Lithuania used a potent three-point attack to shoot down towering center Yao Ming’s dream of bringing China an Olympic medal yesterday, dispatching the Beijing Games hosts 94-68 in the quarter-finals.
The Lithuanians extended a nine-point half-time lead to 70-53 to start the final period with a barrage of third quarter threes with Panathinaikos star Sarunas Jasikevicius and Denver Nugget Linus Kleiza hitting two three-pointers each.
Fighting through a constant Lithuanian double team, Yao mustered 19 points mostly from the free-throw line, while his team-mates could not hit their open jumpers until well after the game had been decided.
Lithuania knocked down 13 of 31 three pointers, while China made a dismal four of 21.
The former Golden State Warrior Jasikevicius led Lithuania with 23 points, while backcourt partner from CSKA Moscow Ramunas Siskauskas had 15 and Kleiza chipped in 13 for the winners.
A sea of raucous Chinese fans cheered their team to the end, repeatedly drowning out a very vocal group of Lithuanian supporters dressed in their nation’s green and yellow.
Arguably the biggest game of his career, Yao started slowly scoring his first point off a free throw early in the second quarter as Yi Jianlian and guards Liu Wei and Sun Yue combined for 15 of China’s first 19 points.
In the second period, the towering Houston Rocket was more effective inside, but a series of turnovers allowed Lithuania to extend a 19-18 lead to 41-30 at half-time.
Meanwhile Team USA powered its way closer to Beijing Olympics gold dispatching Australia 116-85 behind the attacking play of NBA superstars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
Los Angeles Laker Bryant scored 11 of his game high 25 points during a 14-0 run to start the second half, extending a 55-43 lead at the break to 89-61 at the start of the final period.
As in previous games, the US shared the ball on the attack and found the open man, hitting 57 percent from the field.
In yesterday’s first quarter-final match Spain beat Croatia 72-59 while in the late game Argentina faced Greece to decide the remaining semi-final place.
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