Beijing 86, Shandong 79: Stephon Marbury and the Ducks were able to improve to 13-0, but not before Shandong gave them a little scare. As you can see, the Duck was concerned; and rightfully so. Beijing certainly appeared to be in trouble entering the fourth down six with Marbury struggling mightilly. I’m going to guess Randolph Morris probably saved the day because he had 31 points and 12 boards, but I’m not 100% sure who keyed the 24-11 fourth-quarter effort. Stephon could’ve made this win a lot easier by making his freethrows–he left 6 points at the stripe.
Guangsha 97, Bayi 90: The Lions trailed the Rockets for all but about five minutes of this game, but Wilson Chandler (29/6/4) and Peter John Ramos (25/16/2) simply ended up proving to be more than Bayi could handle. Even though Bayi remained ahead by single digits for almost the entire contest, you knew they weren’t going to win. Guangsha wasn’t getting much from Chandler or Ramos early on, they were committing too many fouls, and they weren’t closing out on Bayi’s three-point shooters at all. Sixty-four percent of the 50 points Bayi had at halftime came from the stripe or from three… so all Guangsha really had to do was quit fouling and waive a hand at outside shooters. Sure enough, the Rockets cooled off and the Lions took the fourth quarter 31-19. Zhang Wei hit the dagger; a three-pointer at the 50-second mark that made it a two-possession game. His shot was an impressive display of confidence as his last three-pointer had been an airball just moments before. Wang Zhizhi did a lot of crying to the officials as he led the losing team with 22.
Zhejiang 89, Shanghai 86: JR Smith and company have only lost one of their last four games, but the three that they’ve won have all been by five points or less against some pretty bad teams. Wins are wins I suppose; all I’m saying is that Zhejiang hasn’t been collecting them in very convincing fashion lately. Anyway, this one went to overtime, and Smith came up big yet again with a game-high 35 points to go along with 11 rebounds. He didn’t shoot particularly well, but neither did anyone else. I should probably mention that this game actually took place on the 20th. I was unaware of that until yesterday afternoon so I threw it in with today’s games.
Fujian 90, Guangdong 85: Fujian came into this round 10 slots behind Guangdong in the rankings. Anthony Roberson had made just 7 shots on 36 attempts in his previous couple of outings. I don’t think anyone had any money on a team-high 22 from him… or a Fujian upset. Guangdong didn’t get their usual well-balanced production from the entire rotation and relied heavily on Aaron Brooks (29 points) and James Singleton (20 points, 15 rebounds). That’s not how they like to go about it.
Tianjin 89, Qindago 78: I think there’s some crazy rule that requires every CBA squad to have at least one Zhang on it’s roster. Zhang Nan led the CBA’s worst team to this victory with 23 points. Lester Hudson only scored 21 points for Qindago… that’s his season low.
Shanxi 115, Jilin 107: Cartier Martin posted yet another amazingly-efficient line which included 21 points on just 9 shots, and Jameel-Sharif Watkins was even more impressive with 25 on 12-23… but they still lost. Charles Gaines bounced back from a not-so-good game against Guangsha to lead Shanxi with 31 points and 13 boards.
Foshan 111, Jiangsu 106: Marcus Haislip had 36/15 in a rare winning effort. Jackson Vroman, who’s been doing big numbers since coming in to replace Dan Gadzuric, put up 30/14/5 in another loss. Jiangsu is now tied with Tianjin for worst in the league honors.
Xinjiang 98, Liaoning 96: Amidst the Kenyon Martin drama, Patty Mills stepped his game up and dragged Xinjiang to a come-from-behind victory. He scored 31 points in the game, many of them coming in a fourth quarter that Xinjiang won 30-17. Rodney Carney scored a team high of 25 for Liaoning. Once again, Kenyon Martin’s stats look a little disappointing… 13 points, 9 rebounds, 6-13. I assume the Flying Tigers are still trying to find a way to get rid of him.
