Heartbreak for men’s Chinese basketball team
August 13, 2008
In an afternoon game in the men’s Olympic basketball tournament the hosts China took on world champion’s Spain.
After a day at Beijing Zoo I caught this match on local tv as I enjoyed a meal in a Beijing restraurant. At the time I picked up the match the Chinese were out to a 8 point lead just ahead of halftime.
In the third quarter they continued to play well and held a 61-47 lead. I had to remind myself that this was the current world champions in Spain taking on a team that had never done that much in a major championships.
As the match went into the fourth quarter Spain were taking advantage of turnovers from China and were quickly catching their hosts. With time winding down Spain levelled the scores at 72. That is how it ended. This match was going into overtime.
Here was where Spain dominated with a 10-3 period to wrapup the match. NBA player Pau Gasol scored 29 points for Spain to lead all scorers. He was ably assisted by Rudy Fernandez with 21. For China Liu Wei top the scoring with 19 points.
NBA star Yao Ming put in a good defensive effort in this match to help China get to the lead they had at one point. Turnovers at crucial times cost the Chinese and prevented one of the big Olympic basketball upsets.
China play Angola in a must win match on Thursday while Spain will face Germany in the early game.
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