 Everyone's a winner
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-12 08:58
It wasn't the score that lit up the night at the Olympic basketball arena at Wukesong, but the energy and intimate basketball knowledge of a crowd that was hoping for the home team to pull off a miracle, but knew at heart that they were watching a stunning work in progress as the United States flexes its international basketball superpower muscles. The home team did itself proud. China played an impressive passing game, especially in the early stages, as Yao was surrounded by defenders. Chinese players loved the 3-point line; the first points of the game were scored on threes (by of all people, Yao) and by the game's end, no less than six Chinese players had hit threes. Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi, both of whom have NBA experience to add to their maturity as international-level players, each hit four threes.
The players admitted afterward that this hadn't been their initial strategy against the Americans, but when Yao was swarmed by Dwight Howard and the rest of Team USA, the Chinese had to regroup. Afterwards the players were circumspect about the challenge they had faced. "When I watch NBA, I tend to focus on the players in my position, like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant," Zhu Fangyu, a Chinese player, told a packed post-game press conference. "This game was a chance for me to see the gap between the NBA stars and me." The Chinese players got a taste of what they could be in the future. Now they've got their hardest match out of the way, they can focus on Germany and Angola, and focus on getting into the elimination round. For the Americans, the night was further proof that the NBA's popularity reaches far into Asia now, further than many of them had dreamed. Far enough that someday, perhaps, a generation of players who were children last night and watched the game with their families will be inspired to bring China's basketball achievement to a new level. In other words, last night, both sides were winners. http://aoyunpl2.blog.sohu.com/96942346.html (China Daily 08/12/2008 page27) |
