Opinion

China starts North American tour with loss to Canada

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-11 13:03

VANCOUVER - Playing their first exhibition game prior to the start of the Basketball World Championship at the end of the month, a tired-looking Team China was routed 86-62 by host Canada in Vancouver Tuesday night.

Never ahead and outworked from the start, the visitors, who arrived in Vancouver three days ago, could do little to please the pro-China crowd at Rogers Arena as the veteran Canadian team, currently 19th in the FIBA world ranking, shut-down China star forward Yi Jianlian up the middle and controlled the ball around the perimeter.

Andy Rautins proved the individual star for Canada as the New York Knicks guard hit for 19 points, including four three pointers. Jevohn Shephard who plays in Germany, had 16 points, while Miami Heat forward Joel Anthony, the only other NBAer on the Canadian squad, added eight points.

China, which was down 41-16 at the half, was led by Shanghai Sharks guard Liu Wei with 19 points, as the national team captain hit two three-pointers and was six-for-nine in field goals. Star forward Yi Jianlian who was doubl-teamed for most of the night, scored 15 points, while Zhou Peng added nine points.

"It's like we fell asleep in the first half," said Yi of the team's lackluster start. "In the second half we started to pick it up and I think we played pretty good in the second half. It just we needed from the beginning to play the whole game like that."

Robert Donewald Jr, China's new coach, wasn't so kind, comparing the team's performance to a "deer trapped in the (car) headlights."

"No, not satisfied at all based on tonight's performance. We played a lot better when we were at home," said the Shanghai Sharks coach who took over the reins of the national team in April.

"It's our first road game and we were not very good, especially early. We've got time (before the World Championship), but not a bunch of time. We've got to get things right. But no, we weren't very good tonight."

"Canada took it to us tonight, let's give them some credit ... I thought we were slow reacting, trying to figure what was coming and going and just slowing everything," he said. "In the second half, we tried to get aggressive but it was past us by then."

It was evident Donewald was using the opportunity to get a good look at all his players as he made numerous substitutions throughout the game. Yi started the game but was on and off the bench on four occasions, while veteran Wang Zhizhi made only a brief appearance in the first half.

China now moves on to New York for the USA World Basketball Festival where they will play Puerto Rico on Sunday. The team then travels to Serbia for a game in Belgrade August 22, before arriving in Turkey for the World Championship.