体坛英语新闻：Guangdong sweeps Shandong to grab its 8th CBA title

JINAN, China, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Guangdong Hongyuan proved themselves the most successful Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) franchise as they recorded a crushing victory over Shandong Gold 94-74 Friday and snatched their eighth CBA title, equalling the league record by traditional powerhouse Bayi Rockets.

This finals series ended in 4-0, the first time for white-wash since the CBA finals have been played on best-of-seven format.

Yi Jianlian, who had been playing five seasons in NBA with four teams, sequently Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks, snatched 24 poins and 13 rebounds.

The power forward was awarded the finals MVP with an average of 20 points and 11 rebounds in the series.

Ike Diogu, also a former NBA player, and Wang Shipeng finished with 16 points apiece.

"It (the eighth title) represents our faith and promise. I am proud of what our team did and I have my gratitude to all teammates and fans," said Yi, who is also the regular season and All-star MVP the season.

Thanks to Tao Hanlin's three-point play and dunk, Shandong dig out a 10-2 spurt to level the score 19 at the first period.

Guangdong only held a 65-62 lead into the final quarter after Shandong rallied from double digit deficit, but a lackluster play in four quarter soon saw the home team out of the tourney.

Donald Sloan of Guangdong made consecutive layups and helped his team extend the margin in large stride. After Diogu's dunk with three minutes to go, Guangdong built up a 21-point lead, which forced Shandong's coach Gong Xiaobin to give up and replaced all starters.

"All our efforts throughout this season has paid off. We lost the title last season, and get it back now. This champion is attributed to all players' comradery," said Guangdong's head coach Du Feng.

Shandong shot a disappointing 20 percent in 3-pointer. Pooh Jeter and Zaid Abbass contributed 16 points and 12 points respectively, while Jackson Vroman only scored six.

"This means a lot when we play in the finals, and we can see the morale and motivation from all players in these games," Gong still looked from the positive perspective at this sweep.