Australia hand 81-61 thrashing to China; Pick up their first victory at Olympics – London Olympics Men Basketball Recap
The Australian men basketball team secured their first victory of the 2012 London Olympics when they handed China an 81-61 thrashing. After competing well for the first period, the Chinese were blown away by the Aussies in the
second quarter, and then again in the final period to secure a comfortable victory in the end.
Australia outscored China 20-9 in the final period, as the Chinese team were unable to keep up with the Aussie offense.
Patrick Mills scored a team high 20 points and 4 rebounds for Australia, going 8 of 19 from the field. David Andersen added 17 points and 7 rebounds to the Australian effort.
Shipeng Wang scored a game high 21 points for China, going 7 of 13 from the field. Jianlian Yi ended with a double double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds for the night.
The Chinese team were on fire in the first quarter, as Wang came out hot from three point range. He nailed a three pointer to give China a 15-8 lead, then scored another one to put them up 18-10. However, Mills answered with five
straight points as Australia came back to tie the game at 18. Li got the final field goal of the quarter to put China ahead 22-21.
The scores were tied once again at 27 after Yi scored a two point shot, but Australia ran away with the lead after that in an extraordinary turn of events. The Aussies put on a 17-3 run that saw them stretching their lead to 44-30,
and finished the 1st half leading 49-33.
China attempted a comeback in the game in the third period, and back to back three point shots by Wang had China down by just 10. Wang then hit the third consecutive three pointer to reduce the deficit to 53-44. However, Australia
were able to hold their fort down and allowed China only 8 points in the final 6 minutes of the quarter to take a comfortable 61-52 lead into the final period.
China missed their first 7 field goals of the final quarter and went scoreless for more than 5 minutes, spoiling any chances they had of making a comeback into the game. Australia capitalized and outscored China 20-9 in the final
period to take a 81-61 victory in the end. The defeat was the third in three games at the Olympics for China.
Wang was hot from three point range, going 7 of 10 for the night and creating trouble for the Aussie defence. Jianghua Chen finished with 10 points, going 2 of 3 from three point range.
Joe Ingles had a good overall game for Australia, scoring 13 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Australia out-rebounded the Chinese 51-36 for the night, and also had a 23-10 advantage in assists. China did a poor job of handling the ball, particularly in the final period, committing 19 turnovers overall in the game and allowing
the Aussies to run away with the victory.
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