Ding's 43 points help Shandong win opener of CBA playoffs

Ding Yanyuhang scored a game-high 43 points to guide underdog Shandong for a surprising 95-78 victory over regular season champion Xinjiang in the first round playoffs of the Chinese Basketball Association league (CBA) on Friday, leading 1-0 in the best-of-five series.

On home turf, Shandong played tough defense and managed to challenge Xinjiang from the arc during the first period which the hosts led 17-16. Then Ding enjoyed his moments by slicing open the defense for a double digit lead of 49-38 at half time.

Shandong became unstoppable since then, enlarging the gap to 73-54 into the last quarter.

Jason Thompson contributed 17 points and 16 rebounds, A.J. Price had 15 points for Shandong, while Darius Adams had 22 points and Andray Blatche scord 17 for Xinjiang.

"We played our good defense, but had big problems in attacks," said Li Qiuping, coach of Xinjiang, "Our players tried to solve the problem single-handed, and that's the issue we will deal with in the next games."

In other actions of the day, third seed Shanghai suffered a bitter away loss 115-75 as sixth seed Shenzhen landed on a 40-point victory, missing Jimmer Fredette who went back to USA for family reasons.

Guangdong upset defending champions Sichuan 111-91 as Hamed Hadadi was restricted to 17 points to the dismay of home fans, while Guangdong had four players scoring double-digits, including Carlos Boozer and Zhou Peng, each of them made 28 points apiece.

Tipped to be the toughest match of the playoffs, Liaoning led from the beginning and kept its double-digit lead to beat Guangsha 124-114 as Guo Ailun scored a game-high 29 points on 10-of-13 shots, together with seven assists and five steals. Lester Hudson and Shavlik Randolph each contributed 25 points for Liaoning. Endit