Yao celebrates with Wang ZhiZhi as Yao leads the Chinese with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in a 100-83 win against Senegal, giving the Chinese a chance to advance to the second round if they beat Slovenia in their next game. Not having seen Yao this happy in months, we had to include a couple of extra photos to show Yao’s happiness. Click here for more photos from the game.

Although it was expected, China finally got a win, this time over underdog Senegal 100-83. But it wasn’t as easy as the final score indicates. Senegal led by 4 points at halftime and extended the lead to 8 points in the third quarter, but then Yao scored 8 straight points to tie the game. Senegal only trailed by 4 points midway through the fourth quarter, but a couple of 3-pointers gave the Chinese enough breathing room to win going away.

Yao had 26 points and 9 boards, while Wang ZhiZhi chipped in 19 points. Click here for a recap of the game, and click here for more photos.

Now the Chinese have to beat Slovenia in their next game on Thursday if they are going to have any chance to advance to the second round of the World Championships (which Yao guaranteed before the tournament started). It will be interesting to see Yao playing against his old Rocket teammate and friend Bostjan (Boki) Nachbar for tournament survival.

Speaking of teammates, I had to include a photo below of Yao playing against potential future teammate Malick Badiane (#15) from Senegal. Maybe in the next year or two we’ll see Yao and Badiane playing together in Houston. Click here to see the post I wrote a few days ago about Badiane.

Yao goes up against Rockets 2003 draft pick Malick Badiane on Wednesday in a match-up between China and Senegal, which China won 100-83. Maybe one day both will be playing in Houston together.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 at 3:50 am and is filed under 2006 World Championships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.