http://www.nola.com/newsflash/sports/index.ssf?/base/sports-2/109327974190810.xml&storylist= ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Yao Ming nearly broke into tears talking about China's 67-66 victory Monday over Serbia-Montenegro. China coach Del Harris, a veteran of 45 years on the sidelines including 14 seasons as an NBA head coach, called it the best win he's ever had. The emotional win put China into the quarterfinals, matching its best Olympic finish ever. It also meant no chance at a medal for the two-time defending world champions. Yao scored 27 points and made the decisive free throws with 28 seconds to play, leading a Chinese team that had lost three games by at least 25 points. "Today is indeed a day of great joy for us," said the 7-foot-6 Yao, who plays for the Houston Rockets. "Coach Harris has taught us the lesson of life. You should never give up no matter the circumstances." Harris took over the Chinese national program in May. It's important for China to improve toward medal contention — it hosts the next Summer Games in four years. "I've never coached a group of players I have more respect for, the way they work and the way they are as people," the 67-year-old Harris said. Serbia-Montenegro lost a close game for the fourth time and finished last in its six-team group — a far cry from the celebrating it did as Yugoslavia in Athens at the 1998 World Championships and again in Indianapolis in 2002. "This is a big shock for us, and for me it is the hardest moment in my career," Serbia-Montenegro coach Zeljko Obradovic said. "We wanted to win this game very much and were leading the whole game. This has happened before in this tournament. We played good games with bad finishes." China (2-3), which finished eighth in the 1996 Olympics, will play unbeaten Lithuania in Thursday's quarterfinals. "This is the Olympic stage, the setting for miracles," China guard Liu Wei said. "What we have done today can even be better." Serbia-Montenegro, which lost two games by one point and another by three, will play winless Angola for 11th place on Tuesday. Both teams struggled on offense in the fourth quarter. Serbia-Montenegro had four field goals in the final 10 minutes, all 3-pointers. Only two of those came in the final 7 minutes. China, which trailed 60-53 with 7:09 to play, tied the game by keeping the ball out of Yao's hands and letting others do the work. His first shot of the fourth quarter came with just under a minute to play, 45 seconds after he had tied the game at 63 with two free throws. Yao made two free throws with 28 seconds left to give China the lead for good. Serbia-Montenegro worked the shot clock down and Dejan Bodiroga's jumper with 4 seconds left bounced off the rim and out of bounds. Du Feng made two free throws with 3.2 seconds left for the 67-63 lead. When the buzzer sounded, Yao, usually so stoic on the court, ran to the center circle and jumped around with his teammates. The players from Serbia-Montenegro, meanwhile, walked off the court stunned by a second straight poor Olympic performance. It finished sixth in Sydney, but that effort was sandwiched between the world championships. Yao was 9-for-12 from the field and grabbed 13 rebounds. Predrag Drobnjak led Serbia-Montenegro with 17 points.
no.. its the angle of the photo. in real life, the player was REALLY far away from Yao to warrant a T
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YAO IN FRONT OF WWW.NBA.COM !!! Too bad this game wasn't televised, all the articles about it says it was a thriller!!
A thriller which mean about the close match at the end and it doesn't mean it was a good game to watch from the beginning.
These guys are happy like they have just won the gold medal. No one gave them a chance that they have 'it' to get it done before the game. Props to Harris.
Well, I don't think anyone could ever say Yao Ming has no heart or he plays with too little emotion .
I say lets change our team Name and Colors to THE CHINA SHARKS and our color to RED to get YAO Fired up no ??
