China is mulling a Yin and Yang strategy for the upcoming World Basketball
Championships, based on the inside and outside games of Yao Ming and Wang
Zhizhi, known together as the "Walking Great Wall."
The current national side is banking on the domineering skills of NBA All
Star Yao to command the center position, while 2.14 meter (seven foot-one-inch)
sharp-shooting Wang keeps defenders from collapsing on Yao by hoisting up three
pointers from the perimeter.
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China is mulling a Yin and Yang strategy for
the upcoming World Basketball Championships, based on the inside and
outside games of Yao Ming(R) and Wang Zhizhi(L), seen here in 2002, known
together as the "Walking Great Wall."
[AFP]
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"For the world championships, the Yao-Wang combination is set, right now the
key issue is which other players are best adapted to play with them," team
manager Gong Luming told journalists.
"We are going to get results with this team because the Yao-Wang combination
is the best tandem of big men in the world."
The World Championships, which begin in Japan on August 19, will be the first
time that the 2.26 meter Yao has played with Wang since 2001, not long after the
"Walking Great Wall" nickname was coined for China's seven-foot basketball
players.
"The teams are going to be strong at the World Championships, at game time,
Yao Ming will play center, but the defense is going to collapse on him, that is
when we need to coordinate and get opportunities on the perimeter," Wang told
journalists after a practice session on Monday.
"Yao Ming is so tall, he has good skills, so our strategy should be to try to
play an inside game."
The media have called Yao "the sun", or the Yang essence in the traditional
Chinese philosophy on maintaining balance, while Wang is being called "the
moon", or the Yin essence.
However, key to Yao's participation will be whether or not he can fully
recover from a broken foot sustained in a Houston Rocket match in April.
With Yao recovering, Wang has led the team with averages of 20 points and 10
rebounds per game during a recent series of warm up matches in Italy, where he
scored 44 points against Japan in one game and notched 19 first-half points
against Italy.
