Stephon Marbury scores 41, leads Beijing Ducks to first Chinese league title - ESPN (original) (raw)

Mar 30, 2012, 06:40 PM ET

BEIJING -- Former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury scored 41 points on Friday to lead the Beijing Ducks to their first-ever Chinese Basketball Association title, beating the defending champion Guangdong Tigers 124-121 in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series.

"This has been incredible; it has been an incredible experience," a tearful Marbury said after winning his first major title. "This shows what this team is made up of, everyone stepped up and everyone played their role. We have been blessed as a team."

Video shows Marbury pumping up the capacity crowd of 18,000, and afterward, his teammates tossing him in the air before receiving their medals and the championship trophy, then cutting down the nets.

Marbury, a mercurial player who had a tumultuous five-team, 13-year NBA career, went to China in 2009 and reinvented himself. The Ducks, a young team, looked to Marbury, 35, for leadership and relied on his gritty style of game.

Marbury fouled out with 1:20 left in the game. Beijing's other foreign player, Randolph Morris, who played sparingly in four seasons with the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks, hit two free throws with 21 seconds left.

Guangdong's Aaron Brooks (Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns) shot a 3-pointer at the buzzer that went wide.

"We believed, we are a team, Stephon carried us the whole game, but when he fouled out, everyone knew that we had to step up to win," Morris said.

"It was our defense again, we blocked shots and we didn't give them the shot they wanted."

Guangdong was led by Brooks with 33 points, and James Singleton scored 29. Singleton played with the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards.