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FIBA Asia Tournament: Tonight's the night to start watching

Tuesday, 11th August 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Yi Jianlian and Team China face tougher opponents starting tonight.
Yi Jianlian and Team China face tougher opponents starting tonight.
If you've caught any of CCTV-5's broadcasts of the FIBA Asia Championships from Tianjin, you might be wondering when, if ever, this tournament will give you the chance to see some decent basketball.

So far, it's been pretty ugly. China's got a record of 4-0 in the tournament, with an average 36-point margin of victory, including a 121-49 win over India. And that wasn't even the most lopsided contest of the tournament. That honor goes to the Japan-Sri Lanka game, which Japan won, 148-45.

The men-against-boys part of the tournament is coming to a close, though. China's games should get better tonight against Lebanon (7 p.m. Beijing time, CCTV-5) and tomorrow night against Jordan (7 p.m.). For China's fans, coming out of this tournament with anything less than first place will be looked on as a failure. The path to the top of the medal stand would most likely require victories over South Korea and Iran, the reigning FIBA Asia champion. Iran has the best answer to China's strength inside--Hamed Ehadadi, a 7-foot-2-inch center who had a quiet rookie season with the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies but is leading all players at the Tianjin tournament in rebounds (11.6) and blocks (4.2) per game.

Tomorrow night's China-Jordan game will be followed directly by a good matchup between South Korea and Iran. For a full schedule and results, go to FIBA.com. Another good site for information on the tournament, and on Asian basketball in general, is Asia-basket.com.

Yi Jianlian Image: Xinhua

Tags: basketball, FIBA, Sun Yue, Yi Jianlian