Americans put on dunkathon, cruise past host Chinese

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 10, 2008 at 10:40 a.m.

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Olympic basketball: U.S. vs. China

U.S. guard LeBron James tosses powder into the air as he prepares to join his team against China in a preliminary basketball game.

Photo by Dusan Vranic/Associated Press

Team USA's Dwayne Wade dunks against China during Sunday.

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BEIJING — In 1971, the Americans brought a table tennis team to China for a historic visit.

On Sunday, they brought the slam-dunk contest to China.

In the much-hyped Olympic basketball opener, it became quite evident that, in today's world, there isn't much diplomacy better than the dunk.

The Americans, en route to a 101-70 win, rattled the rim regularly, and the Chinese fans couldn't help but cheer.

"I had five dunks in one game," said Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, clearly the most revered American player in China. "The last time I had five dunks in a game, I was like 17.

"That's all because of the energy and the crowd. I think they knew that history was being made. Obviously, it was a proud moment for the crowd, and you could feel the electricity."

The 18,000-seat Olympic Bas- ketball Gymnasium was packed.

Contributing to the raucous atmosphere was President Bush, seen sharing the American invention of the high-five.

The Olympics have been called China's coming-out party, and basketball is a big part of it. It is said an estimated 300 million people play the sport in the country.

The most revered Chinese player is 7-foot-6 Houston Rockets center Yao Ming.

As if it had been scripted, Yao started the game with a three- pointer.

"That was storybook," Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. "With all the hype surrounding the basketball game, for him to come out and hit that three on the first play of the game, that's storybook."

Anthony's performance was less memorable, but he shrugged off scoring only three points while missing all three of his shots.

There were plenty of Americans around to pick up the slack, with Dwyane Wade scoring a game- high 19 points and LeBron James adding 18.

Yao led China with 13 points but easily tired as he continues to work his way back from a stress fracture suffered in February.

But there was no way Yao was going to miss this game.

"This is a personal Olympics for me," Yao said. "Everyone is proud.

"It felt great, all the flags and people cheering. It was a great game, great atmosphere."

The Chinese, who made 4-of-6 three-pointers in the first quarter to 1-of-6 for Team USA, trailed 20-16 entering the second quarter and were tied 29-29 midway through the second.

But once the Americans, who made 7-of-24 three-pointers overall, decided to start dunking instead, they pulled away.

Even the Chinese fans, seemingly content to see their heroes play the Americans close for a while, didn't mind too much.

In between waving flags and yelling "Jia You. (Let's go)" to their players, they roared whenever Team USA had a spectacular play.

"The fans were great," said Anthony, calling it one of the "biggest events in sports history."

"The arena was great," he added. "Everybody was energetic. We were excited. China was excited. Bush was excited."

Other political dignitaries on hand included former President George H.W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush, China minister of foreign affairs Yang Jiechi and Henry Kissinger, U.S. national security adviser when the pingpong players hit China in 1971.

So what did President Bush, who addressed the U.S. players before the game after also having spoken to them and other athletes before the Opening Ceremonies, have to say to these modern- day diplomats?

"Kick butt," said Bryant, then adding he was paraphrasing.

"Get a 'W' for W," said center Dwight Howard, one assuming he also was paraphrasing.

When it was over, most considered the night a perfect "10."

It would have been fitting had fans held up cards with that number, just like they do at dunk contests.

United States 101, China 70

United States

D.Wade 7-7 5-5 19, L.James 8-12 1-3 18, K.Bryant 6-14 0-0 13, D.Howard 5-10 3-5 13, D.Williams 3-7 2-2 9, M.Redd 3-9 0-0 9, C.Bosh 4-4 1-2 9, C.Boozer 1-2 3-4 5, C.Paul 1-2 0-0 3, C.Anthony 0-3 3-4 3, J.Kidd 0-0 0-0 0, T.Prince 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 38-70 18-25 101.

China

M.Yao 3-10 6-6 13, F.Zhu 4-6 0-0 11, J.Yi 4-13 1-1 9, Y.Sun 3-8 0-0 8, Z.Wang 4-9 0-0 8, W.Liu 1-9 3-4 6, N.Li 2-5 0-0 6, Q.Zhang 1-4 2-2 5, J.Chen 1-3 0-0 2, S.Wang 0-1 2-2 2, L.Wang 0-0 0-0 0, F.Du 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 23-68 14-15 70.

United States 20 29 25 27 —101

China 16 21 11 22 — 70

3-Point goals—United States 7-24 (M.Redd 3-7, L.James 1-3, K.Bryant 1-7, D.Williams 1-3, C.Paul 1-2, C.Anthony 0-2), China 10-27 (F.Zhu 3-3, Y.Sun 2-5, N.Li 2-3, M.Yao 1-3, W.Liu 1-3, Q.Zhang 1-3, J.Yi 0-4, Z.Wang 0-3). Fouled out—None.

Rebounds—United States 40 (C.Bosh 8), China 37 (M.Yao 10). Assists—United States 17 (C.Paul 6), China 12 (F.Zhu 2). Fouls—United States 17, China 20.

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