China crushes Malaysia sans Yi

China crushes Malaysia sans Yi

by rick olivares

China made short work of Malaysia, 113-22, in the second day of the FIBA Asia Championships at the Mall of Asia Arena even without forward-center Yi Jian Lian who was rested by head coach Panagiotis Giannakis in anticipation of their colossal game with Iran this coming Saturday. Yi is still recovering from a hamstring injury and is far from 100%.

The Chinese didn’t need Yi, the NBA veteran, as 19-year old center Wang Zhelin topscored with 21 points in addition to grabbing eight rebounds and blocking two shots.

Another of China’s NBA veteran’s the evergreen Wang Zhizhi scored 17 points in 18 minutes while guard Guo Ailun and forward Zhu Fangyu added 16 points each.

The defending champions shot an absurd 59% from the field while Malaysia, dropping its second straight lopsided match (they lost to Iran in the FIBA Asia opener 115-25).

“Obviously, we are disappointed that we lost to Korea (the day before),” expressed Giannakis. “We were not going to take any chances with Malaysia. Now we can think about Iran.”

Malaysian Ooi Ban Sin led his overmatched side with nine points. In their two Group C matches (the Group of Death as it features China, Korea, and Iran), Malaysia has surrendered an average of 119 points while scoring only a paltry 23.5.

“We are a young team,” offered Malaysia head coach Teh Choon Yean, “And we are learning the game as well.” The Tigers have only two players with international experience in Ooi Ban Sin and Kuek Tian Yuan who both play for the Kuala Lumpur Dragons in the Asean Basketball League.