Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi teamed up for the first time on a
basketball court in five years but couldn't save China from an
88-78 loss to Brazil on Sunday in the Stankovic Cup in Nanjing,
capital of Jiangsu Province.
China finished third in group B and will play Australia for the
5th placing at the continental champions competition. France was
upset by Australia 77-71 in group A and gave the final berth to
European champions Greece.
Greece tied with France and Australia with three points each but
advanced on points difference. Greece will face group B winner
Germany in the championship match on Tuesday at Kunshan.
The Houston Rockets' center Yao, who had foot surgery this
summer, played with Wang in the national team before he joined the
Dallas Mavericks as the first Asian player to join the National
Basketball Association (NBA) in 2001.
Wang injured his right knee in a warm-up trip in Europe last
month and failed to team up with Yao after he'd returned on August
1.
The pair shared the court for 47 seconds in the second quarter
and forced Brazil to miss three straight shots and committed four
fouls in over three minutes.
The Yao-Wang double act didn't make big changes to the score
board but kept China in the game with Brazil leading 44-38 before
the break. A 16-2 run in the third quarter put Brazil on top for
good when the South Americans won the quarter 31-13.
Yao and Wang were both on the court for another brief spell but
China paid heavily for poor defensive play.?
China reinforced the defense in the closing stages, suffocated
Brazil for three minutes and got 14 straight points to make it
86-76 with 1:40 minutes to go.
"Yao gives much space to the outside shooters but we still had
problem to pass the ball inside to him," Wang said. "I'm glad we
finished the game in a good spirit. We'll strengthen our defense to
make better games at the world championships," he added.
Foward Yi Jianlian led China with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Yao
had 16 and 6. Lenadro Mateus Barbosa had 20 points for Brazil while
team mate Varejao had 12 points and eight rebounds.
The World Championships will start on August 19 in Japan. All
the six teams in the competition will compete in the
championships.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2006)
