HAMAMATSU, Japan - China's basketball team has some work to do in the next two
years if it wants to impress the home crowd at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
China's Yao Ming
reacts to their loss to Puerto Rico in the first round of the world
basketball championships in Sapporo August 22, 2006.
[Reuters] |
Yao Ming, who fouled out with just under five minutes left in regulation, and
China lost their third straight game at the world championship.
This time, Puerto Rico rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final period
for a 90-87 overtime win Tuesday in a Group D game at Sapporo.
China, which lost previously to Italy and the United States, two of the
strongest teams in the group, now has to beat Senegal and Slovenia in its
remaining preliminary games to have any chance of advancing to the second round.
Yao scored 29 points but China couldn't hang on after he fouled out. Puerto
Rico's Elias Ayuso scored 27 points, nine in overtime, and Carlos Arroyo added
25.
In the other early game, Lithuania handed Qatar its third straight loss in
Group C, easily beating the Middle Eastern side 106-65 at Hamamatsu.
Later Tuesday, Greece played Australia, Italy took on Senegal, Turkey played
Brazil and the United States was up against Slovenia.
Teams in Groups A and B, including Argentina, Angola and Spain, all of which
have clinched berths in the round of 16, had the day off Tuesday at Sendai and
Hiroshima.
At Hamamatsu, Kristov Lavrinovic scored 20 points and Lithuania played
tenaciously on defense to win its first game here after two close losses.
The game was all but over in the first six minutes. Qatar was unable
to contain Lithuania's Darius combination - Darius Lavrinovic and Darius Songaila _
and Linas Kleiza.
The towering forward trio - Songaila is the shortest at 2.06 meters
(6-foot-9) _ had 18 points among them in the first quarter, many of them in
overpowering jams from under the basket.
Lithuania plays Australia and Brazil to close out the preliminary round.
"We've got two tough games left and we need to win them both to ensure that
we'll get into the second round," said Lithuanian coach Antanas Sireika. "We
need to keep playing like we did today."
All 24 teams are back in action Wednesday and again Thursday to conclude the
preliminary series of group games.
Defending champion Serbia and Montenegro will try to clinch a second-round
berth Wednesday against Venezuela, while host Japan can clinch a place in the
final 16 with a win over New Zealand.
On Saturday, the first four round-of-16 games will be played at Saitama near
Tokyo, with the other four scheduled Sunday.
The quarterfinals, semifinals and the September 3 gold medal game are all at
the 18,500-capacity Super Arena at Saitama.
The world championship is held every four years. Turkey
will host the next edition in 2010.
