USA Basketball

TV: Live, Aug. 10, 10:15 a.m. on NBC, NBC HD
*All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time

A Little History
Coming off a best-ever eighth place finish in the 2004 Olympics, a result they also accomplished in 1996, China automatically qualified for the 2008 Olympics as the host country. China and the USA have met four times in Olympic action, with the USA victorious in every matchup. The two teams last played in the Olympics in 2000, when the USA dispatched China 119-72, and met most recently in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, when the USA prevailed 121-90.

Featuring NBA stars such as 7'6" Yao Ming and 7'0" Yi Jianlian, China is looking to use it's home court advantage to improve on it's 10th place finish in the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship and a tied-for-ninth place showing at the 2006 FIBA World Championship. In 2006, Yao averaged 25.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per game in 32.5 minutes. Wang Shipeng averaged a team second best 11.5 points, and former NBAer Wang Zhizhi contributed 8.2 points per game. Liu Wei, who heads the Chinese offense dished 4.5 assists to go with his 8.2 points, and Yi added 6.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski
On playing China:
For us, defensively we would like to continue the way we've been practicing. With Yao you play against the biggest man you're going to play against, so that wiill be a challenge. But overall, just not to complicate things. Lets get in the mood of the Olympics. Playing China will be an amazimg atmosphere, and I'm looking forward to our team doing that. I think when you're in a situation like this, you do try to not over coach. You have a simple game plan and let the guys feel the game, and that's what we're going to try to do.

On the team:
Continuing our development as we move along is real important. We've had hard practices here in Beijing, and we said up until the time we started games it's still training camp. Now once we start the games, the pool play still gives us an opportunity to get better because we're still adding a few things, and we'll make adjustments depending on how we're playing. The games themselves are different than exhibition games, and my feeling is we'll see an even better team once the games start.

Tony, Ronzone, Director of International Player Personnel
What do we know about China?
China is very big, and they are a team that will want to control the tempo against us. They are very turnover prone, and our pressure will cause them some problems. They will want to slow the game down, and they will try to force feed the post. They want the ball to Yao Ming every time. Yi Jianlian is another big kid and they have Wang Zhizhi as well. So they have three guys that have played in the NBA, and they are going to be experienced. Their goal is to pound it inside and limit their turnovers.

If we stop Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, is that enough to win the game?
Yes, because they drop of at the point guard. They do have a kid, Liu Wei, who is a very talented player. He has played in the NBA summer league, so he's got some skill level. After that, they really drop off, and they play like a very young team. No back up point, and their wings are spotty shooters. So the key is their bigs. We really have to eliminate them force feeding the post. We need to do a good job on the defensive end and not try to gamble. That's the biggest thing for the entire tournament -- we can't gamble. We can't assume we can just take the ball from people because our opponents are much better now.

With China being big inside, what should be our offensive plan of attack?
Our biggest thing is transition. If we can just rebound, we can beat them down the floor. Yao has had surgery, and he's not in great shape right now. Wang is not in great shape, so they don't get back too well. If we can just concentrate on rebounding, we'll get points in transition. And then in the half court set, if we just run our offense, we will beat them down eventually. But there is a reason these teams are here. Every team here is skilled, so we always have to respect their abilities.

Is China a team that is capable of playing above their skill level because of their home court advantage?
No question. They were amid the final eight in the last Olympics, and they have a lot of pressure to finish better than that this time around. They are going to have the fans with them, and they just want to try to keep it close to have a chance to win at the end. They have a lot of momentum coming into these Olympics, and they cannot get beat by us by a large margin. For us it's better to play them first rather than later. I think they are only going to get more dangerous with each game.