Germany Downs China 88-76 on Opening Day of the Basketball Worlds

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 30, 2002

Germany Downs China 88-76 on Opening Day of the Basketball Worlds

Dirk Nowitzki scored 30 points to lead Germany to an 88-76 victory Thursday over China --- victimized by a poor performance from Yao Ming --- on the opening day of the World Championships. Yao scored 16 points, 10 in the second half when the game was already out of reach.

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Germany Defeats China 88-76

Dirk Nowitzki scored 30 points to lead Germany to an 88-76 victory Thursday over China -- victimized by a poor performance from Yao Ming --- on the opening day of the World Championships.

Nowitzki, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the Western Conference semifinals, scored all his points in the first three quarters, went 10-for-18 from the field and helped Germany build a 24-point lead.

"I was trying to be aggressive on offense. That's the best part of my game," he said. "They did a good job of finding me and I found my shot early. That was important to find my rhythm early."

Ming, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, was whistled for two fouls in the first 2 minutes and was immediately benched. The 7-foot-5 Yao returned with 5:30 left in the second period, but was never a factor.

Yao scored 16 points, 10 in the second half when the game was already out of reach.

Yao was unavailable for comment, but coach Wang Fei was disappointed with the early foul trouble.

"He has to pay attention to his fouls," he said. "He's never played in the NBA. He's never practiced in the NBA. He has to work harder. He has to play defense to have a chance."

The fans clearly came to see Yao, waving the Chinese flag and giving him a boisterous ovation each time his name was mentioned.

One of Yao's shots was blocked by Germany's Stephen Arigbabu midway through the fourth quarter. The ball went out of bounds, Yao got the ball in the low post and it was swatted away again, this time by Nowitzki.

Mengke Bateer led China with 23 points, Hu Weidong had 14 and Lin Nan 13.

Next up for Germany is the U.S. national team on Friday. Nowitzki scored 23 points in an exhibition loss on Sunday. The Germans came within six points of the U.S. team with two minutes left, but the Americans won 91-73.

"We've got to step our games up if we want to beat them this time," he said. "But we got what we wanted today."

China never found its shot after the first quarter, making only 31 percent in the second quarter. Germany scored the final nine points for a 45-31 halftime lead.

Nowitzki gave the Germans their first double-digit lead when he converted a steal into a layup. He had 13 points in the second half, sinking one long jumper after another.

Stefano Garris had 16 points for Germany.

Neither China nor Germany has never won a World Championships medal.

Source: Agencies

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