A fist-pumping Yao Ming finally put China back on track yesterday, inspiring its first victory in the Olympic men's basketball competition.Sun Yue of China gets ready to shoot during a men's preliminary round group B basketball match against Angola yesterday. China defeated Angola 85-68. AFP The NBA superstar center scored a game-high 30 points in China's 85-68 win over African champion Angola to keep China's hopes of making the quarterfinals alive.
"We had great chemistry," said Yao. "After the previous two games, our opponents paid more attention to the outside shooters, which left more space for me inside. We had great teamwork today.
"I feel good to win at the Olympics because all of our opponents are very strong and winning at home makes you feel even better, but it is not the time to celebrate - we have a lot of work to be done this week."
China jumped to a 10-2 lead early on after three-pointers from Zhu Fangyu and Sun Yue. The host team was able to extend the margin to 24-8 as Yao started to rule under the basket.
Having wasted a 14-point lead to lose to Spain on Tuesday, China extended its lead to 14 in the third quarter when Yi Jianlian's slam dunk in a fast break made it 61-47. "
The second quarter was terrible," said China's Lithuanian coach Jonas Kazlauskas. "We were out of control. At half-time we had a hard talk in the locker room and everything changed."
The victory is the first Olympic win for Sun Yue, who has been linked with a move to Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers, and the guard said he was in a buoyant mood.
"This is my first win in the Olympics and for so many other players on the team, we will celebrate now," he said. "Now we have a chance to qualify for the quarterfinals and we will try to do it for our people. Our dream is to win a medal."
The win most likely makes China's clash with Germany tomorrow the game that decides its fate, given the slight possibility of it beating Greece, its last rival in Group B.
But Yao is confident.
"If we keep our spirit, we can fight against anyone, including Germany and Greece," he said. "We cannot choose our opponents, we need to beat them when we meet them."
(來源：China Daily 實習生 吳昭文 英語點津編輯)
