FIBA Asia: Undermanned China coasts to easy win against India
Defending champion China had little trouble with upstart India, strolling to a 79-45 win in second-round action of the FIBA Asia Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Despite playing without center Yi Jianlian for the fourth straight game and starting point guard Xiaoyu Liu, who was injured after suffering a nasty fall against Kazakhstan, the Chinese encountered little resistance from the overmatched Indians as they evened their record in Group F to 2-2. India fell to 0-4 and dropped out of contention for a quarterfinal berth.
The Indians made the game interesting only in the first few minutes of the first quarter, even taking a 12-9 lead before the Chinese stepped on the gas pedal and closed the period with a 13-2 and never looked back. In the second period, China's defense was so unforgiving that India was limited to only six points, including just four in the last 8:35 as China blew the game wide open with an 18-4 run.
China slowed down its offensive output in the third period with just 15 points but still padded its lead iwhile scoring more than double India's total output, ending the third with a commanding 60-29 lead.
Wang Zhelin and 18 while Guo Allun had 16 for China, which closes out its second-round schedule against Bahrain on Wednesday. A win by the Chinese will give them a 3-2 record in the group and a likely third seed, unless Korea loses to both Kazakhstan and India.
