The Bayi Rockets staged another comeback victory to take a 88-83 home win over the Guangdong Southern Tigers at Game 3 of the CBA Finals in Ningbo Thursday, and now lead the best-of-seven series by 2-1 ahead of Game 4 also in Ningbo on Saturday.

With captain Li Nan injured, point guard Wang Zhongguang assumed scoring duty and notched up 15 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 1:20 minutes to go which put Bayi into the lead.

In what is now becoming a familiar scenario, Bayi were trailing until the fourth when Wang's 12-foot jumper put them in the lead for the first time. Wang then followed through with a nice fade away to put them on 85-83 with 44.9 seconds left. 

A costly turnover by Dixon Jason with 19 seconds on the clock blew away Guangdong's fading hopes, before a final foul added insult to injury by allowing Bayi's Chen Ke to bury three final free-throws. 

Wang Zhizhi racked up a game-high double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds with Bayi dominating Guangdong for the first time on the board 34-30.

Bayi's scoring was supplemented by Wang Zhongguang who added 15 points and seven assists with Zhang Jinsong also hitting 15 points.

Guangdong duo Yi Jianlian and Wang Shipeng garnered 20 points apiece, as their team aims for its fourth successive title.

Guangdong started strong as usual and went ahead by up to 19 points in the first half seeking to go into Game 4 with the advantage. The absence of Li Nan was felt by Bayi but the army's indomitable spirit saw them through.

Bayi's fight back began after the break when looking down at Guangdong's 11-point lead. They clawed back four points to end the third quarter at 66-59 but it was Wang Zhizhi's master-class which brought them level at 81-81 with 3:13 minutes to go.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)