The Shenzhen Aviators beat the Zhejiang Golden Bulls 103-92 to tie 1-1 in the best-of-five semifinals of the 2022-23 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) playoffs on
Shenzhen continued to limit Zhejiang's Sixth Man of the Year award winner Wu Qian behind the arc as they had done in the last game, gradually establishing a double-digit lead before Zhejiang cut the deficit to five in the first quarter.
Zhejiang soon answered with 32-15 in the following period. Continuous three pointers from Lu Wenbo helped Zhejiang to lead 58-46 into the second half.
Both sides had trouble scoring after the interval as Zhejiang only had 10 in the third quarter. Shenzhen outscored with 18-10, legging four points behind into the last quarter.
After the two teams tied at 75-75, Shenzhen suddenly stepped up with fast breaks to storm 10-2 within three minutes. Jared Sullinger and He Xining continued to attack the rim to secure the victory for Shenzhen.
Sullinger had a game-high 23 points, 15 rebounds, four steals and three blocks for Shenzhen. He Xining added 19 points. Center Shen Zijie contributed 16 points and eight rebounds. Lu hit five three-pointers to score 20 points for Zhejiang, teammate Nicholas Rakocevic also had 20 points.
"The victory absolutely boosted us in this series, we made timely adjustment after the interval, enhanced our defense and fast breaks. Special thanks to Jared Sullinger and He Xining, they played tough in the fourth quarter with shoulder and rib injury," said Shen after the game.
Shenzhen will play against Zhejiang at home on Sunday night in the third game.
