Great piece by Fran Blinebury of The Houston Chronicle this morning about how much work the Chinese basketball program still has ahead of it if they are going to be competitive in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Yao had this to say:

“We need to send more younger players to other places. Maybe not just to U.S., but to teams in Europe. Our coach can help with that. He knows a lot of people in Europe.

“When you just send a whole team to play in Europe, as we did this summer, it makes you improve. But when a single player goes and joins that team, it’s a totally different feel. That would change you much quicker than to just play team against team. Just like me. I practice every day against the best. I play 82 games a year. I would not be the player I am if I did not go to the NBA.”

Pictured above is a promotional poster for Tracy McGrady’s new shoe line for Adidas. For the third straight year, T-Mac is on tour promoting his new line and making public appearances in Asia. Pictured below is T-Mac making an appearance in Guangzhou, China. Click here for more photos from T-Mac appearances.

While Team USA and Rocket teammate Yao are in Japan for the World Championships, T-Mac is touring Asia promoting his products for the third straight year. Although he’s worthy, remember that he wasn’t invited to tryout for Team USA because of the rehab on his back, among other things.

They love him over there. Check out his blog entry on NBA.com. Click here for more photos from T-Mac appearances.

Here’s another article about his thoughts on Korean and Asian basketball, in which he says about Yao:

“I have never seen anyone who works as hard as Yao. Hard work is what it comes down to if you want to be the best.”

Yao and the Chinese national team face a tough foe on Sunday night in a Greek team that went 5-0 in the first round of the FIBA World Basketball Championships.

Remember that Yao met Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis, his future teammate in Houston this coming NBA season, for the first time on August 9th (click here for the photo, as well as here for another photo where Yao congratulates Vasilis for Greece winning the FIBA Stankovic Cup on August 15th).

Game time for their matchup is Sunday at 8:00pm Japan time, or 7:00am Eastern time in the U.S.

Also of note is Team USA’s game against Australia Sunday at 1:00pm in Japan (midnight U.S Eastern time), which will be televised live on ESPN2.

Remember that teams that lose their next game go home. Could the happy times in Japan soon be over for Yao?

Most people thought the Chinese had no chance until they shockingly beat Slovenia the other day. But if they beat Greece, they’ll play Wednesday the winner of the France-Angola game.

Yao celebrates with his teammates after China’s last-second 3-pointer by Wang Shipeng to win 78-77. The victory allows China to advance to the second round of 16 teams in the World Championships.

You can see more photos from China’s incredible buzzer-beating win against Slovenia by clicking here, here, and here. Wang Shipeng‘s dribbling up the court with just six seconds remaining and hitting a 3-pointer as time expired is arguably one of the biggest shots in Chinese basketball history!

Who would have thought a couple of days ago, when China had an 0-3 record, that Yao’s prediction of China advancing to the next round would become true? He took it upon himself to make sure they could win against Slovenia, scoring 36 points, grabbing 10 boards, and blocking 4 shots in the 78-77 win!

Click here for a story on the game. I love this quote from Yao after the game:

“This was just so exciting. So dramatic. I just gave someone 500 bucks to go buy souvenirs. I want to remember this.”

In another article written later, Yao had these other comments:

“Man, that’s a really clutch shot (by Wang Shipeng to win it). It was just the kind of shot that we see in the NBA. But it is hard for me to imagine that it would ever be coming from us.

“We need to be in these spots (do-or-die situations). If you follow the improvement we’ve had in the last two years, we’ve had more games like tonight. Close games that go to the last minutes. It is only going to help us. That is when you find who is the winner. This is so big for us to win this way. We need more of these experiences, learning how to play when everything is tight.”

Unbelievably China was able to pull it off – an upset of Slovenia when they needed it in order to have a chance of advancing to the second round. We’ll find out when the tiebreaker calculations are complete, which won’t be finalized until later.

All of it was done in dramatic fashion with Wang Shipeng hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win it 78-77!

Yao was amazing, scoring 36 points, grabbing 10 boards, and blocking 4 shots while playing all 40 minutes. I hope that foot rehabilitated didn’t get overused!

We’ll have more news and photos on the victory as soon as it comes available. Right now the FIBA.com Web site is crashing, probably because a few hundred million Chinese are hitting that server.

Yao celebrates with Wang ZhiZhi as Yao leads the Chinese with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in a 100-83 win against Senegal, giving the Chinese a chance to advance to the second round if they beat Slovenia in their next game. Not having seen Yao this happy in months, we had to include a couple of extra photos to show Yao’s happiness. Click here for more photos from the game.

