Jiangsu are set to take on defending champions Guangdong in the
Chinese Basketball Association premier league semifinals after
beating Shandong 121-100 on Friday.
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The result allowed it to advance to the semifinals with an
aggregate score of 3-1.
The team owes the victory to Carlos Dixon, who was the highest
scorer of the match with 40 points plus six rebounds. Herve
Lamizana sunk 37 points for the struggling Shandong team, which was
lagging 2-1 before the match in the best-of-five knockout
round.
Carlos showed the good form he has maintained through the past
three matches, scoring six points minutes into the game. Shandong
caught up and the two sides were neck and neck until Meng Da shot a
three pointer, allowing Jiangsu to finish the opening quarter
33-30.
Carlos continued to show-off his talents in the second quarter,
taking his team to a 13 point lead. They took control of the game
before the end of the first half with a score of 66-48.
Both sides dropped their defenses in the third quarter when the
game unexpectedly entered the "garbage time" in advance.
Jiangsu then showed their full talent for offense and Garnett
Thompson shot the last goal before his team claimed sweet
victory.
In other matches, Bayi overcame Zhejiang 102-80, making it the
third team to enter the semi-finals. It has an aggregate score of
3-1.
Wang Zhizhi contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds to the
win.
The team that will play against Bayi in the next round is still
unclear. A play-off will be necessary to determine the matter after
Liaoning held off Fujian 96-88 and tied the score two all.
The tie-breaker is set for Sunday.
(CRI March 3, 2007)
