WCBA 14/2008 - Beijing 104, Bayi Telecom 62

If you had told me that Beijing (9-5) could walk right in to Bayi Telecom (10-4), a team around which one could build an argument that they're the best team in China and beat them by over forty points - at Bayi Telecom - I would have laughed in your face.

If so, I would have looked the fool. The final score says it all. Beijing 104, Bayi Telecom 62.

The boxscore is here.

It started out slow. Beijing up by seven at the end of the first quarter. Okay. Bayi just had a bad quarter. Then up by 15, 53-38, at halftime. Big deal. Plenty of time to come back. But Bayi Telecom just kept falling further and further behind, scoring only 24 points in the first half while Beijing scored 51.

What happened to Bayi? Well, Beijing shot 64 percent, compared to 42 percent shooting by Bayi Telecom. Beijing went 11 for 19 in 3-point shooting, killing Bayi Telecom from outside the arc. Even with 26 rebounds, Beijing still outrebounded a dead Bayi Telecom. In every phase of the game, the Beijing team was superior.

Bayi Telecom has now fallen into a tie for second place. Beijing, on the other hand, is in fourth place by a good two games.

Only five of nine players would even score for Bayi Telecom. Chen Nan led all players with 23 points and eight rebounds. Zhang Xiaoni and Wang Fan were the only other Chinese players to even score in double digits, with 12 and 10 points respectively.

For Beijing, five players hit double digits. Zhang Wei set the cout on fire, scoring 20 points and 4 assists on 9 for 13 shooting (she was 9 for 10 inside the arc). Jennifer Lacy picked up 18 points, six of those points on free throw attempts. Zhang Lin had 16 points and five rebounds - she was fouled seven times - and Zhang Fan scored 13 points.

What a win. Although I'm sure Bayi Telecom's fans didn't appreciate it.