Rockets Trounces Bulls for 2-0 Lead in CBA Semi-finals

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 28, 2002

Rockets Trounces Bulls for 2-0 Lead in CBA Semi-finals

Defending champions the Bayi Rockets trounced the Shandong Flaming Bulls 125- 94 Wednesday to lead 2-0 in the semi-finals of the 2001- 2002 season Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) League.

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Defending champions the Bayi Rockets trounced the Shandong Flaming Bulls 125- 94 Wednesday to lead 2-0 in the semi-finals of the 2001- 2002 season Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) League.

Liu Yudong, who averaged 36.4 points in the regular season to lead all the CBA scorers, had 19 of his 34 points in the third quarter to boost the Rockets to their 63 consecutive victory at home.

Liu scored back-to-back points in Bayi's 8-0 run at the beginning of the second half, which gave the home side a 63-50 lead.

The Rockets, who have won all the six previous CBA titles since the league's foundation in 1995, enlarged their lead to 94-70 with a 12-2 run connecting the third and fourth quarter.

"Our players did quite well in the first half," said Shandong coach Ye Peng at the press conference after the game. "But we failed to hold the Rockets in the third quarter."

The Bulls, who were playing without their leading scorers Gong Xiaobin and Liu Tie, tracked 55-50 after the first half.

Gong averaged 24.8 points and 7.5 rebound for the Bulls in the play-offs before pulling the ligament in his right arm in the Bulls' 105-102 home defeat to the Rockets on Sunday. Liu, who led the Bulls with 19.7 points per game in the regular season, had his finger broken in the second game of the quarter-finals, where Shandong eliminated the Beijing Ducks 3-1.

Li Nan and Mo Ke added 22 and 20 points respectively for the Rockets while Lithuanian Urkis Rolanpas, Chen Zhaosheng and Ji Minshang led the Bulls with 17 points each.

Bayi shot 60.5 percent from the field while Shandong shot 47.3 percent.

The Rockets will play the Bulls here on Friday in the third game of the best-of-five semi-finals.

Bayi whitewashed the Bulls 3-0 in the 1999-2000 semi-finals and led 6-2 in their encounters for the latest three seasons.

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