Wang Shipeng of Guangdong Southern Tigers scored a game-high 30
points to get the MVP nod at the CBA 2007 All-Star Game held
Saturday night in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province. Wang led the Drum Team in
defeating the Flag Team 104-91.
The Drums dominated throughout with three other players registering
double-digit hauls. Anthony Myles trailed Wang with 27 points and
collected 12 rebounds. Former NBA player Wang Zhizhi notched up 11
points and eight rebounds while Tang Zhengdong added 10 points with
seven rebounds to the mix.
Yi Jianlian consoled the losing Flag Team, thanks to a 29-point
and 11-rebound double-double. This capped a successful season for
the 19-year-old who averaged 24.4 points and 12.3 rebounds to lead
Guangdong Southern Tigers to a first place finish in the CBA
regular season. This stellar year will be capped by him joining the
NBA draft this summer. Other good performances from the Flags came
with Zhu Fangyu's 16 points while Zhang Jingsong and Lorenzo
Coleman put up 15 and 10 points respectively.
This year's All-Star Weekend revolved around the traditional
concept of Wuxia, showcasing ancient Chinese warrior costumes and
Peking opera during the opening ceremony. Readers may be reassured
that the players were not expected to play in full battle dress.
The names of the usual North and South divisions were replaced by
the Drum and Flag teams, led by Jiang Xingquan and A Dijiang
respectively.
Wang Shipeng made a spectacular start by shooting six straight
three-pointers in the first quarter and took the Drum Team to a
28-27 lead. In the second quarter, Zhejiang rookies Luo Zhi and
Ding Jinhui ran rampant, widening the margin to 56-47.
Wang Shipeng (R)
The Flag Team came back well with a 26-14 run in the third, with
the match becoming more hotly contested. The 17-year-old Ding
blocked a dunk from Zhu Fangyu, who was hit on the forehead hard
and hospitalized for further treatment.
Trailing 73-70 going into the fourth quarter, the Drums came
back and controlled the pace of the game through Wang Shipeng. He
drained his eighth three-pointer of the game with three minutes on
the clock to tie the game at 89 apiece. He added two more to secure
the victory for the Drum Team.
During the interval, Xu Yong of Shanghai Sharks won the slam
dunk competition with Zhejiang Cyclones' Luo Zhi grabbing the
three-point shootout title.
Xu Yong
Off the court, to ease the load ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the CBA is considering
withdrawing the annual China-South Korea All-Star Game and the CBA
All-Star Game aside from the 100-game cancellation policy decided
earlier amidst calls that the CBA season was far too taxing for the
players.
.
"The CBA-KBL All-Star Game will probably stop in the future, not
definitely but probably," said Xiao Hong'an, director of the market
development department for the CBA.
For a long time, basketball's senior governing body has faced
the dilemma of improving the national team by axing parts of the
national league. The matter of withdrawing the CBA All-Star Game
will remain off the table until after the play-offs, according to
Hao Guohua, CBA league operations director.
Eight teams have qualified to play the best-of-five playoff
quarter-finals with the first leg to be played on February 23.
The line-up is as follows:
Guangdong Southern Tigers vs. Shanghai Sharks
Jiangsu Dragons vs. Shandong Lions
Bayi Rockets vs. Zhejiang Cyclones
Liaoning Hunters vs. Fujian SBS
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, February 12, 2007)
