Injury fears for Liu as Sharks take a beating
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Shanghai Daily, December 8, 2011
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Aaron Brooks of Guangdong (L) and Liu Wei of Shanghai (R) position for a rebound in Wednesday's match as the Tigers rout Sharks 95-76. |
Guangdong Southern Tigers dismantled a visiting Shanghai Sharks side by a sizeable margin 95-76 in a game that wasn't pretty on the eye but ensured that the defending champion kept up with CBA leaders, the Beijing Ducks.
Shanghai will be less concerned about the scale of the defeat and more about captain Liu Wei, who appeared to be withdrawn before the interval with an injury.
Aaron Brooks, a former teammate of Yao Ming at the Houston Rockets, was near-faultless from long range and opened up a 10-point lead by half time in front of an excited home crowd.
Shanghai needed a big third quarter but without its influential captain, the away team lacked the guile to unlock a thrifty Tigers defence.
Unable to score with any regularity, the Sharks began to find themselves further and further adrift of a ruthless Guangdong team which calmly converted its chances and continued to increase their lead.
By the fourth quarter, Brooks, aided by equally accurate shooting from Wang Zhen and Zhou Peng had given the Tigers a sizeable 23 point lead and the Sharks, outgunned and outmaneuvered, had nothing to fight for but pride.
Indeed, there was still time for controversy in the final minutes of the game as nigglesome fouls from both sides resulted in a number of minor scuffles and confrontations between the two sets of players.
The various free-throws that followed were obviously of little consequence to Guangdong, which had already withdrawn its starters midway through the fourth quarter.
Ryan Forehan-Kelly was the only Sharks player who made any impact on the game, making 21 points in a hard working performance.
The Sharks will now go on to play the Dongguan Leopards on Friday but it remains to be seen whether it will be with their starting point guard and leader in the line-up.
In other CBA matches yesterday, Ji Zhe and Randolph Morris led Beijing to a 112-75 thrashing of Bayi Rockets, while JR Smith put on an impressive 46 points, including one particularly staggering one-handed dunk as Zhejiang Bulls dispatched Jiangsu Dragons 104-99.
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