None of the three other teams in this tournament brought their full squad national teams, except for China. I don't think there were any NBA starters except for Yao in the whole tournament.
Yao has very nice stats in international gaes. Prolly averages above 1point per minute. Is it the weak opposition or the way international/exhibition games are called (less contact allowed i presume). Its prolly a combination of both but wonder which is the bigger factor.
According to the Croatian coach, they lost to Italy recently by 10pts, although the Italian team didn't have all its best players. China and Italy are in the same group for the Olympics. http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/p/2004-07-12/0216991340.shtml
Number 7 from the Croatian Team, "Yao, your armpits smell like rotten eggs. That's it, I'm gonna throw up.... COUGH COUGH"
but then after Yao put on degree antiperspirant, he starts doing riverdance moves along with the rest of the Croatian team.
Here is the newly updated game video links, http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2004-07-12/0430991565.shtml The top two are the two halves. The left one is broadband.