U.S. Men Down China by 31
From Michael Lee
It wasn't the smoothest or aesthetically pleasing effort, but the United States men's Olympic basketball team opened with a 101-70 victory over China on Sunday. With Yao Ming inspiring his countrymen to play above their heads for most of the first half, the Americans dominated them by playing above the rim, dunking their hosts into submission.
Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 19 points, staging a one-man dunk show, while LeBron James had 18, as two of the more prominent members of American's bronze medal team in Athens, got their country on the right track. Yao finished 13 points for China.
With his team trailing 87-54 with 4 minutes, 45 seconds remaining, Yao was removed from the game and lifted his right fist as an adoring crowd of more than 18,000 fans -- including George W. Bush, the first lady Laura Bush, George H.W. Bush Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi -- cheered on.
The U.S. lost its opener in Athens four years ago, a stunning upset to U.S. commonwealth Puerto Rico. The Americans are hoping to win a gold medal in a major international competition for the first time since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Since then, the Americans have finished sixth in the 2002 world championships and third in both the 2004 Olympics and 2006 world championships. With the Dream Team moniker put to bed, the current unit has been called the Redeem Team. "I find it cheesy, actually," Bryant said of the name, "but it gets the point across."
It was the fifth time that the two countries met in Olympic competition, with college players winning by 49 points in both 1984 and 1988, and professional basketball players winning by 63 points and 47 points respectively, in 1996 and 2000. At the time of those defeats, China had to have a player break into the NBA. Wang led the charge, only to have Yao, Mengke Bateer and Jianlian follow. Sun Yue, a 2007 second round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers, will join Yao and Jianlian in the NBA next season.
Yao is the first bonafide Chinese basketball star, a six-time all-star, and a godsend for NBA Commissioner David Stern's plan to eventually takeover China. The Americans will face stiffer competition down the line, as they share the same Group B as defending world champion Spain, world championship runner-up Greece, and Germany, which features former NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki.
China jumped out to a 6-2 lead off three-pointers by Yao and Sun. The Americans were tied with China at 29-29 when Yue hit another three-pointer, but they scored the next six points -- Chris Bosh rebounded a Michael Redd miss and dunked, and Kobe Bryant had back-to-back dunks. China edged within 35-32, but the LeBron James got the United States started on a 10-0 run to establish order.
By
Tracee Hamilton
|
August 10, 2008; 12:57 PM ET
| Category:
Basketball
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Posted by: chang | August 10, 2008 2:17 PM
U S A
U S A
Posted by: Anonymous | August 10, 2008 2:19 PM
Go USA. Missed the game though so I went to nbcolympics.com to watch the video and gave up after Microssft Silverlight crashed my browser 5 times by the 3rd quarter. Is was a close game early on, but the US took over in the second half.
Posted by: gregg | August 10, 2008 2:22 PM
USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
Posted by: Hockaddodledoo | August 10, 2008 2:23 PM
I love Yao and Sun
Posted by: terry | August 10, 2008 2:41 PM
To connet with messenger
Posted by: Adedeji Kayode Samson | August 10, 2008 2:49 PM
It's an informative article, but the punctuation and grammar errors left me irked. There appears to be at least one mistakenly omitted word as well. Maybe you guys ought to slow up and proofread your articles better, or replace the person responsible for doing so.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 10, 2008 2:54 PM
Our guys are rude off the court in China...
Posted by: BILL | August 10, 2008 2:55 PM
"David Stern's plan to eventually takeover China." OMGAWD HES TAKING OVER CHINA D=
DAM U DAVID STERN!!!!
Posted by: rocky | August 10, 2008 2:57 PM
YOU ESS AYYY
YOU ESS AYYY
YOU ESS AYYY
Posted by: Chad | August 10, 2008 2:57 PM
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Posted by: Anonymous | August 10, 2008 3:05 PM
Yes, please check all of your words and make sure they are there.
Posted by: Yeah | August 10, 2008 3:06 PM
Yes, this is going on the internets after all, and everything on the internets must be purfekt.
Posted by: Grammar Police | August 10, 2008 3:14 PM
China hung in this game for a surprisingly long time. Despite the scoreline China showed vast improvement over previous years' performances. If they can develop bigger, better guards, recruit and train their athletes to become bigger and stronger and develop an above-the-rim type of game they could become dangerous in years to come. The U.S. will HAVE to devote their very best stars to maintain their supremacy because with every passing year the talent gap narrows further and further between the U.S. and the rest of the world.
Posted by: Mike O | August 10, 2008 3:24 PM
American journalism is a joke, and so are the Olympics.
Posted by: Matthew | August 10, 2008 3:31 PM
I have to agreed with some of the others commentaters. Even tho we live in the internets age, we should still take the troubles to make good grammar. And use spellcheck Bill Gates worked hard to develop. thats all i have to say.
Posted by: anominus | August 10, 2008 3:50 PM
"for NBA Commissioner David Stern's plan to eventually takeover China."
IMPERIALISM STILL LIVES IN THE MINDS OF WESTERNERS.
WHAT'S WORSE, IS THAT WE DID MORE FOR THE JEWS THAN ANYONE IN THE WEST DID DURING THE HOLOCAUST, AND NOW STERN WANTS A RETURN TO IMPERIALISM....WITH PLANS TO TAKEOVER CHINA?!
Posted by: Chen | August 10, 2008 4:37 PM
Yo, Chen, chill!
David Stern's "taking over" has nothing to do with imperialism. I would think the NBA has already taken over China. And that was evident tonight. It was a great game, we knew it wasn't going to be a contest, but it didn't stop the Chinese team from having a great start.
