Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 15, 2002
Shanghai Sharks Level CBA Finals 1-1
Shanghai Sharks dominated almost all around the field to level 1-1 in the finals of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), winning Sunday 124-92 over defendingchampion Bayi Rockets at Luwan stadium here.
Shanghai Sharks dominated almost all around the field to level 1-1 in the finals of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), winning Sunday 124-92 over defendingchampion Bayi Rockets at Luwan stadium here.
Yao Ming, 2.25-meter center, led the Sharks with 26 points and 23 rebounds while seven players from the home team scoring double-figure points.
The Sharks controlled the board on the both ends of the court, beating the Rockets by 62-35 in total and 25-12 on the offense end.
Sharp shooter Liu Yudong had the game-high 27 points, but he was only 10-20 in the field, which is quite low percentage for theregular-season best scorer. He received little help from his teammates as Li Nan, who shot the winning 3-pointer in Wednesday's127-125 victory, scored 13 points and Li Ke having 11.
"We played good defence to take the control," said Li Qiuping, head coach of the Sharks. "My players did a great job to suffocate their outside shooters when our inside big guys dominated the boards."
"Our players didn't have patience to find better shooting opportunities," the Rockets' coach Adijiang said. "And we made too many turnovers when our outside scorers were in trouble."
Sharks' point guard Liu Wei had 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in one of his best matches in the playoffs. American guard Steven Hart contributed 18 points while David Benoit having 15 points and six rebounds.
Trailing by 11-2 at the start, the home team used a 20-4 run to take the lead and never let it down again, winning the first quarter by 28-18.
Though the Sharks having another bad shooting match from behind the arc, 3-22, but its inside players converted most of the second-chance baskets to run the match for the good.
With two Americans on the court, the Sharks led as much as 18 points midway in the third quarter to stamp its domination, and coach Li rested the first team half way in the fourth.
The third game of the best-of-five finals will be played on Wednesday at Luwan stadium.