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Liaoning taste spice and bitterness in Sichuan

Xinhua, March 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Title-favorites Liaoning suffered their second loss in the CBA finals here on Wednesday as they lost to Sichuan 104-109 and trailed 1-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Hamed Haddadi, Mike Harris and Justin Dentmon combined for 80 points for the hosts and grabbed 39 rebounds together. Dentmon, who scored 23 points in the previous two games, took a game-high 40, as well as six rebounds and six assists.

Liaoning only led for twice during the match, both in the first quarter. Sichuan outscored Liaoning 8-2 in the last three minutes of the first period to close the quarter at 20-18.

Dentmon's four three-pointers helped the hosts enlarge the lead to 11 in the middle of the second quarter while Liaoning struggled to find a way to catch up with. Shavlik Randolph stood out and scored 14 of his 24 in the second quarter, which helped Liaoning narrow the gap to five before halftime.

Dentmon continued his brilliant performance in the third quarter while Liaoning could only depend on Lester Hundson and Randolph, who scored 21 points for Liaoning in that period. Sichuan outscored Liaoning 25-22 and led by eight before the final quarter.

He Tianju found his form back in the fourth quarter as he scored 10 of his 12, including a three-pointer with seven and a half minutes to the end of the match, which closed the gap to only one point.

Dentmon then scored six points in a row to keep Sichuan in leading position as the hosts survived Liaoning's fight-back to win their first-ever home-court CBA finals game.

Dentmon led Sichuan with a match-high 40, while Harris finished with 12 and eight rebounds due to injuries. Haddadi took a large double-double of 28 points and 25 rebounds.

"We gave our opponent too much free-throws," said Guo Shiqiang, Liaoning's head coach. "And they outrebounded us. Our players tried their best but they still got lots of pressure."

The hosts were awarded 36 free-throws while Liaoning had only 14. Sichuan also grabbed 49 rebounds, including 18 offensive boards, while Liaoning had only eight.

Hudson led Liaoning with 31 but he missed nine three-pointers and also took four turnovers. Randolph helped with 24 and 12 rebounds.

"The victory gave us more confidence," said Yang Xuezeng, Sichuan's head coach. "But I still think that Liaoning is a better team than us and we should be prepared for the upcoming matches."

The fourth match will be played on Friday in Chengdu, the city also known for spicy food. Endi