Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi teamed up for the first time on a basketball court in five years but couldn't save China from an 88-78 loss to Brazil on Sunday in the Stankovic Cup in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.

China finished third in group B and will play Australia for the 5th placing at the continental champions competition. France was upset by Australia 77-71 in group A and gave the final berth to European champions Greece.

Greece tied with France and Australia with three points each but advanced on points difference. Greece will face group B winner Germany in the championship match on Tuesday at Kunshan.

The Houston Rockets' center Yao, who had foot surgery this summer, played with Wang in the national team before he joined the Dallas Mavericks as the first Asian player to join the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2001.

Wang injured his right knee in a warm-up trip in Europe last month and failed to team up with Yao after he'd returned on August 1.

The pair shared the court for 47 seconds in the second quarter and forced Brazil to miss three straight shots and committed four fouls in over three minutes.

The Yao-Wang double act didn't make big changes to the score board but kept China in the game with Brazil leading 44-38 before the break. A 16-2 run in the third quarter put Brazil on top for good when the South Americans won the quarter 31-13.

Yao and Wang were both on the court for another brief spell but China paid heavily for poor defensive play. 

China reinforced the defense in the closing stages, suffocated Brazil for three minutes and got 14 straight points to make it 86-76 with 1:40 minutes to go.

"Yao gives much space to the outside shooters but we still had problem to pass the ball inside to him," Wang said. "I'm glad we finished the game in a good spirit. We'll strengthen our defense to make better games at the world championships," he added.

Foward Yi Jianlian led China with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Yao had 16 and 6. Lenadro Mateus Barbosa had 20 points for Brazil while team mate Varejao had 12 points and eight rebounds.

The World Championships will start on August 19 in Japan. All the six teams in the competition will compete in the championships.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2006)