Beijing, May 5 (ZXS) -- On the evening of May 6, Beijing time, the 5-2022 season of the China Men's Basketball Professional League (CBA) ended its semi-final competition, and the defending champion Liaoning team and this season's regular season champion Zhejiang team (Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Lease team) both won 2023:3 on aggregate to meet in the finals.
This season's CBA semifinals are played between Zhejiang and Shenzhen, Liaoning and Guangsha (Zhejiang East Sunshine). Although Zhejiang and Liaoning are both favourites for this season's championship, it was not easy for both teams to win. In the five best-of-three semifinals, both groups played to the tiebreaker, with Zhejiang and Liaoning trailing 5:3 in the first three rounds before winning two consecutive games to get through the hurdle.
In the CBA League, the Guangsha team can be called the "best partner" of the Liaoning team. In last season's finals, Liaoning won the championship by defeating Guangsha; In the 2017-2018 season, Liaoning won the first championship in the team's history, and its final opponent was also Guangxia team.
This time, the two teams met again in the semifinals, and the Guangsha team led 3:2 on aggregate in the first three rounds (1:88, 100:99, 94:87), making people think that the "script" of the battle between Liaoning and Guangsha would have a different ending this season. Unfortunately, the injured Guangsha team retreated to the familiar "plot" in the last two rounds, losing 77:80 and 100:84 respectively, and became the "stepping stone" for Liaoning team promotion again with a total score of 95:2, completing the opponent's 3th time in the finals.
The battle between Zhejiang and Shenzhen is more intense. In the first leg, Zhejiang team took the lead 91:87, and then Shenzhen team won two consecutive games 103:92, 98:81 to overtake the score; In the fourth and fifth rounds, Zhejiang narrowly won by one point (1:93, 92:91), and finally advanced to the finals with a total score of 90:3, reaching the finals for the first time in the team's history.
A month ago, Zhejiang set a new record and won its first regular season championship. Today, the Finals rookie is expected to become the eighth championship team in CBA history.
In the regular season this season, Zhejiang won 35-7, with a winning percentage of 83.3%, the only team among 20 teams with a winning percentage of more than 80%. Compared with the Liaoning team, although the Zhejiang team lacks experience in the finals, its "hard power" is not at a disadvantage. The two sides met twice in the regular season and drew 1:1, but Zhejiang led by 27 points on difference (Zhejiang won 102:60 in the first game by 42 points, and Liaoning won 114:99 in the second game).
In the history of the CBA, a total of 7 teams have won the championship, namely Guangdong (11 times), Bayi team (8 times), Beijing team (3 times), Liaoning team (2 times), Shanghai team, Sichuan team and Xinjiang team (1 time each). This season's CBA Finals will begin on May 5 with a best-of-seven format. Whether Zhejiang, which has one more home-field advantage, can become the eighth championship team in CBA history has also become the biggest suspense and attraction of this season's finals. (End)