On January 22, Beijing time, the CBA regular season saw Shanghai men's basketball team defeat Guangdong men's basketball team to secure a two-game winning streak, ending Guangdong's nine-game winning streak. In the past 20 games, Shanghai has achieved an impressive record of 18 wins and 2 losses, quickly recovering from a brief two-game losing streak to win two consecutive victories. Shanghai led by 18 points in the first half, extended the lead to over 30 points in the third quarter, and entered garbage time early in the fourth quarter.
In this game, in order to deal with the high-spirited Guangdong, Shanghai men's basketball team finally returned Lofton to the starting lineup, as it was crucial to seize the opening. Playing against a historically strong team like Guangdong requires suppression from the start. In the first quarter, Lofton lived up to expectations, scoring 7 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds on 4-of-2 shooting and 1-of-2 from three-point range. Li Hongquan became a trump card with three three-pointers in the first quarter, scoring 9 points, and Shanghai led by as many as 8 points.
In the second quarter, Li Hongquan hit another three-pointer, Xu Jie missed a three-pointer but Liu Zheng responded with a fast-break basket to extend the lead to 14 points, forcing Du Feng to call a timeout. Ren Junfei's knee collided with Xue Bu, causing him to fall to the ground, fortunately without serious injury. Bei Zili hit a three-pointer, Zhang Wenyi scored a mid-range shot, and Liu Zheng responded with another three-pointer, forcing Du Feng to call another timeout after a turnover. After ATO, there was another turnover, resulting in a 9-0 run in just two minutes, and Huang Rongqi's three-pointer forced Shanghai to call a timeout. Subsequently, Shanghai extended the lead to 18 points at the end of the first half.
After halftime, Liu Zheng scored on a fast-break layup, Bei Zili drew a foul on Wilson, Xue Bu hit another three-pointer, Wang Zhelin drew a foul on Xu Xin, and Xu Xin delivered a powerful dunk. Li Tianrong hit a three-pointer, and Xu Jie had already been substituted. Lofton scored again with a mid-range shot, extending the lead to 28 points. Du Runwang managed to hit a three-pointer, but Li Tianrong hit another three-pointer and scored on a breakthrough, extending the lead to 30 points. At the end of the third quarter, Shanghai led Guangdong 83-57.
The fourth quarter was essentially garbage time, with Shanghai continuing their regular rotation, and Lofton continued to play. Li Tianrong hit another three-pointer, and Liu Zheng also hit a three-pointer, extending the lead to 31 points, forcing Du Feng to call another timeout. Lofton was given a technical foul for arguing with the referee, and Bei Zili hit another three-pointer, after which the game entered garbage time.
In the entire game, Jilunuo only played for a few minutes before being benched (it is said that Jilunuo was dissatisfied with Du Feng), while Xu Jie scored 11 points and 5 rebounds; five players from Shanghai scored in double figures.
Written by Yan Xiaobai: Shanghai Observation