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Greece 95, China 64
SAITAMA, Japan (AP) -Greece overcame a terrible first quarter with an impressive third period and advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIBA world championships with a 95-64 victory over China on Sunday night.
Greece (6-0) remained one of four unbeaten teams left in the tournament by outscoring China 26-6 in the third quarter to take a 67-42 lead. That 10-minute performance was a far cry from the opening period when Greece missed 16 of its first 19 shots in falling behind 18-11.
On Wednesday, Greece will make its fourth quarterfinal appearance in the last five world championships, facing France (4-2), which beat Angola 68-62 in the second round.
Theodoros Papaloukas had 19 points for Greece, which committed just three turnovers while forcing China (2-4) into 24.
"As the time was passing, I think we started to play our defense. And after, it was easy for us,'' Papaloukas said. "This is the way we play. We try to force the game in our rhythm by playing like this, by pressing. We have big guards, and all of our players are very clever so I think we played clever during the game and we won an important game for us.''
Yao Ming, the 7-foot-5 center who plays for the Houston Rockets, had 10 points and eight rebounds for China. He was 3-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
Yao, who entered the game as the tournament's leading scorer with a 28.4 average, was unable to get the ball down low because his teammates usually turned it over before they had a chance to even try to get it to him. He had eight rebounds.
"Today, it was a really frustrating game for us,'' Yao said. "We did much better against European teams this summer. It's all about experience. Our team doesn't have a lot of experience against the best teams in the world.''
Greece coach Panagiotis Yannakis said his team did just what he asked in defending a player of Yao's size and talent.
"We knew if he got the ball they way he wanted every time he can make so many every way,'' Yannakis said. "We don't have enough big guys to bother his shots so we had to keep the ball away from him for better results.''
Greece followed its 3-for-19 start from the field by making 14 of its next 17 shots in taking a 41-36 halftime lead.
Then as Greece started to play offensively - the way it did in finishing undefeated in group play as did the United States, Spain and Argentina - China fell apart.
China had six points and nine turnovers in the third quarter. Yao's dunk on an inbounds pass with 6:51 left in the third quarter were his final points of the game and brought China within 46-40. Greece closed the period with a 21-2 run with most of the points coming on breakaway layups after turnovers.
"We were confident before the game and proved it at the beginning, but after that we didn't do well against the press defense,'' China's Zhu Fangyu said. "When we were down by a big lead we lost our desire. We will have to work on coping with the press defense.''
Greece finished sixth in 1990 and fourth in 1994 and 1998. It did not qualify for the 2002 worlds.
China, which lost its first three games in this tournament before winning its last two to advance to the second round, was trying for its second quarterfinal appearance. China was eighth in 1994 and 12th in 2002.
China was hoping for a solid showing here as it prepares to host the 2008 Olympics.
"This team needs experience, like the game today,'' said China coach Jonas Kazlauskas, a native of Lithuania. "The players have to go to Europe and play great defenses like we saw today. That's the best thing for this team. Those guys need experience.''
SAITAMA, Japan (AP) -Greece overcame a terrible first quarter with an impressive third period and advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIBA world championships with a 95-64 victory over China on Sunday night.
Greece (6-0) remained one of four unbeaten teams left in the tournament by outscoring China 26-6 in the third quarter to take a 67-42 lead. That 10-minute performance was a far cry from the opening period when Greece missed 16 of its first 19 shots in falling behind 18-11.
On Wednesday, Greece will make its fourth quarterfinal appearance in the last five world championships, facing France (4-2), which beat Angola 68-62 in the second round.
Theodoros Papaloukas had 19 points for Greece, which committed just three turnovers while forcing China (2-4) into 24.
"As the time was passing, I think we started to play our defense. And after, it was easy for us,'' Papaloukas said. "This is the way we play. We try to force the game in our rhythm by playing like this, by pressing. We have big guards, and all of our players are very clever so I think we played clever during the game and we won an important game for us.''
Yao Ming, the 7-foot-5 center who plays for the Houston Rockets, had 10 points and eight rebounds for China. He was 3-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
Yao, who entered the game as the tournament's leading scorer with a 28.4 average, was unable to get the ball down low because his teammates usually turned it over before they had a chance to even try to get it to him. He had eight rebounds.
"Today, it was a really frustrating game for us,'' Yao said. "We did much better against European teams this summer. It's all about experience. Our team doesn't have a lot of experience against the best teams in the world.''
Greece coach Panagiotis Yannakis said his team did just what he asked in defending a player of Yao's size and talent.
"We knew if he got the ball they way he wanted every time he can make so many every way,'' Yannakis said. "We don't have enough big guys to bother his shots so we had to keep the ball away from him for better results.''
Greece followed its 3-for-19 start from the field by making 14 of its next 17 shots in taking a 41-36 halftime lead.
Then as Greece started to play offensively - the way it did in finishing undefeated in group play as did the United States, Spain and Argentina - China fell apart.
China had six points and nine turnovers in the third quarter. Yao's dunk on an inbounds pass with 6:51 left in the third quarter were his final points of the game and brought China within 46-40. Greece closed the period with a 21-2 run with most of the points coming on breakaway layups after turnovers.
"We were confident before the game and proved it at the beginning, but after that we didn't do well against the press defense,'' China's Zhu Fangyu said. "When we were down by a big lead we lost our desire. We will have to work on coping with the press defense.''
Greece finished sixth in 1990 and fourth in 1994 and 1998. It did not qualify for the 2002 worlds.
China, which lost its first three games in this tournament before winning its last two to advance to the second round, was trying for its second quarterfinal appearance. China was eighth in 1994 and 12th in 2002.
China was hoping for a solid showing here as it prepares to host the 2008 Olympics.
"This team needs experience, like the game today,'' said China coach Jonas Kazlauskas, a native of Lithuania. "The players have to go to Europe and play great defenses like we saw today. That's the best thing for this team. Those guys need experience.''
Wow, the first Asher post ever that made me genuinely laugh out loud.
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