Rockets Rally Past Ducks for 10th Straight Win

Rockets Rally Past Ducks for 10th Straight Win

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Defending champions Bayi Rockets came from a 14-point deficit in the second quarter to beat the Beijing Ducks 134-119 in the 16th round of the Chinese Basketball League here on Sunday and extended their winning streak to 10.

Wang Zhizhi, who had 36 points and 10 rebounds in the visitors' 13 victory of the season, made a three-pointer with 1:40 remaining in the game to give the Rockets a unshakable 128-118 lead. The Ducks never pulled within 10 afterwards.

Zhang Jindong, the league's second three-pointer shooter behind Bayi's Li Nan, had a season-high 12 three-pointers on 19 attempts for the Ducks but saw their six-game unbeaten streak snapped before the 3,000 home crowds.

The 30-year-old Zhang, who also had a game high of 43 points, led a Beijing surge with several three-points to help the Ducks lead 60-46 late in the second quarter, but Bayi made it 67-61 at the half time with a 15-7 run from then on.

The defending champions trailed 101-96 into the fourth quarter but rallied with three consecutive three-pointers for the first lead since the first quarter 105-103.

The Ducks' center Ba Te'er, 2.10 meters, had a rare three-pointer to push the hosts ahead 106-105, which was in fact their last lead of the game, before Li Nan shot a back-to-back three-pointer for the Rockets.

"Affected by the home crowd, we had a bad start today," said Bayi's coach Wang Fei. "But we found the rhythm and played better in the second half."

Chinese international Liu Yudong had 29 points and seven rebounds for the winners and Li Nan added 26 points and six assists.

In Shenyang, Liaoning Province, league leaders the Shanghai Sharks handed the Shenyang Army their 16th successive loss of the season 92-83. Yao Ming contributed 43 points and 19 rebounds for the Sharks' fourth straight win since their loss to the Rockets on the New Year's Eve.

In Sunday's other actions, Guo Shiqiang had 35 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to lead the Liaoning Hunters 95-80 over Jiangsu Dragons, Jinan Army nipped Zhejiang Cyclone 97-90, Guangdong Hongyuan suffered their fourth consecutive skid when they crashed to Jilin Northeast Tigers 103-97 and Shandong FlamingBulls trounced Vanguard Aoshen 121-88 at home.