By sportswriter Shan Lei
BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Pau Gasol scored nine out of 29 points in the overtime to give world champions Spain an 85-75 victory over China on Tuesday in a men's basketball preliminary round match at the
Beijing Olympic Games.
The Los Angeles Lakers' center made Spain 74-72 ahead 49 seconds into the overtime, putting the team in a leading position the first time since 2:15 minutes in the second quarter when Spain led 26-25.
Gasol, who also had eight rebounds and three blocks, denied first two attempts of China's Yao Ming and even forced out Yao's fifth foul with 2:28 minutes to go. He concluded his brilliant game with a three-point play on 79-74.
Mark Gasol, the younger one of the Gasol brothers, made a fade-away jumper against Yao with 19.7 seconds left in the regular time to pull the game into overtime.
China almost pulled down the biggest surprise in the men's basketball, leading 46-37 before the break and 61-47 after three quarters.
"It's a very regrettable loss," said Chinese captain Li Nan. "We took double-digit leading even at the start of the fourth quarter, but things changed from then on. We wanted the win too much. We just lost ourselves down the stretch."
Spain started their rally in the fourth period as they had a 14-3 run to close it on 64-61 with 5:25 minutes left.
Liu Wei, leading scorer in China by 19 points, made his fourth 3-pointer to put China back on 68-61 lead with 4:30 minutes left on the clock.
"We had so many chances to beat the world champions but we failed," said Yao, who had 11 points and nine rebounds. "There were lots of things that could have been done better if I look back to the game. I feel really sad for the loss."
Rudy Fernandez scored on a fastbreak and was fouled by Yao, the fourth one of the Houston Rockets star. Fernandez missed the free-throw but Felipe Reyes got the offensive rebound to put the ball in.
Juan Navarro leveled the game 70-all on a 3-pointer with 2:14 to go before Wang Zhizhi regained lead for China with a jumper with 1:09 left.
Lithuanian Jonas Kazlauskas, head coach of the China's team, said, "Our players were excellent for most of the match. We were unlucky towards the end. I really didn't expect to beat Spain before the game, so I will not be too disappointed on the loss or too excited if we could have won."
Fernandez had 21 points, eight rebounds, six assists while Reyes added 10 points and six rebounds. Zhu Fangyu chipped in 15 points and Wang 15 for China.
Spain (2-0) maintained a slim lead in the first quarter by 20-18 before China (0-2) had a 12-3 run from their sharp outside shooters to lead 44-33 1:28 minutes to go in the first half.
"We started a little bit relaxed, thinking that China weren't a good opponent to us. We are the world champions but anyone can beat us," Ricky Rubio said.
"China lost to the United States by 31 points (101-70) and we beat Greece 81-66 on the debut, so we thought it wouldn't be a tough game today. We started flat and let China score too many 3-pointers. In the second half we tightened up the defence," Spaniard coach Aito Garcia said.
Yao Ming (C) of China hammers a dunk during Men's Preliminary Round Group B-Game 22 between Spain and China of
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games basketball event at the
Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. (Xinhua/Li Jundong)
