Wang Zhizhi, former NBA Dallas Mavericks player, led hosts China
to a 93-63 victory over New Zealand at the Basketball Stankovic
Continental Cup in Macao on Wednesday.
Young talent Yi Jianlian, who will hopefully start his first NBA
season this summer, top-scored among players of both sides with 17
points, while Wang with 14 points played the more significant
role.
The all-rookie Wiki team, having lost two of its three previous
games at the tournament, imposed no threat on the Chinese during
all the four quarters.
Young players in the China team including Zhang Songtao, Wang
Lei, Li Xiaoxu and Liu Xiaoyu failed to display an impressive show,
making too many mistakes.
The Wikis narrowed the score gap around 10 points when the
Chinese line-up was dominated by youngsters and was in particular,
without Yi Jianlian or Wang Zhizhi on court.
China coach Jonas Kazlauskas attributed the victory mainly to
the excellent defense, noting, "The quality defense paved way for
the quality counterattacks."
China won two of its four games at the six-team tournament and
is scheduled to face the U.S. NBA Development League (D-League)
Ambassadors on the final match day Thursday.
(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2007)