URUMQI, China, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Strong performance of the second and third quarter helped Xinjiang defeated Guangdong 103-97 at home to lead 2-0 in the best-of-seven 2016-2017 CBA finals here on Sunday.
Trailed 0-1 after Game 1, Guangdong played strong defense to lead 15-5 in the early first quarter. In the match filled with physical contacts, Darius Adams was troubled by anger control issues, he was then replaced by Andray Blatche before the latter scored five points. But nine turnovers of Xinjiang still cost them the first quarter deficit 16-30.
Xinjiang, the regular season champion stormed 14-0 in the second quarter during which Li Gen contributed 12 points. The national team forward added another three-pointer to make Xinjiang surpass by 50-48 at the halftime.
Zhou Qi had two impressive alley-oops in the third quarter while Guangdong had a 11-1 streak in between. Xinjiang was saved by Adams who dominated the rest of this quarter to help his team lead by 81-80 into the last period.
It was still Adams who played the role of a savior in the late fourth quarter, Guangdong tried to narrow the gap but their low energy was not enough to accomplish the mission. Xinjiang won their second home match 103-97.
Adams had game high 35 points, Zhou Qi contributed double double of 14 points and 11 rebounds, Li Gen scored 23 points. Zhou Peng led Guangdong with 23 points, Yi Jianlian added 19 points and 12 rebounds.
"I was satisfied about the team's performance, I mean, we had the chance to win the game but we were lack of rebounds," said Guangdong coach Du Feng. His team was outrebounded 34-42 tonight.
"Both teams spared no efforts today, we considered that Guangdong may enhance their defense today but our players could prepared better for it," commented Xinjiang coach Li Qiuping. "We were not good enough in offense but we persisted for 48 minutes in defense."
Game 3 will be played in Guangdong on Wednesday.
