DONGGUAN, China, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Guangdong eased past Shenzhen 141-118 by making 15 3-pionters to lead 1-0 in the best-of-seven semifinals of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league here on Monday.
Yi Jianlian scored 15 points, Sonny Weems and Marshon Brooks had 28 points apiece for Guangdong. Kenny Boynton and He Xining scored 30 points each for Shenzhen.
A 13-0 spurt ignited the home crowd and allowed Guangdong to dominate the game all the way as the home side led 77-51 into the second half. After Shenzhen cut the deficit with a 15-4 run, Hu Mingxuan, who made all his four 3-pionter attempts, stood out to help Guangdong lead 111-80 by the end of third quarter.
"We were lucky to get a very high percentage in the opening of the game, but we lost some concentration in defense in the second quarter, and I am happy with the third quarter," Guangdong's coach Du Feng said after the match.
"We have to get prepared for difficult times, because the semifinal is a 7-game series," he added.
Earlier, Guangdong swept Jiangsu 3-0 in the quarterfinals while Shenzhen came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 over Beijing as coach Wang Jianjun said his team has been fighting against physical limits.
"We have already pushed ourselves to the limit of stamina in the quarterfinals, and key players like Gu Quan and Li Muhao are suffering from injuries," Wang said.
"I'm proud of my players, they never gave up and kept fighting on the court," he added.
