Jeremy Lin (L) of Beijing Ducks competes against Yi Jianlian of Guangdong Southern Tigers during a match between Beijing Ducks and Guangdong Southern Tigers at the 2019-2020 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, July 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)
QINGDAO, China, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Defending champions Guangdong Southern Tigers smashed the Beijing Ducks 101-82 in their last game of the 2019-20 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) regular season for a record-extending 29th straight victory here on Sunday.
"After CBA's resumption, both of Beijing's teams had two overseas players in their squads. Our opponents are quite strong, but we are very dedicated," said Guangdong head coach Du Feng.
From an early 5-0 lead, Hu Mingxuan made consecutive jump shots to enlarge the gap to over 10 points with four minutes remaining in the first quarter where Guangdong led 25-14 after Zhao Rui succeeded in his three-pointer.
Zhao's unsportsmanlike foul midway through the second quarter gave Jeremy Lin two free throws to narrow the margin to 10 points. Beijing pulled back 40-38 after Lin converted another pair of free throws, but Sonny Weems buried a three-pointer to set it 45-38 before the interval.
Guangdong kept their comfortable margin around 15 points in the third quarter and soared in the final period.
Zhou Peng's jumper on Weems' assist helped Guangdong lead at 83-63 before Weems scored later to create a game-high gap of 25 points to extinguish Beijing's hope to reverse.
"It's really a tough game. They are the defending champions and a strong team. We still have a lot to improve in our mentality and technical details. We are in a mid-level position, so I always tell players to fight for our best," said Beijing coach Xie Libin.
Weems notched 19 points, five rebounds and eight assists for Guangdong, while Zhao added 18 points.
Lin and Wang Xiaohui each contributed 16 points for Beijing, whose 11-game winning streak was ended by the regular-season champions. Beijing sits fourth on the standings after the defeat. Enditem
