Taiwan NT did not "give up" the game versus China like what head coach Lee Yun-kwang hinted a couple days ago. Instead, the team played hard...for a quarter.
Taiwan was routed by China, 101-65, in its third preliminary game and is now tied with Lebanon and Kazakhstan with one win and two losses.
As Kazakhstan upset Lebanon 80-75 right before the Taiwan-China game, Kazakhstan will have an upper hand and advance to the quarterfinal if it eventually ties with Taiwan and Lebanon with the same won-loss record (The Kazakh lost to Taiwan by two but beat Lebanon by five).
Which means Taiwan vs. Lebanon game on Dec. 8 is a must-win game for both teams.
Taiwan trailed China by only one point, 24-23, after the first quarter. It led China 12-6 midway through the first period but China, led by Yi Jianlian, answered with an 11-0 run.
Taiwan failed to score in the first seven minutes of the second quarter as China pulled away with another 19-0 run and increased its lead to 19 points at the half. The second half was basically 20 minutes of garbage time.
Chen Hsin-an and Lin Chi-jay scored 14 points each for Taiwan while Tien Lei had 10 points. Taiwan was outrebounded by a humiliating 45-20 margin and attempted more shots from threes (30) than inside the arch (28).
Yi Jianlian made 12 of 13 shot en route to his best game in the tournament with 28 points and 9 boards. Zhu Fangyu had 18 points. Point guard Hu Xuefeng had 16 points. Wang Zhizhi had 13 and 8 while Wang Shipeng scored 11. China shot 63% from the field, including 52% from threes.
China and Japan led the Group F with 3-0 and both have secured quarterfinal seeds. Taiwan, Kazakhstan and Lebanon will vie for the two remaining seeds in the group.