Open Thread: China vs. Lithuania, FIBA World Championships Round of 16

by Mike Prada on Sep 7, 2010 10:20 AM EDT in Game Threads

NEW YORK - AUGUST 15: Yi Jianlian #11 of the China shoots over Nathan Peavy #12 of Puerto Rico during their exhibition game as part of the World Basketball Festival at Madison Square Garden on August 15 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

UPDATE: China lost 78-67. Yi had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

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Yi Jianlian and China will take on Lithuania today in a Round of 16 FIBA Match. The game will be televised on ESPN3 at 11 a.m., so if you have a Comcast account and/or an ESPN3 account, you can check out the game there. For those of you watching, here's your open thread.

Yi is expected to play in the game despite an achilles injury. For more on Yi, check out Truth About It's interview with Bob Donewald, China's head coach, as well as this outstanding profile by SLAM's Matt Lawyue.

We haven't had an open thread in a while, so just a reminder to everyone: pretty much anything goes in these. Obviously, the focus is on China-Lithuania, but the idea is to simulate a real-time conversation. Comments pop up automatically, so there's no need for you to refresh the page. As long as you keep it clean and you're respectful of each other, anything is fair game.

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By the way, to anyone watching

This announcer gets excited a lot.

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by Mike Prada on Sep 7, 2010 11:06 AM EDT reply actions

China showed some heart

but they should feed Yi more…he’s their best player and they didn’t get him enough shots..especially at the end…

That guy Shipeng is TERRIBLE..so is Wei

by tw10 on Sep 7, 2010 1:52 PM EDT reply actions

I liked what I saw from Yi today

even though his scoring was down. He was physical, he rebounded the ball, especially in the 4th quarter where they needed get the ball back in order to have a shot down the stretch. He looked like he had a clue about what his team needed from him, which hasn’t always been the case. His defense was … well, better than it has been. But hey, progress is progress.

I was also surprised they didn’t try harder to get him touches in the 2nd half. Yes he was being fronted and double teamed, but if China had, say, a John Wall to get him the rock where he could do some damage, they might have actually had a shot this game.

The star of the game was Linus Kleiza who was just all world today. I liked him in Denver, and I think he would be a really good fit with the Wizards- he can score from anywhere on the court, he’s physical, and he plays smart. It’ll be interesting to see how he does in Toronto where maybe he’ll get some playing time.

by goober nackulum on Sep 7, 2010 2:20 PM EDT reply actions

Linas is a good player...

but we dont need someone like him, IMO…I would rather have a better defender at the 3 who shoots less. Not that I wouldnt like Kleiza, but I dont think he’d be worth the price.

by tw10 on Sep 8, 2010 2:34 AM EDT up reply actions