"After two critical wins that already made their host Olympic experience a success, the question was whether Yao Ming and Team China were prepared to take the next step by beating one of the traditional powers in international basketball.

With Greece still feeling the sting of the thrashing they took at the hands of the high-flying Americans, the other question was whether Vassilis Spanoulis and his pals might be willing to sacrifice (dump?) one game now for a chance to get out of Team USA’s half of the tournament bracket.

The answers were: no and no. An almost effortless win by Greece ended China’s modest two-game winning streak and sent the conspiracy theorists scrambling to find another grassy knoll.

China (2-3) will play Lithuania (4-1), the top seed in Group A, in the quarterfinals on Wednesday and Greece (2-3) will face the defending Olympic gold medalist Argentina (4-1).

All of which made Yao Ming a rather unhappy camper after his team fell behind by 24 points in the first half, he played just over 18 minutes and spent most of the second half watching from the bench.

In stark contrast to his celebrating mood from Saturday’s win over Germany, Yao stalked angrily off the court and for the first time since the tournament began, refused to talk to reporters.

“If we had been able to catch them at the beginning (of the game) and stayed close then, for sure, Yao Ming should play a long time,” said China’s head coach Jonas Kazlauskas. “But this was not a game, not a time, to have him on the court.

“For sure, Yao is a fighter. He wants to play. But he is player. I am coach. I am the guy who makes decisions.”

That left Yao frustrated on two counts. Because following the win over Germany, he’d declared: “We can challenge any team in the world if we keep the momentum.”

The China went splat.

The Greeks wasted no time asserting their superiority at both ends of the floor with the ex-Rocket Spanoulis (19 points, 8-for-10, five assists) going to the hoop to score layups or to dump off passes to set up his big men and take a 46-24 lead at halftime, ending any notion of suspense and, for the most part, prematurely ending Yao’s day.

Greece used pressure defense all over the court from the outside to forced turnovers and rattle China and reaped the dividends immediately.

Yao was working harder against the big frontline of Greece, but not having nearly the positive results that made him almost unstoppable by Angola and Germany. He scored eight points in the first half, but was never able to establish a low-post presence"