The Guangdong Southern Tigers bagged their third consecutive
title of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league with an 88-81 win over visitors,
the Bayi Rockets, on Wednesday.
In the league-winning game, Guangdong center Yi Jianlian dazzled
with a "double-double" game-high of 26 points and eleven rebounds.
Zhu Fangyu netted 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. Dixon Jason
added 15 points and six shots off the board. Du Feng and Wang
Shipeng shot nine and seven points respectively.
Mo Ke led the Rockets' scoring with 24 points and six rebounds.
Li Ke nailed 19 points and Che Ke tallied 17. Veteran Li Nan also
netted double figures with 11 points for Bayi.
Guangdong opened the game with an 11-4 lead. But Bayi's
defensive intensity and Li Nan's three-pointers helped the Rockets
turn back the tables at 24-20 after the first quarter.
An 8-0 Guangdong spurt early in the second period was a sign of
things to come, as the Southern Tigers gradually found their rhythm
and dominated the inside play. Du Feng's steal and dunk pushed
Guangdong to a 44-39 cushion at halftime.
The Southern Tigers played with a two-foreigner line-up in the
third quarter, rocking the Bayi boat and sending their shooting
percentage plummeting. Guangdong stretched their lead to 61-51 on
Dixon Jason's tip-in after 36 minutes.
Trailing by 10 points into the fourth period, Bayi staged its
final counterattack with a 15-3 run to out-score at 66-64. But it
was Dixon Jason again who controlled the under-ring and helped
Guangdong to enjoy a double-digit advantage with only two minutes
on the clock. Bayi's Zhang Jinsong whipped a three-pointer with 11
seconds remaining but it was too little and too late for them to
take the game into overtime.?
The Southern Tigers out-rebounded Bayi 40-32 with a scoring
average of 62 percent from the field, 17 percent higher than the
visitors. Winning the best-of-seven playoff finals with a 4-1
aggregate, the Tigers for the first time came out on top on home
ground since their 2003-04 season win.
"I was extremely exited when we won the first championship in
2004. In 2005, we rallied to win the decisive game of the
best-of-five finals playing away to Jiangsu Dragons and it just
felt like escaping from a desperate situation," said Zhu Fangyu,
last year's finals MVP (Most Valuable Player), smiling, "This time,
everything followed the prescribed order and everything was under
control."
Wang Shipeng, the fourth Guangdong player who has been recruited
to the national team, was satisfied with his and the team's
performance. "Last year I was only a rookie, but I've become much
better after two seasons and training with the national team."
The 2.12-meter-tall Yi Jianlian, averaging 19.6 points and 11
rebounds in the post season, lifted the champions' trophy.
Commenting on the rumor of his intention to join this year's NBA
draft, the 19-year-old said he still lacked the experience and
ability: "Yao Ming participated in many international games before
he joined the NBA. So the world championships and the Asian Games
this year are pretty important to me and I don't want to lose these
chances to get better."
Chen Haitao, official of the Guangdong club, noted that although
the time might be right, the club would let Yi play in the NBA
sooner or later.
After the Rockets won all seven of the first CBA titles when it
debuted in 1995, Guangdong is the second team to win the
championship three times running.
Established in 1993 as China's first privately owned basketball
team, the club is funded by the Huangyuan Group. Unlike most CBA
teams that are affiliated to local sports bureaus, Guangdong
applies for admission to the league annually and holds the property
and operating rights of its players.?
After being promoted from the second-division league to
inaugurate the CBA league in 1995, the Guangdong team headhunted
several former national players including Li Chunjiang and Guan
Deyou. The team went on to finish runners-up in the 1995-96 season
and was second runners-up the next year.
Today, Li is head coach and Guan team leader.
In 1997, Hongyuan Group joined hands with the Guangdong
Institute of Sports and Athletics Technology to establish a B team,
from which Guangdong draws its constant supply of bright young
talent from all over the country. These included Du Feng, Zhu
Fangyu, Wang Shipeng and Yi Jianlian.
To further develop its industry and market, the Hongyuan Group
gave up its soccer team in 2001. "Compared to China's football,
basketball is less connected with administration interference and
more market-focused," Chen Lin, board chairman of the Hongyuan
Group, explained.
His decision was spot-on and Guangdong Hongyuan became the first
profitable club in China, earning over 1 million yuan in 2003.
"Hongyuan is the first professional team to win the
championship, which is of far-reaching importance to the league and
to Chinese basketball," Li Yuanwei, vice?president of the CBA
said, adding that other clubs could learn from Guangdong's
success.
Today's Guangdong team is a young one - all under 26 - with the
exception of its two veterans, Li Qun and Song Xi, which makes it a
team to watch in future CBA seasons.?
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao April 20, 2006)
