China
Sharks hand first playoff loss to Guangdong
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-07 23:09
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BEIJING - Shanghai Sharks handed Wednesday the first playoff loss this season to Guangdong Hongyuan with a 126-115 road win, evening the best-of-five semifinal series 1-1.
The Sharks might also win a home visit of boss Yao Ming, who promised to watch Sharks' next two home matches against Guangdong could his team win once on the road, according to local reports on Wednesday.
John Lucas III, Yao's former Houston Rockets' teammate, had 35 points while point guard Liu Wei adding 23 for Shanghai.
The back-court pair also grabbed 11 rebounds in total as the visiting team beat Guangdong on the board for the first time in the four meetings between them, 47-39.
The victory turned the home-court advantage to the Sharks as game 3 and game 4 will be played at Shanghai, and game 5, if possible, will be back to Dongguan, Guangdong Province.
Guangdong took a slim 88-85 lead after three quarters and neither team could make a clear lead in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter.
Liu had five points in Shanghai's 9-0 run to put the road team ahead for good on 111-104 with 5:54 minutes to go.
The defending champions lost the momentum after that as Shanghai led as many as a dozen in the final three minutes to pocket a win to home.
In the other semifinals, Xinjiang Guanghui won their second home match against Zhejiang Guangsha by 99-89, leading the series by 2-0.
Allen Myron had 33 points and Charles Gaines adding 27 as the overseas pair wrapped up the victory for Xinjiang.
Guangsha shot 70 per cent in the field but were only 3-out-of-18 on three-pointers and squardered the chance on free-throws when they shot 24-out-of-35 on the line.
