BEIJING, China -- No matter how uptight or nervous folks back in America must have felt when this thing was staying too close for too long, there's a decent chance that 999,999,999 people around the world weren't feeling quite the emotions that had to be gripping Rod Thorn. The longtime USA Basketball executive whose tenure with the national program dates back to the Dream Team days, Thorn probably couldn't believe his eyes midway through the second quarter when the Americans were 1-of-12 from 3-point range -- compared to China's 7-for-11 -- and were ahead just three points, 35-32. But what had to make Thorn choke on his Cheerios even more on a Sunday morning back in the states was the sight of his newest prize acquisition, Yi Jianlian, looking even worse than those smog-filled panoramas you keep seeing on the broadcasts out of Beijing. Six times Yi put the ball in the air, and six times he missed. Take away that 0-for-6 first half, and the Chinese were just one made bucket away from shooting 50 percent from the field. And somewhere, former U.S. Olympian Richard Jefferson had to shake his head wondering how in the wide, weird world he was traded for someone who looked so lost on such a massive stage. Yi, to put it politely, looked horrible before salvaging a little respect with a late offensive flurry in the fourth quarter after the 101-70 victory had long been decided. To put it a little less politely, we'll tell you that the Mandarin word for "stiff" is "guaizhong." (Nice things, those instant translation devices all the young Beijing volunteers have programmed into their cell phones.) "Maybe our biggest mistake was thinking this would continue, because we got nervous, we made mistakes," China coach Jonas Kazlauskas said. "Some players hesitated too much, and we lost control." That they did, and the Americans' relentless pressure finally cracked the Chinese midway through that second quarter after they had stunned the crowd and a worldwide audience estimated at 1 billion -- the largest ever to watch a basketball game -- by staying even with Team USA for the first 15 minutes of play. And the first to crack was Yi, who lost the ball on a trap that led to a dunk by Kobe Bryant to make it 35-29 before Li Nan hit a 3 to get China within three points for the final time. Over the course of the next minute and a half, Yi had an unsportsmanlike foul and a missed 3 before Kazlauskas yanked him. The deficit was 14 by the time Yi slammed in a miss early in the third quarter for his first bucket, but that came one play after Dwight Howard easily bodied Yi out of the way to make room for Kobe Bryant to throw down one of Team USA's many, many dunks. Yao Ming was visibly upset at Yi after he broke off a set play and tried to force-feed Yao in the low post, the ball sailing straight out of bounds, and Yao gesturing at Yi that he should have thrown the ball to an open teammate at the 3-point line. Yi exited with China down 53-39, replacing Yao later in the third quarter with the deficit at 19 after Yao appeared to aggravate his foot injury and was slumped over cringing in pain. My notebook for the rest of the quarter reads like this: Yi misses 3. Yi misses 2-on-2 fast break, Yi fouls Chris Bosh with a hard slap that could be heard in the upper deck, Yi stands stationary as sloppy pass leads to Kobe fast-break dunk. 71-48. Yi's final line read 4-for-13 for 9 points with three rebounds, three fouls and two turnovers, with two missed free throws and four misses in four attempts from 3-point range. Remember that rookie wall he hit back in February? Back before the Milwaukee Bucks got rid of him? He's still hitting it. "You know, what I did see from him in the fourth quarter was resilience. He struggled, but he was still being aggressive. And as a young player you like to see that out of him. He has a lot of growing to do, but he's going to be terrific," Michael Redd said afterward of his former Bucks teammate, who he described as a nice, Americanized kid already well-versed in U.S. street lingo. To which I responded, "Well, you guys got the better of that trade." To which Redd quickly responded: "We did, oh we did, we did, we did, we did. We're happy, no question." (Played the tape back five times to make sure I had an accurate count of "we dids.") And somewhere back in the states, we're guessing a certain president of a certain team whose relocation date to Brooklyn grows ever more uncertain … well, we're fairly certain he turned off his TV Sunday morning having a hard time feeling good about what he watched from Beijing -- no matter how happy he was for his old friends on the staff of USA Basketball. Link
wow, Sheridan wrote all that? Unfathomable. He did,Oh he did, He did, He did, He did. Pretty much what I thought about the article. To put it nicely through my translator, Hum Lun.
People need to realize that Yi was up against the best talent in the world...How many points did Yao have? 13 in 30 minutes. Yi had 9 points in 25 minutes and was third in scoring for China. Please, give the guy more than a game to prove he can play.
ya u guys act like Yao had 30 pts against the U.S. no one on that CNT had a good game... NO ONE... the US dominated them... Yi is gonna be a fine player for the nets... thats rite i said it, FINE player
The way Sheridan from ESPN wrote this, like it's a personal vendetta. So much venom. Did Yi or China do something to this guy or ESPN?
