The NBA keeps doing its best to dominate the post-Olympic China sports news cycle. The latest: the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors will play a pair of pre-season games in China in October. The first will be played in Guangzhou Gymnasium October 15; the second will take place at Beijing's Wukesong Arena October 18. The Milwaukee Bucks are featured in this game, despite trading Chinese forward Yi Jianlian to the New Jersey Nets on......

Has Shrek always borne a striking resemblance to Yao Ming? Or is it the other way around? These movie posters of Olympic athletes, (well, the Chinese team and Michael Phelps) were posted on Chinese web site Mop.com and brought to our attention by Chinasmack. We think that the Hancock poster's text, which originally read: "There are heroes, there are superheroes, then there's Hancock" has gotten a fresh new ring to it: "In the Olympic games,......

Shanghaiist sports editor Maggie Rauch writes a biweekly column in Chinese for the 21st Century Business Herald. Below is a translation of her column from yesterday on today's men's basketball game between China and the USA. China plays the United States in men's basketball tonight at Wukesong Arena, in what is for Chinese fans one of the most anticipated events of this Olympics. Members of the USA's "Dream Team," or "Redeem Team," have been received......

In its second matchup this summer with future Olympic opponent Angola, China's men's national team won 83-74, behind 21 points from Yao Ming（姚明) and a strong performance from point guard Liu Wei（刘炜, pictured above). The teams are playing in the the FIBA Diamond Ball basketball tournament in Nanjing. Yao played 29 minutes, the most he has played since returning to the Chinese national team after an injury. But he looked sluggish and sloppy and only......

There's no Olympic medal for sports apparel marketing, but the race this summer between the category's top two brands is hotly contested. Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, Nike and Adidas are employing very different strategies to court the Chinese market. One key difference is Adidas' decision to invest in being an official sponsor of the games. This grants advantages like the right to use trademarked images (the rings, the event's logo, the words "Beijing 2008"),......

Yao Ming made his return to competition Thursday night, in China's Stankovic Cup game against Serbia, played in Hangzhou. Yao, recovering from a stress fracture in his foot, did not start and played only about 12 minutes. He scored 11 points in his first pre-Olympic tuneup, and China won 96-72. Yao shot 7-of-10 from the free throw line and grabbed four rebounds. Center Wang Zhizhi was China's top scorer with 18 points. The first Chinese......

ESPN.com's David Thorpe recently published a look at the NBA's 2008 rookie class, suggesting for each one an NBA veteran they should study in order to maximize their potential. And according to Thope, China's Yi Jianlian (易建联), that reluctant Milwaukee Buck, had better start working on his tattoo collection. The veteran he should emulate is Marcus Camby (without all the injuries, we assume). Here is what Thorpe says: Yi is a gifted player, maybe the......

Notorious NBA bad boy Yao Ming has done it again. He's late for national team training — and China's official sports association has made it clear they are sick and tired of his Rodmanesque antics: The Houston Rockets' star was faulted for taking too much time off to recover from his last NBA season. The government's All-China Sports Federation also said he spent too much time planning his wedding and making appearances for the Special......

Chinese basketball fans held their collective breath this morning as the NBA draft took place a full 12 time-zones away. 22-year old 19-year old Yi Jianlian slipped past his projected spot at the number 5 pick when the Boston Celtics signed a draft-and-trade agreement with the Seattle Supersonics involving 7-time all-star Ray Allen. Yi was selected the very next pick by the Milwaukee Bucks, a move that might not please the 7-footer from China too......

The NBA is coming to Shanghai again on October 17. This time the Cleveland Cavaliers, fresh off the worst NBA Finals performance we have ever seen, take on the Orlando Magic. If meaningless preseason hoops is your thing, start booking tickets to Minhang District now. The game is being played way the hell out there at the Shanghai Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center. And for those of you who remember the 2004 Shanghai clash......

Because you're going to be hearing his name a lot very soon. ESPN.com says the 19-year-old 7-footer from Shenzhen is the third-best player in the June 28 NBA Draft. ESPN NBA expert Chad Ford had this to say (there is also a video that accompanies that story ... Yi Jianlian speaks very good English): For better and for worse, but mostly for better, Yi represents a new generation of Chinese players more influenced by Allen......

After we heard about this magazine, we figured we should pick up a copy just in case this magazine meets the same fate that as the Chinese Rolling Stone. Flipping through the articles, we see that the cover is Yao Ming and that the magazine, while having snippets of other stuff, is fairly basketball heavy this issue, no doubt because of the FIBA competition currently being held in Japan. Aside from pieces on Yao Ming......

The China Daily called Friday's game between China and Puerto Rico in the Stankovic Continental Champions Cup the "most shameful night" in China basketball history. With 1:28 to play and China enjoying a comfortable 91-80 lead, Puerto Rico center Manuel Narvaez challenged China's Yi Jianlian with a foul to the face. Chinese players Mo Ke and Li Nan took offense to the foul, left the bench and rushed Navaraz. A "mass brawl" ensued. Soon fans......