BEIJING, March 25 -- Regular-season winners Guangdong trounced Jiangsu 137-108, while Beijing edged off Shenzhen 106-96 in their first games respectively of the second phase play-offs of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Monday.
Four players from Guangdong scored over 20 points as MarShon Brooks led the horde with 27 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
Sonny Weems also had an all-round game as he contributed 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the home team. Forward Yi Jianlian had 21 points and 12 rebounds while Zhou Peng also scored 21 points.
Guangdong built up a big lead from the first quarter, where they finished with 31-20, before they extended the gap by every quarter towards the garbage time in the fourth period.
The other matchup was a complete different story as the visiting Beijing almost squandered a perfect start before they hung on for a precious away win.
Zhu Yanxi, who buried 7 out of 10 3-pointers for a 24-point game, led Beijing to a 32-20 start in the first quarter.
Shenzhen answered with a surge-up in the second quarter, which they outscored 33-18. Six home team players scored in double digits to keep the lead until midway into the fourth quarter.
Fang Shuo chipped in 24 points, 6-of-10 from behind the arc, while the whole Beijing team shot 52.5 per cent (21-of-40) on 3-pointers to have the last boost down the stretch for the final victory.
Guangdong and Beijing led 1-0 identically in the best-of-five series.