BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The meeting between two former CBA champions the Beijing Ducks and the Liaoning Fly Leopards ended with a victory for the former on Saturday.
Thanks to team work and high-quality defense, Beijing brought down Liaoning 91-82 on the re-opening day of the 2019-2020 CBA season.
Jeremy Lin and five of his Beijing teammates all finished with double figure point totals. Beijing's shooters did a much better job than their opponents, making 12 baskets beyond the arc, while Liaoning only converted four of their 20 three-point attempts.
Lance Stephenson, Liaoning's top scorer before the COVID-19 outbreak, was unable to return to the team, while the team's starting power forward Li Xiaoxu was also unavailable due to injury.
Liaoning tried to show their muscle by playing aggressive defense at the beginning of the game, only to see themselves total four fouls in the first two minutes.
Beijing took the early lead, finishing the first quarter up 29-18. Liaoning kept struggling in the following two quarters, and Beijing widened the advantage to 21 points after Zhai Xiaochuan buried a three pointer in the third quarter.
Liaoning tried hard to come back in the final quarter. Guo Ailun's continuous attacks brought his team back to 80-71 half way into the period. However, a jump shot from Lin with three minutes left helped Beijing move ahead with an 11-point advantage.
Liaoning attempted several shots in the final minutes, but Beijing did well on the defensive side to seal the victory.
Lin, who averaged 24.2 points and 5.8 assists for the first 30 games this season, only had 13 on Saturday, but his six assists and game-winning jump shot in the final period turned out to be the key factor in Beijing's victory. Beijing forward Zhu Yanxi finished with a team-high 15 points.
Big center Han Dejun had a game-high 27 points for Liaoning, while Guo added 23.
Beijing move up to the third place on CBA standings thanks to the win, and Liaoning drop to fifth. Enditem
