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McGrady tastes first win in CBA

Xinhua, December 27, 2012

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  Tracy McGrady woke up from the nightmare of 12 straight defeats as Qingdao Doublestars beat Jiangsu Dragons 106-97 for its first victory of the CBA this season on Wednesday night.

  Before the final buzzer sounded, McGrady slammed the ball on the floor and yelled "Finally!" to celebrate his first win. The former NBA superstar had 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

  "Finally we did it, it was really a group effort," McGrady said, "Tonight we got the confidence back, you can see that we played more confident than before."

  McGrady's teammates were sharp as well. Chris Daniels, from the NBA Development League, scored 26 points and Li Tao added 17.

  To Qingdao, this victory can be seen as a great gift for its ninth founding anniversary. After the match, the staff brought a special cake to the middle of the court and it was cut into pieces by McGrady.

  After taking a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter, Qingdao began to have control and enlarge the lead to 53-46 at halftime. Although Jiangsu mounted a rally late in the final quarter, Qingdao hold the advantage with a pair of 3-pointers from Li Tao.

  Elsewhere, rising star Wang Zhelin made 23 points and 15 rebounds to help Fujian SBS snip a six-game losing streak by edging Liaoning Hengye 110-106 in overtime.

  In other matches on Wednesday, Zhejiang Chouzhou beat Shandong Gold 115-106, Tianjin Ronggang toppled Dongguan Marco Polo 91-79, and Foshan Long Lions defeated Jilin Northeast Tigers 111-99.

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