CBA: Jeremy Lin’s Beijing Ducks blow 19-point lead in loss to champion Guangdong Southern Tigers
- Beijing team have one game to save season after Guangdong Southern Tigers snatch dramatic 111-109 overtime win
- Champions have one foot in final thanks to fourth quarter comeback ahead of game two on Thursday
The Ducks led by 19 points in the fourth quarter before a dramatic comeback from the reigning champions took the game to overtime at the buzzer.
There was high drama at the very end in a game that saw Beijing let the lead slip to just four points as the clock ticked down during a nervy final few minutes.
One dramatic play saw Lin lose the ball in the paint, race back to be fouled and then get another foul on the inbound ball to go to the free-throw line with two minutes left on the clock. The NBA champion drained both to stretch the Ducks’ lead back to six.
But there was more to come, with a Zhou Peng three-pointer to reduce the deficit to just two points with 25 seconds on the clock.
Lin was back on court as Chou Yi-hsiang went to the charity line for Beijing then Meng Duo sank two frees for Guangdong. Fang Shuo then sank two more for Beijing with 11.5 seconds on the clock.
The champions had time to score again before forcing the ball back from Fang with 2.3 seconds in which Sonny Weems took the game to overtime with the scores level at 104-104. Weems finished with a game-high 40 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists. Four other Guangdong players scored double figures.
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With this year’s semi-finals reduced to best of three after the season’s long coronavirus hiatus, the Ducks need to win on Thursday to keep hopes of a first finals since 2015 alive.
Lin, in his debut CBA season after moving to China following nine years in the NBA, scored 23 points with 10 assists before being fouled out. Ekpe Udoh scored 17, Zhai Xiaochuan added 18 and Fang top scored with 28.
The lead changed hands several times during the first quarter, and the Ducks were unable to hold on, going in 27-26 down at the buzzer.
They spread their wings in the second quarter to lead 59-48 at the half, the first time the Beijingers had been ahead of Guangdong at the end of any period since a two-point half-time lead at home on December 1.
Beijing lost that first league game 93-78 before losing their other meeting, in the final game of the regular season. The CBA champions beat the Ducks 101-82 behind closed doors in Qingdao on July 26.
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That defeat ended the Ducks’ 11-game winning streak and extended Guangdong’s regular season record to 29 straight wins.
As expected the CBA’s all-time top scorer and this season’s MVP Yi Jianlian was out injured for their reigning CBA champions.
He is nursing a thigh strain that the club confirmed on their official Weibo a day before the semi-final. There is no date for his return as they monitor his situation, but he is unlikely to be rushed back after the victory.
Guangdong (44-2) went into this game as favourites against Beijing (32-14), having won the last four meetings between the teams, but form went out of the window, even if some of the game followed a familiar pattern.
Lin was subject to the same defensive treatment as their previous game, often finding himself on the floor – hitting the deck seven times in 10 first half minutes.
Nevertheless, the Ducks raced away with the third quarter, establishing a 16-point lead that saw them lead 83-67 at the buzzer.
That lead was soon stretched to 19 points with a three-pointer to draw first blood in the final quarter, but Guangdong rallied for a memorable victory. Now it comes down to Thurday’s game two for the Ducks to save their season.