Although it was expected, China finally got a win, this time over underdog Senegal 100-83. But it wasn’t as easy as the final score indicates. Senegal led by 4 points at halftime and extended the lead to 8 points in the third quarter, but then Yao scored 8 straight points to tie the game. Senegal only trailed by 4 points midway through the fourth quarter, but a couple of 3-pointers gave the Chinese enough breathing room to win going away.

Yao had 26 points and 9 boards, while Wang ZhiZhi chipped in 19 points. Click here for a recap of the game, and click here for more photos.

Now the Chinese have to beat Slovenia in their next game on Thursday if they are going to have any chance to advance to the second round of the World Championships (which Yao guaranteed before the tournament started). It will be interesting to see Yao playing against his old Rocket teammate and friend Bostjan (Boki) Nachbar for tournament survival.

Speaking of teammates, I had to include a photo below of Yao playing against potential future teammate Malick Badiane (#15) from Senegal. Maybe in the next year or two we’ll see Yao and Badiane playing together in Houston. Click here to see the post I wrote a few days ago about Badiane.

Yao goes up against Rockets 2003 draft pick Malick Badiane on Wednesday in a match-up between China and Senegal, which China won 100-83. Maybe one day both will be playing in Houston together.

Alot of people are upset on the poor officiating from yesterday’s China-Puerto Rico matchup where Yao fouled out with 4:40 remaining on a controversial call, leading to China’s defeat.

I loved Yao’s line after the game: “I have nothing to say because we were playing five against eight (referring to three officials).”

This loss especially hurts since China had an 11-point lead with 8:40 remaining in the game. China is now 0-3 in tournament play, needs to win its final two games, and needs help from other teams in order to advance to the next round.

Click here and here for two separate articles written about the game.

For Raymond’s analysis on the officiating and photos from the game, click here.

Yao reacts after scoring two of his 29 points against Puerto Rico on Tuesday. Yao shot 60% from the floor, grabbed 8 boards and blocked two shots, but the Chinese lost a heartbreaker 90-87 in OT. Yao fouled out late in the fourth quarter, and that was probably the difference in this game. The Chinese are now 0-3 and have to win their final two games (vs. Senegal and Slovenia) in order to have a chance to advance to the next round in the World Championships in Japan. Click here for more photos from the game. Click here for a story on the game.

What a disappointment for fans of the Chinese national team. The CNT had a chance to steal a victory from Puerto Rico, but Yao’s fouling out with just a few minutes remaining in the game really hurt. I didn’t see the game, but Raymond in China saw it, and he thought some of the calls were very questionable.

Oh well, at least Yao put his head to good use, which resulted in Puerto Rico center Peter Ramos applying a head butt on Yao. Click here to see the photos and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

I remember seeing Ramos at the Vegas Summer League last month, and that boy is one big dude. Probably 7’4,” only an inch or two shorter than Yao. He’s probably one of only a couple of guys who could head-butt Yao. Shaq probably couldn’t even do that!

Here is a good article on Malick Badiane, the Rockets 2003 second round draft pick from Senegal, who the Chinese play on Wednesday. I always have wondered how he’s progressing. Looks like he’s coming along nicely. Let’s hope he makes the Rockets in the next year or two and proves Houston can have some draft picks from the past few years stick around for awhile — other than Yao and Luther Head.

This article posted today on ESPN.com, which is pretty funny. It reveals more about the charging call I mentioned earlier this morning (see post below) during the China-USA game when Shane Battier drew a charge on Yao. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

“I don’t know if there are too many people alive who can say they took a charge from Shaq and Yao and got the calls. I’m not very smart sometimes,” joked Battier, who remembered taking a charge against O’Neal during the first home game of his rookie season with the Grizzlies. “It was the same situation like tonight. Once Yao got the ball at halfcourt I knew I was going to have to take a charge. That was the play, and it’s a lot tougher when you have a few seconds to think about it.”

Yao wasn’t in a very chatty mood after the game, but he did pat Battier, his new teammate with the Houston Rockets, on the shoulder at he walked past him in the mixed zone. “You didn’t know that about me?” Yao said when I complimented his breakaway ballhandling.

Here’s a good story from the Houston Chronicle about Yao and Battier on that play.

Here is also a link to a short NBA.com video of Yao being interviewed after the game. Disregard the short commercial beforehand.

Make sure to scroll down near the bottom to read the little blurb on Yi Jianlian‘s supposed age, too.