China overpowers Lebanon in Quarter-Finals, 68-48: FIBA Asia Championship
Even though Chinese coach Bob Donewald gave rest to his exhausted starters at this crucial stage in the tournament, but still China managed to overpower Lebanon 68-48 on Friday in the Quarter-Finals round of the FIBA Asia Championship.
With this victory China had progressed in the Semi-Finals to meet with Korea.
Chinese head coach was satisfied with his team’s performance and their approach towards the game. He said, “You’ve got to give Lebanon credit they tested us early.” Prior to add his comments on China’s poor rebounding effort in
the first half.
Donewald said, “That’s something we addressed at half time. We weren’t as quick to the ball as we needed to be, and we gave up more offensive rebounds than we normally would. We’ve just got to do a better job.”
On substitution, Donewald said, “In the second half we started subbing a bit earlier, getting our minutes down so we’re fresh for the next two (games).”
Liu Wei led the Chinese squad with his 13 points and an excellent six of seven shooting from the field. Yi Jianlian chipped in with 12 points and nine rebounds. He fell just one board short to achieve double-double for the Chinese
team. While, Wang Zhizhi also added 12 points for China and guided a balanced attack. The Chinese team kept their cool and it has now become their logo sign in this competition.
Sam Hoskin remained the top scorer of the game and also for team Lebanon, as he made 20 points along with 10 rebounds. Ghaleb Reda had 15 points and four rebounds, apart from these two rest of the roster failed to put up a good
effort.
China used an 11-4 surge and gained the lead instantly in the first quarter. Before Lebanon charged from behind and end up two points short of China (14-12), when the first period closed.
The second quarter also remained a close affair, as Lebanon didn’t let China to further build their lead and remained within the range. However, Chinese team succeeded in making the break through, when less than two minutes were
left in the first half. Jianlian Yi hit five points to give China a 28-22 lead at the close of second. Yi’s nine of 12 points came in the second quarter.
After missing a number of rebounds in the first half, Chinese coach was able to tweak his team’s play in the second. This tweak in the play helped China in thumping most points during a quarter in the entire game. China used a
12-0 blitz to push the lead to 40-26 mid-way in the quarter and took the game out of Lebanon’s reach. Zhizhi Wang helped the cause with his eight-point contribution during the period.
China led Lebanon 51-32 in the final quarter of the game. Where Lebanon failed to put up a good fight and China cruised to the victory with a 20-point difference.
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