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I know some of you have been asking, so here it is:
If you aren’t in the U.S. and want to see the Olympics live on the Web, check out this article here.
Yao Ming had his best game since coming back from his injury, scoring 30 points on 10-of-11 shooting — both from the field and the free throw line — in an 85-68 victory over Angola.
Yao also was a force on the defensive end with 4 blocks, took care of the ball (only 1 turnover), dished 3 assists and had 7 rebounds.
(Click here for more photos from the game)
After the game, Donnie Nelson, an advisor for the Chinese team, said that Yao’s performance was due in part because Yao is finally rounding into shape.
He’s baaaaack!
China built an early 14-point lead in the second quarter, but then Angola made the adjustment to pressure the Chinese guards and play a zone defense. It worked as Angola cut the deficit to 2 points by halftime.
But China turned it back on in the second half and cruised to the victory. China’s 3-point shooting continues to work well for them, having hit 7-of-22 from behind the 3-point line.
If you hadn’t heard, there is a big controversy going on about a photograph of each member of the Spanish basketball team pulling their eyes back to make them “slanted.” When I first heard about it, I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire and really wanted to think about if I should post it on this site.
But this morning when it became the top story presented on Yahoo’s home page, I felt I had to bring it up.
I won’t post the photo here, but you can check it out here along with an article.
Another article about it is here.
So what do you think?
Although it’s a couple of days old, what do you guys think about this article? Adam Wajnarowski of Yahoo! Sports says after these Olympics are over, Yao should be allowed to NOT have to play for China until the 2012 Olympics to avoid wear-and-tear on his body, and to help him reach his full potential.
No matter which side you’re on, you have to admit it’s a pretty good article.
In case you missed it, here’s a 5-minute video of some of the big plays from today’s game. Requires the installation of a Microsoft Silverlight plugin. If you don’t have it, you’ll be prompted to install it, close down your browser, and restart your browser.
It was a heartbreaker for China on Tuesday, giving up a 14-point lead to Spain in the fourth quarter and losing in overtime 85-75.
Yao Ming picked up 2 fouls in the fourth quarter, played 30 minutes, and scored 11 points, grabbed 9 boards, dished 3 assists, and had 3 steals.
However, because Yao was double-teamed so much, he had to pass the ball from inside the paint, leading to most of his 4 turnovers. But that inside-out game helped the Chinese build their lead, as China hit 10-of-28 three-pointers for the game.
After Spain made their furious comeback to put the game into overtime, China’s chances of winning took a big blow when Yao fouled out after fouling Pau Gasol on a 3-point play.
Click here for Raymond’s photos from the game in the YaoMania! forum.
To read more about the game, click here. To see the boxscore, click here.
I found this nice video about all the excitement for Sunday’s game OUTSIDE the arena, and the impact of basketball on Chinese society:
I like the guy who said his favorite team is the Rockets.
Just in case you’ve been looking for it, here’s the men’s Chinese team’s schedule (as AirChina23 posted in the comments yesterday) for the next few days:
8/12 4:45A EST China vs Spain
8/14 2:30A EST China vs Angola
8/16 8:00A EST China vs Germany
8/18 2:30A EST China vs Greece
And here’s the USA’s men’s schedule:
8/12 8:00A EST USA vs Angola
8/14 8:00A EST USA vs Greece
8/16 10:15A EST USA vs Spain
8/18 8:00A EST USA vs Germany
You can watch these games live in the U.S. on this page on NBCOlympics.com. It requires the installation of a Microsoft Silverlight plugin to watch the games. Silverlight is Microsoft’s version of an Adobe Flash player.
What’s cool is that you can also watch a replay of the games online by clicking on the “Rewind” option.
Well, the game between China and the USA turned out as expected, with the Americans winning 101-70.
But I really enjoyed watching it because the pace of the game at the start was pretty frenetic. Here are a few other reasons:
First, Yao Ming‘s intensity. In the game’s first few minutes, he dove for a loose ball going out of bounds to save the possession while crashing into a row of photographers:
(Click here for more photos from the game)
Later he would draw a ton of cheers when Kobe Bryant took the ball into the lane and swatted it away for a demonstrative block.
Even near the end of the game when his team was down by 35 points, Yao battled hard for a couple of rebounds, was fouled, and the crowd cheered in appreciation for his effort.
After Yao checked out of the game with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 block, he was up off the bench when any of his teammates did well on the offensive end. That’s the most intense I’ve seen him when a game has been so out of reach! It was great to see Yao so “into” the game after not seeing him play for 6 months since suffering the stress fracture in his foot.
And let’s not forget there was that first shot he hit to start the game: a 3-pointer! That made the Chinese crowd go nuts!
Yao has been one busy guy lately. Today he was named the UN Environment Program’s (UNEP) first ever Environmental Champion.
Here’s his statement:
“As a sportsman, I believe sport has a major role to play in promoting environmental issues. So I will work with young people across the world and try to inspire them to plant trees, use energy efficient light bulbs, harvest rain water and to become environmental champions in their own communities.
“As the world celebrates the Beijing Olympic Games, I would also like to call upon the organizers of all major sports events in the world to make sure they use public transport facilities, build proper waste management systems and use greener forms for energy.
“Please join me in this global team effort.”
Here’s a link to the article.