 points on the board. In addition, he led Guangdong with 15 boards. Three different Beijing players scored 18, and Randolph Morris put up 17. One of the 18-point scorers was Marbury. He didn’t shoot particularly well, but he had 8 assists and made plays when needed. It’s a shame that Yi got hurt because this was shaping up to be a really good game.

Zhejiang 113, Fujian 98: Anthony Roberson EXPLODED for 45 points as he knocked down 7 of 12 three-pointers, but that wasn’t enough to overcome Josh Boone’s 40 and JR Smith’s 20. Boone added 8 rebounds and somehow managed to make 6 of 9 freethrows. That has to be a personal record. JR Smith had to take a sh!t ton of shots to get his 20 points, but he got ‘em. He may still be feeling the effects of the injury he suffered in the opener; it hobbled him a bit in their last game.

Guangsha 89, Shandong 97: Wilson Chandler continues to do numbers like Wilt Chamberlain. Ill Will nearly matched the 43 points he put up in his debut, scoring 42 and grabbing 10 boards. However, no one else on the squad reached double figures and Guangsha fell to Shandong. Othello Hunter was a beast with 27 points and 19 rebounds. Chandler’s former-NBA help, Dwayne Jones, continues to be not-so productive. He scored 6 points and grabbed 11 boards. Shandong remains undefeated at 3-0 with previous wins over Foshan and Shanghai.

Foshan 102, Shanghai 98: Foshan had a bye last round, and I think Gerald Green spent it putting up jumpers. Why? because he made 8 of 10 three-point tries and lit up the scoreboard for 41 points. Mike Harris posted another double-double (18/15) in a losing effort. This is Foshan’s first win of the season.

Tianjin 93, Liaoning 76: Rodney Carney had his best game thus far by scoring 22 points. Josh Powell gave him a little help with 12/12, but all of that wasn’t enough to get the win. Tianjin’s David Harrison seems to have dominated the paint; he recorded 15 points and 19 boards.

Jiangsu 103, Dongguan 96: Jiangsu’s former New York Knickerbocker Mardy Collins was this game’s leading scorer with 28. Their other NBA player, Dan Gadzuric, pitched in with 15 points and 13 boards. Doungguan’s Shavlik Randolph had just about the most inefficient 21 points ever scored… he took 23 shots, missed 14 of them, and threw in a pair of bricked freethrows (on 5 tries). Josh Akognon led the losing team with 25.

Jilin 104, Qindago 101: Qindago’s Lester Hudson dropped 50 (and 3 assists!) in this game, and is now averaging 40 a night on the season. He was pretty efficient in this game, scoring his 50 on 32 shots. Unfortunetely for Qindago, all those big numbers have only translated into a 1-2 record. Cartier Martin was Jilin’s leading scorer… he only had 23, but they got the win.

Xinjiang 110, Fujian 92: Patty Mills had a far more impressive debut than Aaron Brooks did. Xinjiang’s newest import dropped 28 big ones (team-high) and dished 8 assists (also a team high) to lead them to their first victory of the season. One game in I’d say he’s an outstanding replacement for Qunicy Douby. Kenyon Martin had a decent game statistically with 12 and 12 boards. Mengke Bateer had 19 points and 5 boards.