The World Cup will be played from Aug. 31 to Sept. 15. So when the NBA decided to add a pair of international teams, China seized an opportunity for a tuneup. China could have anticipated Summer League competition to be tough for a variety of reasons, starting with the fact that the NBA brand of basketball is officiated differently than the international game and has certain court dimensions, including the 3-point line.
“This is so fast. It’s a different level,” said the Head Coach Li Nan. “We’ve never seen their contact before. Also the rules are different. We’ll try to get used to it but still is hard to play this game, but we will persist.” But if the focus was on how much they’d improve, there were some encouraging signs. China was routed by 41 in its opener against Miami, but broke through with an 84-80 victory over Charlotte in its third game.
There were some excellent individual performances as well. Guo Ailun, a 6-foot-2 guard, averaged 16 points in his first two games, when he shot 50 percent. Zhou Qi, China’s 7-1 center and a former Houston Rocket, averaged 11.3 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks through his first four contests. It’s unlikely that China will make it to the final eight teams to play for the championship. But it has been a journey filled with both struggle and reward.
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