YAO MING had 30 points and seven rebounds to secure China’s first win as China defeated Angola 85-68 Thursday in the men’s basketball preliminary round at the Beijing Olympic Games.
China continued on the way to produce one of the best Olympic journeys after losing to the United States 101-70, the smallest deficit in Olympic history against the United States, and pulled world champions Spain down to overtime before losing 85-75.
Yao was playing his best match so far in the competition as he also delivered three assists and blocked four times in 30:49 minutes. The Houston Rockets center shot 10-out-of-11 in the field and committed only one turnover before he was taken off with 3:05 minutes left in the game.
“My teammates gave me a great help. They made the open shots to put China ahead in the first quarter. We still have a long road to go (to enter the next round). I won’t say Germany is an easier opponent than Greece. We’ll take one game at a time,” Yao said.
Five Chinese had double-digit numbers with point guard Sun Yue having 11 points, and Liu Wei, Zhu Fangyu and Yi Jianlian adding 10 each.
“We wanted the win more than Angola. We came out strong and never gave up even they closed the scoring,” said Sun, who will play for the Los Angeles Lakers next season.
China led 28-14 in the first quarter, but let loose in the second period when Angola cut the deficit to two points on 44-42 with a 21-9 run.
“China had a perfect first quarter and we had the second. But we could not defend Yao,” said Joaquim Gomes, who led Angola with 17 points.
Angola were held to only nine points in the third quarter when China opened it up by 65-51 to enter the last period.
China will take on Germany on Saturday and Greece on Monday. The hosts have to win at least one game to advance into the top eight round. (Xinhua)