LONDON – In a humbling tumble, China bowed out of contention in men’s basketball by registering the worst point difference of 126 among 12 contenders as eight teams advanced the other day to the knockout quarterfinals in the march towards Olympic gold here.
The two-group eliminations were held at the 12,000-seat Basketball Arena built at a cost of the equivalent of P2.6 billion inside the Olympic Park. Contractors used 1,000 tons of steel and 20,000 square meters of white PVC fabric to roof the facility which will be dismantled at the end of the Paralympic Games. Designed as a temporary structure, the building is 35 meters high and large enough to fit a jumbo jet inside. Seats are colored black and orange which are the colors of a basketball.
Starting the men’s quarterfinals, games were switched to the 20,000-seat North Greenwich Arena also known as the O2 Arena and Millennium Dome. It was constructed at an estimated cost of P52 billion in 2007. The imposing structure is 50 meters high and supported by 12 pillars of 100 meters extending out of the canopy. The North Greenwich Arena hosted the first-ever NBA regular season games played in Europe last year between Toronto and New Jersey.
With Yao Ming no longer in active duty, China struggled and lost all its five games to Spain, 97-81, Russia, 73-54, Australia, 81-61, Brazil, 98-59 and Great Britain, 90-58. The Chinese were led by NBA veterans Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi and Sun Yue. Yi hit 30 points to no avail against Spain. Sun, a 6-9 point guard who once played for the Los Angeles Lakers, sat out China’s last two games against Brazil and Great Britain as if it mattered. It was China’s worst finish in Olympic basketball since a similar doormat placing in 1992, probably bringing to an end American coach Bob Donewald’s tenure. China was eighth in the last four Olympics.
* * * *
Naturalized players were evident on the rosters of national teams in men’s and women’s basketball. FIBA (Federation Internationale de Basketball) allows a national team to enlist only one naturalized player. Spain’s “import” is 6-10 center Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ibaka was born in the Congo and moved to Spain when he was a teenager. Russia brought in South Dakota native Becky Hammon, a 13-year WNBA veteran with the San Antonio Silver Stars, to beef up its women’s squad. Hammon acquired Russian citizenship in 2008.
Turkey recruited Quanitra Hollingsworth of Virginia Commonwealth. The 6-5 New York Liberty center became a Turkish citizen only this year. Kimberly Butler, a 6-1 guard from Tacoma, Washington, was given an English passport in 2007 after finishing at Oregon State. She plays for the Great Britain women’s team with 5-9 Rachel Vanderwal, who was born in Ontario, and 5-9 Jenaya Wade-Fray who was born in St. George’s, Bermuda.
Brazil signed up 6-1 point guard Larry Taylor of Missouri Western to bolster its backcourt. Great Britain took in Sudanese Luol Deng, a political refugee who was given English citizenship in 2006, Ohio-born Nathan Reinking of Kent State and Toronto-born Kyle Johnson of Long Island University. How the host country was able to escape FIBA sanction by playing three “imports” is a mystery. Additionally, Great Britain drafted two Ghanaians, Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Eric Boateng, both born in England.
Despite Deng’s NBA credentials, Great Britain failed to qualify for the quarterfinals, joining Tunisia, Nigeria and China by the wayside. Tunisia and China were winless with 0-5 records. Nigeria and Great Britain finished at 1-4. However, the hosts were far from embarrassed as they could’ve won two more but lost close heartbreakers to Spain, 79-78, and Brazil, 67-62.
Nigeria could’ve recruited NBA veteran Andre Igoudala, whose father is of Nigerian descent, but the Philadelphia 76er star opted to play for the US. Ex-PBA import Champ Oguchi had a slow start with Nigeria here, averaging only a point in his first two games. Then, he shot 11 in a 156-73 loss to the US and 12 in a 93-79 setback to Argentina before winding up with a game-high 35 points in a 79-73 loss to France.
Another country with several “imports” is France whose undisputed star is Tony Parker. The French cagers include Guyana-born Kevin Seraphin, Ivory Coast-born Ali Traore, Congo-born Yannick Bokolo, Guadeloupe-born Florent Pietrus (whose brother Mickael plays in the NBA), Martinique-born Ronny Turiaf and Isla de Punta Negra-born Mickael Gelabale. France has the luxury of tapping the services of athletes from past and present protectorates all over the world.
* * * *
NBA veteran John Amaechi, 41, knew all along the UK national team would disintegrate in the Olympics. The 6-10 behemoth said unless there is a grassroots program in place to develop players in the pipeline, the national team is doomed to failure.
“It’s not going to work if we just keep getting players from all over,” said Amaechi who played 18 games for the UK national squad. “They’re doing things the wrong way. I’m not involved at all in how they run UK basketball.” Amaechi, born in Boston to a Nigerian father and an English mother, lives in London where he works as a broadcaster, commentator, educator and activist. He made world headlines when he confessed to being gay in his book “Man In The Middle” after retiring from the NBA in 2004. Amaechi played for Cleveland, Orlando, Utah and New York in the NBA. In 2000, he turned down a $17 million offer to play for the Lakers to stay with Orlando on a $600,000 annual salary out of loyalty to the Magic.
Amaechi, who attended Penn State, lashed out at London-born NBA guard Ben Gordon for declining to play for Great Britain in the Olympics. Gordon’s parents are Jamaican. He was the NBA’s Sixth Man awardee as a rookie in 2004-05. Gordon was recently traded by Detroit to Charlotte and claimed he couldn’t play in the Olympics because of the move.