Shanxi 114, Beijing 111: Beijing’s woes continued against a mediocre opponent in Shanxi. I said I was going to watch the Ducks in an attempt to figure out what’s wrong, and I did. I don’t know what it’s been in the past several rounds, but today it was a lack of defense down the stretch. Shanxi was able to penetrate into the paint with ease and Beijing applied little defensive pressure. The Brave Dragons attacked the lanes and took the ball to the rack, scoring with relative ease. I wouldn’t say any CBA team plays incredible defense, but Beijing’s D in this game was subpar even on their league’s standards. Shanxi took just 15 threes to Beijing’s 23 as Charles Gaines attacked the rack. He finished at 12-20 with 28 points and 14 boards.
Although this was his worst statistical gane (4-11, 19 points) in a few rounds, Marcus Williams made some big buckets late, including a contested three-pointer with just over a minute to go. The incredible shot made it 108-107 after a Marbury layup had given Beijing the lead, and Shanxi would gain a little seperation by stopping the Ducks and scoring on their next possession. Marbury had a decent look at a last-second three to tie the game, but he rimmed it out. Steph definitely struggled in this one (9-22, 22 points). Randolph Morris was the game’s leading scorer with 32 on 20 shots.
Guangdong 133, Foshan 124: Aaron Brooks dropped 31 and 5 on 19 shots to lead the Southern Tigers to this high-scoring victory. There were no overtimes played… it was just a wild game, apparently. The unidentified white guy had 42 for Foshan. Guangdong has now won six in a row, and they’re pulling way ahead of the pack in the standings.
Qindago 110, Fujian 104: After a bunch of near misses Lester Hudson finally got himself a triple-double! Andray Blatche is jealous. Hudson dropped 26, grabbed 1o boards, and dished 11 assists in this solid victory over a Fujian squad that’s been teetering around the .500 mark. For those of you who have enjoyed following Hudson’s three-point shooting numbers, he went 5-13. Anthony Roberson and Will McDonald combined for 62 in a losing effort.
Dongguan 95, Shandong 89: Without leading scorer Alan Anderson Shandong struggled to put points on the board and ultimately came up short. Othello Hunter battled valiantly (24/15/3), but he didn’t get enough help. His counterpat, Shavlik Randolph, had 18/13.
Jilin 93, Guangsha 74: Guangsha has dropped three in a row, which is hard to believe because they had been playing so well. Wilson Chandler made just 4 of 16 shots in this one, and while Peter John Ramos had 22 and 19, Jilin got nearly-equal production (25/13/5) out of their center (who’s name I don’t know). Chandler has been struggling mightilly lately and I can’t help but wonder if he’s lost interest in the task at hand.
Liaoning 93, Shanghai 84: Marcus Landry stepped up and scored 21 on 9-12, but Shanghai lost by nine, their second L in a row after a seven-game win streak. Liaoning played just seven guys, six of whom scored in double figures. Josh Powell had 19/12 while Rodney Carney sat out. Bad loss for Shanghai. Mike Harris 30/8.
Jiangsu 112, Bayi 94: The Rockets are back to doing what they’ve done best this season: lose games. You may recall thay they beat JR Smith and Zhejiang to snap a nine-game losing streak on Wednesday. Twelve players scored in double figures, which is pretty unusual in the CBA. One of the few players who didn’t was Marcus Williams. He beasted his way to 4 points.
Xinjiang 134, Tianjin 112: Hot damn, look at Tim Pickett with 55 points and 12 boards! He shot 20 of 28 and threw in three assists for good measure. Wow… I will say no more.
