The Beijing Ducks got the help they needed from Jeremy Lin early on to maul the Bayi Rockets, 105-83, in their Chinese Basketball Association meeting at the Cadillac Center on Thursday night.

In fact, with the lead already insurmountable, Beijing had to sit Lin out the entire fourth quarter and let his teammates finish the job.

Jeremy Lin had 22 points, three rebounds, and seven assists in the win by the Ducks, who just built another string of victories. They moved back to solo fourth place at 8-3, although the Jilin Northeast Tigers can force another tie for fourth with a road win against the Jiangsu Dragons on Friday night.

The possibility of a share of a third-place also remains for the Ducks and even the Northeast Tigers if the Xinjiang Flying Tigers lose at home to the Beijing Royal Fighters.

The Ducks never gave the Rockets an inch in the first half, holding them to just 28 points while opening a 30-point halftime lead. Lin already had all of his three boards in the first half along with 12 points and four assists.

The Rockets finally got their offense going in the third quarter, nearly matching their entire first-half output by scoring 26 points, but it came just a bit too late as the Ducks' lead was already too huge to overcome.

Lin remained a prime weapon for the Ducks in the third, making 10 more points to help them seal the win.

The Ducks were efficient from the field, going 38-for-71 for 53.5 percent against the 27-for-76 shooting of the Rockets, which was good for only 35.5 percent.

What made it more impressive for the Ducks was that they went 12-for-19 from three-point range or a whopping 63.2 percent from long range. The Rockets, on the other hand, only shot 6-of-28 from 22 feet out.

All eyes are now on the Ducks' next assignment, a blockbuster showdown at home against the league-leading Guangdong Southern Tigers on Sunday night.

Guangdong, though, still has a match at hand, a Friday night game at home against the Fujian Sturgeons, who are nearly at the bottom of the team standings.

Jeremy Lin
Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin received harsh criticism over his dreadlock hairstyle from former Nets player Kenyon Martin. He is pictured on Oct. 28, 2016 in New York City. Getty Images
Basketball