The first half of this game certainly didn’t make me happy about the fact that I’d risen from bed before sunrise to watch it. Despite the four former NBA players involved, it just got off to a dreadful start, and a lot of the blame for that has to fall squarely on the shoulders of Wilson Chandler. Chandler looked particularly disinterested in doing anything but firing fading jumpers for the duration of the first quarter. He’d already missed three or four of ‘em by the time the midway point of the first period rolled around, and Guangsha trailed 13-4. The game actually improved when Wilson took a seat. Guangsha held on to the small lead they’d taken at the very end of the first despite Chandler remaining seated for the entire second quarter and some lackadaisical play from Peter John Ramos. The score was 40-38 at the break.
The second half was an entirely different story, thank god. Wilson Chandler got aggressive and made frequent drives to the rack, as he should. He also began to hit the offensive glass. He took one jump shot in the entire period, which he made, as he scored 17 of his team-high 24. As bad as he was in the first quarter, he was that good in the third. He made it look way too easy, as he has proven he’s perfectly capable of doing on a nightly basis.
Not only did Wilson’s new-found aggressiveness work out for him individually, but it appeared to serve as some inspiration for Peter John Ramos, who’d also played a lazy first half. After riding Wilson to the 77-62 lead they held at the end of the third, Gaungsha piled on the back of Ramos as he activated beast-mode. Ramos is one of the most physically imposing presences in the CBA, and he showed that in the fourth. He repeatedly dunked on his opposition as if he was prime Shaq and they were Jared Dudley. It was actually very entertaining. Staying with the Shaq theme, I could certainly dig it.
The five-point differential in the final score indicates a much closer contest than this one actually was. Liaoning was down by 20+ at one point and made their run when it was too little too late. Wilson Chandler ended up shooting a respectable 8-18… he would’ve had a lot more than 24 points had he been able to convert at the stripe (8-15). Peter John “Chinese Shaq” Ramos finished with 23 points and a game-high 16 boards. Liaoning was paced by Rodney Carney’s 27. Carney and Chandler had a major confrontation at the tin midway through the fourth. Chandler drove, gathered, and went up for the one-handed hammer, but Carney stone-cold stuffed him, sending Wilson to the floor. Unfortunately the officials blew the whistle. It was a clean block, and a nasty one at that.
Guangsha improves to 5-2, putting them in a tie with Guangdong for second place. Liaoning drops to 4-4.
