All the top four teams in the regular season tasted one more victory, relying on the home-court advantage, and led the best-of-five series by 2-0 in the first- round matches of Chinese Basketball Association league (CBA) playoffs on Wednesday.
Xinjiang edged the defending champions Beijing 104-101 at home despite of Stephon Marbury's team-high 32 points. Beijing's Sun Yue scored 18 points, Randolph Morris had 17 points and 9 rebounds, Ji Zhe and Zhai Xiaochuan combined for 29 points.
Xinjiang's Andray Blatche got a match-high 37 points and 13 boards, Zhou Qi had 21 points, Bryce Cotton contributed 12 points and Li Gen added 10 points.
Depending on eight three-pointers in the first half, Beijing extended its lead to 8 points as the second period ended. In the start of third period, Xinjiang had a 9-2 run and only one point behind when Beijing had to charge a time-out. After the pause, the two teams traded lead and tied 78-78 in the end of third quarter.
Xinjiang led 6 points in the final minute of fourth period but Marbury's 6 points saved Beijing's hope and made a 99-99 tie with 39.4 seconds left. However, Xinjiang scored all the free throws in the final moments and beat Beijing 104-101, leading 2-0 in the first-round matches.
Sichuan claimed an easy 131-118 home victory over Guangsha as their foreign trio of Justin Dentmon, Mike Harris and Hamed Haddadi combined for 86 points.
Four players of Guangdong scored more than 20 points and helped their team defeat Shandong 130-111.
Last season's runner-up Liaoning thrashed Zhejiang 138-105 to pave the way for a semifinal spot.
