Dongguan, China, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Yi Jianlian's double-double helped Guangdong to beat Shenzhen 119-112, leading 2-0 in the best-of-seven semifinals of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league here on Wednesday.
Yi had 23 points and 14 rebounds, while Marshon Brooks scored a game-high 35 points for Guangdong. Kenny Boynton had 28 points and Dwight Buycks added 25 for Shenzhen.
After leading 101-83 into the last quarter, Guangdong almost squandered their efforts as Shenzhen rallied for a 14-0 spurt in four minutes to make it 101-97. The visitors then tied the game 112-112 with 1:36 to go, before Ren Junfei scored for Guangdong and Brooks made a killing 3-pointer.
"I knew Game 2 would be much tough after we won an easy Game 1," Guangdong coach Du Feng said. "We were floppy in defense and everyone hoped to score more points and we didn't try our best in rebounds."
Guangdong started with a 6-0 spurt to lead 31-19 in the first quarter. After Shen Zijie and Boynton combined for a 10-0 run for Shenzhen, Zhou Peng and Brooks helped Guangdong to lead 61-48 at half time.
"Although we lost the game, our players did a good job as we fought to the end and no one gave up," said Shenzhen coach Wang Jianjun.
