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Yi wants to be No 1

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-27 09:56

Fans have already seen what the NBA has given China's hoop treasure Yi Jianlian - he is more aggressive, more powerful and hungrier than ever to dominate the paint.

Returning to action after a wrist injury that sidelined him for 15 NBA matches, Yi led the national team with 19.6 points and 7.5 rebounds in the recent five games he has played. With a stronger Yi, the team has won eight consecutive games against warm-up opponents Lithuania and Croatia.

"It's all about confidence," Yi said after scoring 26 points in China's 110-92 win over Lithuania on Monday. "I want to control the basket and score as many as I can when I step onto the court. I don't want to just take shots around the 3-point arc."

"I want to be the big man that opponents are afraid of."

The 21-year-old from Dongguan, South China's Guangdong province, plays with the Milwaukee Bucks and was the No 6 overall draft pick last year. He is the key player expected to assist Houston Rockets' all-star center Yao Ming in China's bid to improve upon its quarterfinal result in Athens four years ago.

As China's youngest ever player on the Olympic stage, the then 17-year-old Yi saw his game falter, despite the team's equal best finish in eighth place.

The skinny teenager averaged a miserable 2.2 points and 3.1 rebounds in the four games he started against international powerhouses, causing team leader Yao Ming to publicly slam Yi and his teammates for being "short of motivation and showing no winning desire at all".

"It was not a pleasant memory for me," Yi told Basketball Pioneer newspaper. "I was too young to handle things on and off the court. I tried my best, but I just got pushed around by those European big men and struggled to score a point. I was very disappointed about it.

"I take the experience as a motivating factor. After spending a whole season in the NBA, I am a lot stronger and have a better understanding of the game.

"I am so happy to have a second chance to play in the Olympics. I think that right now I'm just preparing my heart for it. I'm working and struggling in practice to get my skills up to be ready for the Games. It's definitely helping that I'm having this NBA experience."

Basketball has recently become China's most popular sport, with an estimated 3.5 billion fans.

Yi, the fourth Chinese basketball player to join the NBA after Menk Bater, Wang Zhizhi and Yao, believes China has what it takes to reach its Olympic goal.

"Though we don't have so many NBA players, like Spain or Argentina, the improvement we have made over the past four years gives us the confidence to play good basketball at the Games," he told Sohu.com.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/27/2008 page3)