Guangdong beat Shenzhen in CBA semifinals Game 4, ruining Pargo's birthday party

SHENZHEN, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Shenzhen lost to Guangdong 90-81 in the Game 4 of the CBA playoff semifinals here on Friday and ruined Jeremy Pargo's 31th birthday celebration.

Pargo finished with a team-high 23 points, but it was still not enough to help Shenzhen tie the best-of-seven series 2-2. Guangdong now leads 3-1 with the next game to be played in Shenzhen on Sunday.

The host team, who scored 17 three-pointers in Wednesday's Game 3, hit only one in the first quarter, which came from Meng Duo's halfcourt buzzer-beater. Carlos Boozer's seven points helped Guangdong head into the second period with a six-point lead.

The former NBA All-Star power forward continued his hot performance in the second quarter. He scored 14 of his match-high 27 in that quarter. But Pargo and Meng Duo combined for 20 points for Shenzhen. Two sides tied 25-25 in the second quarter.

Pargo added another ten points for Shenzhen in the third quarter and helped the home side outscore Guangdong 23-17 in that period.

Guangdong used a 7-0 run to open the final quarter and then never trailed. Donald Sloan scored Guangdong's last 11 points in the last four minutes and 36 seconds to seal the victory for Guangdong.

Boozer finished with a match-high 27 points and six rebounds while Solan added 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Zhou Peng and Zhao Rui combined for 23 points for Guangdong while their top star Yi Jianlian had only eight.

"We lost last game too easily and we paid the price on Wednesday. But tonight we played good defense and didn't give our opponents much chance," said Du Feng, Guangdong's head coach. "It is very rare for us to allow our opponent to score only 81 points in such a match as the semifinals. I'm very proud of my team."

Only three Shenzhen players scored in double-digit. Besides Pargo's 23, Maciej Lampe helped with 18 and 11 rebounds. Meng Duo added 15.

Shenzhen, who scored 17 three-pointers on Wednesday, lost their shooting accuracy tonight as they only hit eight from 31 attempts. They also missed ten free-throws.

"We fought from the beginning to the end. But we had great problems in offence tonight as our shooters wasted too many shots," said Wang Jianjun, head coach of Shenzhen team. "You can not win a semifinal match with only 81 points. And we also had 20 turnovers. We will make changes in Sunday's match."

This is Shenzhen's first defeat in Longgang, Shenzhen this season. The next match will still be contested in Longgang.