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Journalism of Courage
China’s dream of an Olympic men’s basketball medal was ruthlessly extinguished by Lithuania in a clinical 94-68 quarter-final win on Wednesday. An exhausted Yao Ming left the game with 4:17 left after being shoved and banged for 33 minutes, hurling his towel to the floor in frustration before burying his head in his hands.
“We said the big guy is not going to hurt anybody,” Lithuanian centre Robertas Javtokas said. “We pushed him a lot and didn’t let him get inside.
“In Lithuania basketball is like a religion. I don’t think it’s like that in any other country.”
Lithuania, three-time Olympic bronze medallists, will face Spain in the semi-finals after Pau Gasol led the world champions to a 72-59 victory over Croatia. Double and tripled-teamed, Yao scored 19 points but spent much of the game bent over tugging at his shorts and gasping for breath after taking a hammering under the basket. China’s Lithuanian coach Jonas Kazlauskas criticised the winners for negative tactics.
