On May 15, Beijing time, the G1 match of the CBA finals began, and the Liaoning team faced the Xinjiang team at home, which was the first time in the history of the two sides to meet in the finals. After four quarters of competition, Liaoning defeated Xinjiang 121-112 to get off to a good start. Five members of the Liaoning team scored double-doubles, and Fu Hao scored a game-high 29+9.
Liaoning and Xinjiang are the top two in the regular season, and they met twice in the regular season, and the Liaoning team completed the double kill against the Xinjiang team. However, the semi-finals Liaoning team played very hard, they once fell behind the Guangdong team 1-2 and were forced into a desperate situation, but the Liaoning team seized the opportunity of the opponent's half-time champagne and won two consecutive 3-2 reversals to advance to the finals for the fifth consecutive year. The Xinjiang team fought hard for 4 games, and finally won two consecutive games at the home of the Zhejiang team to advance 3-1. In terms of personnel, Guo Allen and Zhao Rui, the cores of both sides, continued to be absent, and Li Xiaoxu, the main player of the Liaoning team, returned from injury.
In terms of starters, the starting five tigers of the Liaoning team are Fu Hao, Zhao Jiwei, Yan Shouqi, Zhang Zhenlin, Moreland; The Xinjiang team sent Jones, Wu Guanxi, Yu Dehao, Abdul Salamu, and Qi Lin.
In the first quarter of the game, Zhang Zhenlin's outside three-pointers hit two consecutive shots to stop Xinjiang, and then Zhao Jiwei and Yan Shouqi also continued to fire, and the Liaoning team opened with 4 of 5 three-pointers to establish an advantage. Although the Xinjiang team once scored 6 points in a row to return the tribute, after Yang Ming paused and adjusted, the Liaoning team quickly opened up the score difference in the connecting section, and Zhao Jiwei drifted three points from the bottom line, and the score difference was double. The Xinjiang team's offense was blocked, and the Liaoning team played a dream start of 34-18 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the two sides started a tug-of-war, with the Liaoning team leading by up to 18 points, Fu Hao continued the highlights of the semifinals, and Qi Lin committed 4 in the first quarter. Jones carried the Xinjiang team to catch up, and Han Dejun made a series of kills to stabilize the situation. At halftime, Liaoning led 59-46, and Abdul Salamu was defended to 0 points at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Liaoning team changed to the strongest lineup in the first half of the quarter, and a fierce attack stretched the difference to more than 20 points, which meant that a wave of water took away the game. But after Moreland came on the court, Xinjiang fought back 12-0 to retain hope, Yang Ming could only get back Fogg + Han Dejun again, and the Liaoning team stabilized the situation, and the two sides saw up and down the 10-point difference. At the end of the third quarter, Liaoning led 90-78. In the final quarter, Qi Lin was whistled for a foul and angrily sprayed the referee for eating T, and left the court with 6 fouls, and the Xinjiang team lacked attack arrows. Qiu Biao put on the death five small and gave it a go, but the Liaoning team did not give the Xinjiang team a chance and always maintained a double-digit advantage. In the end, Liaoning defeated Xinjiang 121-112 to get off to a good start.
In this game, the biggest advantage that the Liaoning team relied on to win was its rich experience. Almost all the main players of the Liaoning team have experienced the past four finals, they have not only the successful experience of two consecutive championships, but also the bitter lesson of winning the runner-up, they know too well what kind of intensity and rhythm should be shown in a game of this level in the finals. What we see is that Zhao Jiwei and Fu Hao are connected again and again, Fogg and Zhang Zhenlin have stood up and cut points many times, and Han Dejun is a rare hand-to-hand fight inside, this Liao Basket captain is really giving everything he has. On the other hand, most of the teams have played at the highest level in the semi-finals, and the only one with 5 finals experience is the team's translator. For example, Wu Guanxi missed several empty baskets, which is a reflection of the team's experience shortcomings.
After winning G1, the Liaoning team led 1-0, and the G2 battle will continue at Liaoning's home stadium. In the 28 finals in history, the team that won G1 finally won the championship as many as 22 times, and the Liaoning team has a lot of hope of winning the championship in terms of probability. But this does not mean that the Liaoning team can sit back and relax, after all, in the best-of-seven finals, winning G1 is only the first step in the long march. Moreover, whether it is in Istanbul or Dongguan, the tragedy of opening champagne at half time has always sounded the alarm for the Liaoning team, and it is never necessary to celebrate in advance until the moment when the championship is confirmed.