Yao goes up for a tough shot around the rim in China’s game against Greece on Sunday at the World Basketball Championships in Japan. Unfortunately, the Greeks surrounded Yao all game long and forced other Chinese players to beat them. The strategy worked. Yao only scored 10 points, and the Greeks won going away 95-64. Click here for more photos from the game.

As Yao was double- and triple-teamed against Greece on Sunday, the backcourt proved to be the Chinese national team’s liability as they lost 95-64 to Greece. Yao and company have now been eliminated from the World Championship tournament.

Yao, who was leading the tournament in scoring with 28.4 points per game, only scored 10 points in this one and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Things were looking good as China jumped out to a 23-11 and 27-17 lead in the second quarter, but then Greece turned on the pressure and forced a total of 24 turnovers and made China take lots of bad shots.

At least the Chinese and Yao accomplished their goal in these World Championships by advancing from the first round to this semi-final game from that amazing win against Slovenia.

And if it makes him feel any better, Yao’s new Rocket teammate and Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis was outstanding, igniting the Greeks with instant offense and scoring 15 points overall. The Rockets can really use someone Manu Ginobili-like in their backcourt. If he’s anywhere close to being like Manu, Yao will be happy.

For stories on this game, click here and here.

I know we’re in the middle of a World Championship with China playing in a few hours. But let’s take a break for a few minutes to give props to Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy for springing for 30 season tickets in a contest to find the rowdiest fans in Houston so Toyota Center can get jumping next season.

I watched the Houston news tonight, and it was pretty hilarious to see all these fans ‘auditioning’ by going crazy. It was great to see many of the winners screaming out afterwards, “We love Jeff Van Gundy!” The last time I remember seeing Van Gundy getting that kind of appreciation was after he defended Yao last year for picking up lots of questionable fouls, resulting in a $100k fine from the NBA for insinuating there was some kind of conspiracy. Rocket fans loved how he stood up for his Big Man like that.

JVG seemed to have a good time with it all on Saturday, smiling and laughing as rarely seen before. I met him last month, and he’s actually a pretty upbeat guy…in the off-season.

Workman Shane Battier continues to get props from the national media during the World Basketball Championships. Here’s an article from AP.

With all the love Shane is getting among all the stars on Team USA (who would have thunk it?), I’m wondering if all the fans who bashed the Rockets for trading #8 pick Rudy Gay for Battier on Draft Day are starting to accept Shane for what he can bring to the team?

For those of you who weren’t crazy about Shane coming to the Rockets, what do you think about him now? Sound off here in the discussion forum.

Great piece by Fran Blinebury of The Houston Chronicle this morning about how much work the Chinese basketball program still has ahead of it if they are going to be competitive in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Yao had this to say:

“We need to send more younger players to other places. Maybe not just to U.S., but to teams in Europe. Our coach can help with that. He knows a lot of people in Europe.

“When you just send a whole team to play in Europe, as we did this summer, it makes you improve. But when a single player goes and joins that team, it’s a totally different feel. That would change you much quicker than to just play team against team. Just like me. I practice every day against the best. I play 82 games a year. I would not be the player I am if I did not go to the NBA.”

Pictured above is a promotional poster for Tracy McGrady’s new shoe line for Adidas. For the third straight year, T-Mac is on tour promoting his new line and making public appearances in Asia. Pictured below is T-Mac making an appearance in Guangzhou, China. Click here for more photos from T-Mac appearances.

While Team USA and Rocket teammate Yao are in Japan for the World Championships, T-Mac is touring Asia promoting his products for the third straight year. Although he’s worthy, remember that he wasn’t invited to tryout for Team USA because of the rehab on his back, among other things.

They love him over there. Check out his blog entry on NBA.com. Click here for more photos from T-Mac appearances.

Here’s another article about his thoughts on Korean and Asian basketball, in which he says about Yao:

“I have never seen anyone who works as hard as Yao. Hard work is what it comes down to if you want to be the best.”

Yao and the Chinese national team face a tough foe on Sunday night in a Greek team that went 5-0 in the first round of the FIBA World Basketball Championships.

Remember that Yao met Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis, his future teammate in Houston this coming NBA season, for the first time on August 9th (click here for the photo, as well as here for another photo where Yao congratulates Vasilis for Greece winning the FIBA Stankovic Cup on August 15th).

Game time for their matchup is Sunday at 8:00pm Japan time, or 7:00am Eastern time in the U.S.

Also of note is Team USA’s game against Australia Sunday at 1:00pm in Japan (midnight U.S Eastern time), which will be televised live on ESPN2.

Remember that teams that lose their next game go home. Could the happy times in Japan soon be over for Yao?

Most people thought the Chinese had no chance until they shockingly beat Slovenia the other day. But if they beat Greece, they’ll play Wednesday the winner of the France-Angola game.

Yao celebrates with his teammates after China’s last-second 3-pointer by Wang Shipeng to win 78-77. The victory allows China to advance to the second round of 16 teams in the World Championships.

You can see more photos from China’s incredible buzzer-beating win against Slovenia by clicking here, here, and here. Wang Shipeng‘s dribbling up the court with just six seconds remaining and hitting a 3-pointer as time expired is arguably one of the biggest shots in Chinese basketball history!

Who would have thought a couple of days ago, when China had an 0-3 record, that Yao’s prediction of China advancing to the next round would become true? He took it upon himself to make sure they could win against Slovenia, scoring 36 points, grabbing 10 boards, and blocking 4 shots in the 78-77 win!

Click here for a story on the game. I love this quote from Yao after the game:

“This was just so exciting. So dramatic. I just gave someone 500 bucks to go buy souvenirs. I want to remember this.”

In another article written later, Yao had these other comments:

“Man, that’s a really clutch shot (by Wang Shipeng to win it). It was just the kind of shot that we see in the NBA. But it is hard for me to imagine that it would ever be coming from us.

“We need to be in these spots (do-or-die situations). If you follow the improvement we’ve had in the last two years, we’ve had more games like tonight. Close games that go to the last minutes. It is only going to help us. That is when you find who is the winner. This is so big for us to win this way. We need more of these experiences, learning how to play when everything is tight.”

Unbelievably China was able to pull it off – an upset of Slovenia when they needed it in order to have a chance of advancing to the second round. We’ll find out when the tiebreaker calculations are complete, which won’t be finalized until later.

All of it was done in dramatic fashion with Wang Shipeng hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win it 78-77!

Yao was amazing, scoring 36 points, grabbing 10 boards, and blocking 4 shots while playing all 40 minutes. I hope that foot rehabilitated didn’t get overused!

We’ll have more news and photos on the victory as soon as it comes available. Right now the FIBA.com Web site is crashing, probably because a few hundred million Chinese are hitting that server.

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.

Alot of people are upset on the poor officiating from yesterday’s China-Puerto Rico matchup where Yao fouled out with 4:40 remaining on a controversial call, leading to China’s defeat.

I loved Yao’s line after the game: “I have nothing to say because we were playing five against eight (referring to three officials).”

This loss especially hurts since China had an 11-point lead with 8:40 remaining in the game. China is now 0-3 in tournament play, needs to win its final two games, and needs help from other teams in order to advance to the next round.

Click here and here for two separate articles written about the game.

For Raymond’s analysis on the officiating and photos from the game, click here.