Posted by: AirChina23 | August 10, 2008 4:47 PM
poor USA!! Spanish best team "ÑBA" will win gold medal!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | August 10, 2008 5:03 PM
It's an informative article, but the punctuation and grammar errors left me irked. There appears to be at least one mistakenly omitted word as well. Maybe you guys ought to slow up and proofread your articles better, or replace the person responsible for doing so.
Dear Irked:
I found the piece to be well written. Next time, you find yourself "irked," you might have the stomach to out yourself. If you tell readers exactly what errors you uncovered, we can all become smugly irked.
Posted by: davewrite | August 10, 2008 5:07 PM
If David Stern wants to takeover China, he better remember Shanghai, and that we Chinese took care of many of Israel's first leaders.
This ingrate should be shot if he wants to mouth-off about coming to China to take over.
Airchina23, if you are Chinese, then you are an Imperialist sympathizer.
Posted by: Chen | August 10, 2008 5:14 PM
Yao should cancel the return ticket.
Posted by: Bam Deritis | August 10, 2008 5:28 PM
We are reading a lot of fake news these days. Did you remember the news about Britney's pregnancy, Lindsay's joining on the famous rich men seeking affairs """"""C e l e b C u p i d.c o m""""""""? Is this news true or not? who knows...
Posted by: canidy | August 10, 2008 5:56 PM
Beat the gooks in their own country!
Posted by: Chris Smith | August 10, 2008 5:59 PM
The political meaning far exceeded the athletic significance of this game. That US and China, despite their vast differences, have found a shared passion among the fans and players, and the Presidents cheering both teams and being cheered on, is a welcoming symbolic achievement of the bilateral relations. The Basketball diplomacy may be the next chapter since Ping-Pong reconnected China with the world.
The WP story is about a 101-70 basket game, itself quite quite boring and belong to page 3 of the sports section. The reporting is superficial without real insights, and certainly missed the bigger story deserting front page.
How much has WP declined since the days of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein? Please, send a real reporter to China. The Beijing Olympics may be one of the most important events of the 21st century, and WP is missing it.
Posted by: Geja | August 10, 2008 6:29 PM
The political meaning far exceeded the athletic significance of this game. That US and China, despite their vast differences, have found a shared passion among the fans and players, and the Presidents cheering both teams and being cheered on, is a welcoming symbolic achievement of the bilateral relations. The Basketball diplomacy may be the next chapter since Ping-Pong reconnected China with the world.
The WP story is about a 101-70 basket game, itself quite quite boring and belong to page 3 of the sports section. The reporting is superficial without real insights, and certainly missed the bigger story deserting front page.
How much has WP declined since the days of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein? Please, send a real reporter to China. The Beijing Olympics may be one of the most important events of the 21st century, and WP is missing it.
Posted by: Geja | August 10, 2008 6:30 PM
To Chris Smith:
Way to go!! Gratuitously insulting racism is always a winning play!
Posted by: Chester | August 10, 2008 6:30 PM
"Beat the gooks in their own country!"
Posted by: Chris Smith | August 10, 2008 5:59 PM
Current gold Medal count: China: 6; USA: 2.
STFU you racist piece of trash!
Posted by: Chen | August 10, 2008 6:49 PM
dear editor:
did you think Chris' message as follows appropriate and thus let it go? If it is so, I know what I can post late..
""""""""""
Beat the gooks in their own country!
Posted by: Chris Smith | August 10, 2008 5:59 PM
Posted by: tucson_goodman | August 10, 2008 7:10 PM
Hi Chris:
thanks for entertaining us by showing the stupidity of a typical redneck or whitetrash. it is funny.
Beat the gooks in their own country!
Posted by: Chris Smith | August 10, 2008 5:59 PM
Posted by: coolman | August 10, 2008 7:12 PM
"Beat the gooks in their own country!" ?
What kind of an American are you? Obviously, one with a low IQ, poorly educated, and without morals -- an ugly American.
Posted by: Sun Zongling | August 10, 2008 8:44 PM
I hope the NBA players got a chance to check out Beijing's Chinatown. I hear it's so huge it takes up most of the city.
Posted by: billp | August 10, 2008 9:07 PM
The whole Chinese team are very strong and they try their best to make troubles to the Dream Team 8.All the players in the court are excellent!Although our Chinese team lose the game,they are sill heros
Posted by: yao ming | August 10, 2008 9:12 PM
He's handsome. I just saw his profile with lots of sexy pics on the FREE and HOT celebrity&millionaire dating site called """""""""R i c h M a t c h M a k i n g . c o m""""""""" where lots of celebs and wealthy men seek love&Romance.
Posted by: Jessie | August 10, 2008 9:24 PM
Go Go, China, beat Germany, crash over Greece, hurdle Spain...
Posted by: Anonymous | August 10, 2008 9:46 PM
China tried. We only have Yao and Yi in the NBA playing with and against the best players in the world. Yi is still a rookie and learning and Yao can't win a game by him self. Maybe when there are more Chinese in the NBA will we be competitive. I still hope China can at least win a Bronze.
That said. GO USA>>>>
Posted by: Anonymous | August 10, 2008 9:47 PM
It's a great game! But it's not a close game.
There are too many aspects should be improved
in China team.Americans win the game easily,
They haven't met real rival.
Posted by: Sate | August 10, 2008 9:57 PM
China will be the best! keep going!
Posted by: Rudy | August 10, 2008 10:13 PM
Keep trying Yaoming! We'll on your side forever! China will be the champion! i do believe so!
Posted by: Rudy | August 10, 2008 10:19 PM
So much vitriol and testosterone here, gladiators goading us, grossing us out. Seriously! How about a little civility!
These are games. Fun and games. Let's give each other credit for our spirit, our heart and our desire to win the games. I hope China catches a break and gets a medal in basketball. The USA wins the gold, and I think our athletes will wear that medal well.
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