[3] Shanxi 99, [6] Shanghai 95: Six of Charles Gaines’ 17 rebounds were offensive, and that was kind of the story of the game… or at least the stretch run. With just seconds remaining, Gaines tipped in a missed freethrow and gave Shanxi a four-point lead. It wasn’t exactly a game-winner because the Brave Dragons already held a two-point lead, but it was still the game’s biggest bucket as it sealed a win and a 2-0 series lead for Shanxi.
Gaines was a dominant presence all night long, scoring a game-high 31 points to go along with those 17 boards. Late in the fourth quarter he was especially dominant on the offensive glass. His board work helped Shanxi hang on to a lead that they were never really able to extend. Marcus Landry’s 30 points (13 of which came in the first) helped Shanghai get out to an early 10-point lead and hang around all game long, but Gaines was simply too dominant. Shanxi’s Marcus Williams was good in his own right… he added 28 points on 16 of 18 at the stripe. He went 4-4 in the closing minutes. Also big for Shanxi was point guard Lv Xiaoming, who contributed 10 early points and 15 for the game. Mike Harris, Shanghai’s big gun, was outplayed by Gaines for the second game in a row… he had 20/10 on just 9 shots.
[1] Guangdong 116, [8] Fujian 104: This isn’t much of a series without Anthony Roberson. Even with Anthony Roberson I guess it probably wouldn’t have been much of a series. Anyway, Aaron Brooks scored 23 points in just 24 minutes to lead Guangdong to another easy victory (lead series 2-0). James Singleton had 12 points and 9 rebounds, and All-Star Zhu Fangyu made 9 of his 11 shots on his way to 21 points. For Fujian, Will McDonald had 24 points and 17 rebounds.
[4] Xinjiang 93, [5] Dongguan 82: I questioned Xinjiang’s decision to make a personnel change just before game one of this series, but the addition of Ike Diogu certainly paid off today. Ike produced 29 points and 9 boards to lead the Flying Tigers to a series-tying (1-1) victory on their home floor. He made 12 of 19 shots and hit 5 of 6 freethrows. Shavlik Randolph matched his 5 of 6 at the line, but he went just 5 of 11 from the floor. Josh Akognon had one of those games where he took a lot of shots but didn’t make very many… he went 12-26, to be exact.
[2] Beijing 104, [7] Guangsha 87: Randolph Morris and Zhu Yanxi scored 20 a piece as the Ducks easily took a 2-0 series lead. Zhu was on fire from the outside, connecting on 6 of 8 three-point tries. Stephon Marbury was only required to score 14, but he did contribute 7 assist. Rodney White and Peter John Ramos both posted 20/10s in the loss (23/10, 22/10 respectively).
