Ducks soar into CBA finals

The Guangdong South China Tigers failed to make a CBA final berth for the first time since the 2002-03 -season as the defending champions were stunned by the Beijing Ducks, 110-102, in their fifth playoff semi-final at home in the South China city of Dongguan on Thursday.

Beijing now face the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in the best-of-seven finals, the first of which is on Wednesday. Thanks to their higher ranking in the regular season, Xinjiang will host the first two games before heading to Beijing.

Beijing's Stephon Marbury scored a match-high 31 points, while Guangdong's Yi Jianlian nailed 30.

Guangdong coach Du Feng said his players put too much pressure on themselves which ended their chance.

"Last game we played with less pressure, but this time, at our home, they burdened too much pressure on themselves," Du told reporters after the game.

Yi started the game with a powerful slam dunk before teammate Josh Powell sank another two points. But then the eight-time CBA champions quickly faced a 7-0 run by the Ducks. The two teams traded baskets -before Beijing's Li Gen sank the last two points of the first quarter to give -Beijing a 29-21 lead.

The South China Tigers, down by as many as 14 points in the second quarter, lessened their deficit thanks to a string of errors from the Ducks to achieve a 13-0 run, leveling to 42-42. But the visitors took back the lead by the halftime break with 48-44.

Guangdong's poor free throws were aggravated by three-pointers from the Ducks, as they were soon left trailing by double digits again in the third quarter. Marbury and Li combined to offer 17 points while Randolph Morris netted 12 in the quarter to keep the Ducks ahead at 83-69.

Zhu Fangyu led the Guangdong fightback to 84-91 at the beginning of the last quarter, but his solo efforts were overwhelmed by the Ducks' team -display.

Marbury became the key man in blocking Guangdong's path to the -finals. His eight free throws in the last two minutes killed off the hosts' last hopes.

Xu Jicheng, a sports commentator, expressed his concerns on the Ducks via Sohu Weibo, saying the Ducks should consider how to let their -domestic players coordinate better if they want to get a result against Xinjiang in the finals.

Su Qun, editor-in-chief of the Guangzhou-based Basketball Pioneers newspaper, said the Guangdong hegemony has met its end.

"While Marbury's one-man show was the main reason for Beijing's win, he had a positive influence on his teammates … It's time for Guangdong to rebuild," Su expressed via Sina Weibo.