The NBA center duo, Yao Ming and Menk Bateer, led China to a 92-78 victory over European champions Yugoslavia on Tuesday at the Shuanglai Four-Nation men's basketball invitation in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province.
Yao Ming, who will go to the Houston Rockets as the top pick next season, stamped his domination inside with 27 points, with his national teammate Bateer, who played for the Denver Nuggets last season, added seven points in less than 10-minute plays.
The Chinese team learned fast from Monday's loss to Italy, setting up better defence and shooting more long-ranged baskets to beat the Yugoslavian second team.
"We had only four days of practice before we came here. We are not in good shape," said Yugoslavian coach Miodrag Baletic. "But China deserved to win. They played better tonight."
"We are clever on defence tonight," said Chinese head coach Wang Fei. "European teams are different from Asians. They play more aggressive defence. We were not acquainted with such defence yesterday when we lost to Italy."
China will play Australia, who defeated Italy 79-66 in an earlier game, on Wednesday to call up the first part of the two-stop tournament. Teams will move to Dongguan of Guangdong Province to continue the matches.
(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2002)
