Chinese Taipei dethrones China, 96-78

MANILA, Philippines – Chinese Taipei used a big third quarter run to dethrone defending champion China in a shocking 96-78 upset in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 Manila FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday night.

Chinese Taipei outscored China, 31-12, in a big third quarter explosion that overturned a 10-point China halftime lead.

The Taiwanese rallied behind the inside presence of naturalized player Quincy Davis and their outside sniping as the once mighty China lead suddenly crumbled.

Davis’ alley-oop play capped off a 15-0 run by the Taiwanese bridging the second and early part of the third quarter.

Yi Jianlian gave China its final lead, 52-50, before Tien Lei’s triple ignited a furious 21-12 exchange that gave Taipei a nine-point edge, 71-62, into the fourth quarter.

China never knew what hit them as Taipei continued to pour the heat in the payoff period.

“Never give up,” Chin-Che Hsu told reporters after the game.

Hsu rallied his troops by reminding them how they dug themselves up from large deficits against Jordan and Philippines in the early rounds of the tournament.

And they responded big in the second half.

Davis outplayed Yi finishing with 27 points missing only once on 13 attempts against the latter’s 22 points on 11-of-17 shooting. The two giants cancelled out each other in the rebounding department with 10 each.

The biggest revelation for Chinese Taipei was Tsai Wne-Cheng who wound up with 21 points, 15 coming in the second half where they turned the game around.

Lin Chih-Chieh and Tien added 17 and 13 points, respectively.

The Taiwanese were so red-hot as they shot 60 percent from the field including 10 of 20 triples.

Their lethal outside shooting will be tested in the semifinals against the imposing size of Iran, the winners of the 2007 and 2009 edition.

Iran punishes Yi-less China 70-51

MANILA, Philippines – Iran establishes themselves as the top dog of this competition as they rout Yi Jianlan-less China, 70-51, Saturday to sweep the Group C of the 2013 Manila FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Iran exploited Yi’s absence to the hilt racing to a double-digit lead right in the opening quarter and outrebounding China, including a huge 16-7 disparity in the offensive glass.  Iran cashed in those offensive boards with 15 second chance points against China’s measly four points.

Samad Nikkah Bahrami scored all of his 10 points in the first quarter lifting Iran to a 26-16 lead.  Bahrami failed to score the rest of the way but it did not matter as the rest of the Iranians took care of the rest.

Yi, who sat out for the second straight game with a hamstring injury,

Hamed Haddadi had 15 points and seven boards outdueling China’s ageless Wang ZhiZhi, who finished with nine and five.

Hamed Afagh and Oshin Sahakian also did well for the 2007 FIBA Asia champions combining for 25 points.

Wang Shipeng was the lone double-digit scorer for China with 11 points.

Asian basketball giant China fall to South Korea 63-59

South Korea endured a back-and-forth battle against defending champions China, to emerge victorious, 63-59, Thursday at the MOA Arena, for a share of the lead in Group C of the preliminary round of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.

In the other Group C match today, Iran had outclassed Malaysia, 115-25, to also go up 1-0.

Neither side led by more than six points, as the two powerhouses slugged it out. The score was at a deadlock, 55-all, with 2:08 left, resulting in a China timeout, but they were unable to get anything out of it as Wang Shipeng turned the ball over.

Nerves were clearly coming into play, as both sides turned the ball over anew, including a second straight for Wang, giving Korea possession with 1:17 left. A pair of charities by Yang Donggeun put Korea ahead. Then, off a turnover, former NBA player Yi Jianlian missed a two-pointer, but China got the offensive rebound and hit both charities, creating yet another tie at 57-all, 41 seconds left.

Cho Sungmin drew a foul from China, and hit both, breaking the tie, 59-57, 31 seconds left. Off China's timeout, Zhou Peng missed a two-pointer and Korea collared the rebound, leading to Cho Sungmin getting fouled anew. Still steady at the line, he canned both, for a two-possession Korea lead.

China wasn't going away yet though, as Liu Xiaoyu got the basket and the foul, but he missed his bonus charity. This time, Yang Donggeun was tested, but he too canned both free throws. In desperation, China launched up two three-pointers, but both failed to connect, allowing Korea to escape with this one.

"We gave them a lot of layups and a lot of easy baskets," lamented China head coach Panagiotis Giannakis.

Kim Joo-Sung paced South Korea with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Cho Sungmin added 12 markers, while Yang Donggeun chimed in with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists in a well-rounded effort.

READ MORE: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/320221/sports/basketball/2013-fiba-asia-championship-korea-escapes-china-in-clash-of-heavyweights

Chinese men’s National team will be Panagiotis Giannakis

Panagiotis Giannakis the former coach of the Greek National Team has been chosen to coach the Chinese men’s National Team for the 27th FIBA Asia Championship.

He was chosen among three other coaches Russian team David Blatt (American) and  also a former Greek National Team coach Ilias Zouros. Giannakis was also selected by EuroLeague Basketball as one of the 50 Greatest Contributors in the first 50 years of the competition. He have a lot of coaching experience on high profile professional basketball clubs, like Greek giants Olympiakos.

Giannakis is also one of the only two to have won a EuroBasket gold both as a player and as a coach.

Giannakis led to a gold medal at the 2005 EuroBasket at Belgrade, and the Greek National Team to a silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

Possible Lineup of China:

Centers: Yi Jianlian (Guangdong); Wang Zhizhi (Bayi); Zhang Zhaoxu (Shanghai); Wang Zhelin (Fujian); Li Muhao (DongGuan). Forwards: Zhu Fangyu, Zhou Peng (Guangdong); Zhang Bo (Bayi), Zhai Xiaochuan, Ji Zhe (Beijing); Ding Yanyuhang (Shandong), Yi Li (Jiangsu), Ding Jinhui (Zhejiang), Li Xiaoxu (Liaoning).
Guards: Chen Jianghua, Liu Xiaoyu, Wang Shipeng (Guangdong); Han Shuo (Bayi); Liu Wei, Guo Ailun (Liaoning); Li Jingyu, Sun Yue (Beijing), Xirelijiang (Xinjiang), Duan Jiangpeng (Shanxi).